payment page
Swales is the leader of his small group of friends and an unapologetic skeptic. He is knowledgeable about the history, legends, and people of Whitby, and incredibly stubborn in his beliefs. As Mina describes, he never admits to being wrong, and when he comes across someone he cannot “out-argue…he bullies them, and then takes their silence for agreement with his views.” He likes to show off in front of Mina and Lucy and goes off on long tangents mocking and debunking Whitby's folklore.
Swales is very cynical. While Mina and Lucy maintain that tombstones are a way to honor the dead, Swales scorns tombstones and claims that most of Whitby's graves are empty since many of the men were actually lost at sea. However, Swales later shows remorse and apologizes to Mina for the "wicked" things he told her. He demonstrates heightened levels of wisdom and insight as he explains that people like himself who are reaching the ends of their lives do not like to think about death, so they make light of it. He assures Mina that while he senses death is close at hand for him, he does not fear it.
Swales’s character gives Stoker the opportunity to engage in brief class commentary—despite being uneducated, as his manner of speaking suggests, he is very knowledgeable on the subject of Whitby’s history and legends, and surprisingly intuitive. His astute observation that death is coming just as he spies the Demeter off-shore foreshadows the evil that will soon descend upon them all with the arrival of Dracula. Swales represents a key archetype of the horror genre. He is the individual who senses something is amiss, as evidenced by the notable shift in his tone during his conversation with Mina, and dies mysteriously before the other characters fully realize what’s coming. In some ways, he is similar to Renfield, as both men are capable of sensing Dracula's presence before others.
