NovelGuide: Dracula: Novel Summary: Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

Summary
Seward's diary entry records how he arrives at Lucy's home at the same time as Van Helsing. Van Helsing learns with horror that Seward did not get his telegram in time. Receiving no answer to their knocks at the door, they break in and find a scene of devastation. The maids are still in a drugged sleep. Lucy, looking terror-struck and deathly pale, is lying on her bed next to the dead body of her mother. The garlic flowers are on her mother's chest. On Lucy's throat are two mangled wounds.
Van Helsing decides to give Lucy another blood transfusion, but both he and Seward cannot afford to give any more blood. At that moment, Quincey Morris turns up. He has received a telegram from Holmwood wanting to know how Lucy is, and has come to find out. Van Helsing asks Morris to donate the blood, since "A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble," and he agrees.
After the transfusion, Van Helsing finds and reads Lucy's diary entry that she hid in her bodice. Van Helsing understands what it means, though Seward is baffled by it. Morris cannot understand what has happened to all the blood that has already been donated to Lucy, and Seward is unable to enlighten him.
Lucy fails to rally and seems near death. She asks to see Holmwood, who arrives.
Mina, unaware that Lucy is dying, writes to her to say that she and Harker have returned to Exeter and are living with Hawkins. Harker is now a partner in Hawkins' law firm and is recovering from his Transylvanian ordeal. Mina begs Lucy to tell her all about her marriage plans.
Seward's assistant writes to him to say that Renfield has escaped once more and has attacked two men transporting heavy wooden boxes from Carfax.
Mina writes to Lucy to say that Hawkins has died suddenly and has left his considerable wealth to Harker.
Seward's diary records that Holmwood's father has died. Lucy's canine teeth look longer and sharper than the rest, and she tears away the garlic flowers from her throat. The wounds on her throat disappear. Knowing that she is close to death, Van Helsing sends for Holmwood. Lucy speaks seductively to Holmwood, begging him to kiss her, but as he bends to do so, Van Helsing leaps to prevent him. Seward and Van Helsing notice a look of rage pass over Lucy's face. Later, she takes Van Helsing's hand and calls him "My true friend, and his [Holmwood's]!" Van Helsing tells Holmwood to kiss her, but only on the forehead. Lucy dies, and instantly recovers the beauty she had lost during her illness.
Van Helsing warns Seward that their work is only just beginning.
Analysis
When asking Morris to donate his blood to Lucy, Van Helsing comments, "A brave man's blood is the best thing on this earth when a woman is in trouble." Throughout the novel, there is a morally upstanding quality to the blood that the men give to Lucy. In Chapter 10, Van Helsing comments that Holmwood is "so young and strong and of blood so pure that we need not defibrinate it." The wholesome blood of these fine young men stands in contrast to the tainted, death-dealing blood of the Count, who "infects" his victims with the curse of vampirism.
Lucy's transformation from pure Victorian maiden to sexually aggressive vampire is complete, both in her appearance (the long, sharp canines) and in her uncharacteristically uninhibited demand, "Arthur! Oh, my love, I am so glad you have come! Kiss me!" Van Helsing has to leap between them to prevent Holmwood giving in to Lucy and becoming infected with vampirism. Van Helsing not only saves Holmwood's life, but acts as a moral guardian, protecting the noble young man from corruption.