Chapter 21

Summary

Dr. Seward records that Renfield's back has been broken. He is in deep anguish and is dying. He tells them that Dracula has come from the window and has struck him. But he also divulges he (Dracula) has attacked Mina. The band rushes in to the Harker’s chamber and finds Jonathan in a stupor, and Mina sucking the blood of Dracula. Mina comes out of her trance as Dracula runs away and wails "unclean unclean." Mina tells hem how Dracula entered when she was sleeping and said to her that he has drunk her blood many times. He makes her drink his blood as a sign of unity and tells her that each time he calls she would have to obey.

Nowhere in the book does one get to see Dracula in action sucking blood. There are inferences but no direct action. It’s the first time that Dracula has been caught in action. The sucking of blood signifies oneness so that Mina becomes something akin to a wife to Dracula. That makes Mina a common wife to both Dracula and Jonathan. It also shows Dracula’s hold on ordinary human beings, as on his bidding Mina will have to obey. Renfield, at last, shows that he is linked to Dracula.

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