payment page
Jonathan Harker, Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, Mina Murray, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris are the collective protagonists of Dracula. Harker is the first to incite the conflict of the plot by being the first character to realize that Dracula is a supernatural and dangerous figure; he records in his journal what he observes at Dracula’s castle, and when Van Helsing later reads this journal, he realizes that Dracula has been the one to transform Lucy into a vampire. Harker informs the actions of the other characters by revealing to them that they need to find and destroy Dracula. Otherwise, there will constantly be a risk of new vampires being created, and the curse spreading. As Van Helsing explains, “There is a terrible task before us…and we must not draw back.” However, Harker’s role in inciting the action is quite passive; it is only because he kept a journal that he has information about Dracula available to offer. Harker’s record of his experiences also needs to be contextualized through Van Helsing’s knowledge of folklore about vampires, and everyone else’s observations about Lucy.
Harker, Van Helsing, Seward, Mina, Holmwood, and Morris all band together to destroy Dracula and plot maneuvers to stamp out the evil he represents. Dracula’s cunning and supernatural strength stand in the way of them achieving this goal, but they are ultimately successful, cutting his throat and driving a knife through his heart, destroying him forever. Despite the many dark and evil things the characters witness throughout the novel, they ultimately do not change much. At the end of Dracula, the characters carry on with life, marry, have children, and live with the memory of how together they were able to defeat evil.
