NovelGuide: Dracula: Novel Summary: Chapter 15

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Chapter 15

Summary
Seward attempts to deal with the shock of Van Helsing's declaration that Lucy made the wounds on the children's throats. At first, he is angry with Van Helsing, but he agrees to go with him that night to the churchyard where Lucy is buried. Meanwhile, the two men visit one of the children whom the "bloofer lady" had abducted, and see that the wounds on the child's throat are similar to Lucy's, though smaller.
After dark, the two men enter Lucy's tomb. Van Helsing breaks open Lucy's coffin and finds it empty. Attempting to find a rational explanation, Seward suggests that a body-snatcher might be responsible (body-snatching was a lucrative, if illegal trade; the robbers supplied the anatomy schools with corpses to dissect). Van Helsing and Seward take up their vigil in the churchyard. They see a white streak move across the churchyard, and a dark mass move to meet it. As Seward approaches, the white figure makes for the tomb. The two men find a child lying asleep. There are no wounds on its throat, and Van Helsing says this is because they disturbed the assailant just in time. Seward still does not believe that Lucy has anything to do with these events.
Seward agrees to go back to the churchyard with Van Helsing the next day. Van Helsing again opens the coffin and Seward is shocked to see Lucy lying there once more, more beautiful than ever, with redder lips than before. Van Helsing shows Seward that her teeth have become sharper, and explains that the wounds on the children's throats have been made by the canines. He asks Seward if he believes him now, but Seward says she may have been put there since the previous night. Van Helsing objects that most people do not look so fresh when they have been dead for a week. He explains that Lucy is one of the Un-dead, and that he must kill her in her sleep to set her free. Seward finally begins to accept Van Helsing's view, and asks how he will kill her. Van Helsing says he must cut off her head, fill her mouth with garlic, and drive a stake through her body.
Seward is repulsed by the idea of mutilating the body of the woman he loved, but he sees that it is a lesser evil than leaving one of the Un-dead free to do its work. Van Helsing says he will hold off the work until he can bring her fianc�, Holmwood, to understand why it is necessary. Van Helsing does not want Holmwood to mistakenly believe that Lucy was buried alive and that Van Helsing murdered her because of some fanciful notion that she was a vampire.
That night, Van Helsing goes alone to the churchyard and seals the door of Lucy's tomb with garlic and a crucifix, so that she will not come out. This will ensure that on a future night, when Holmwood will be present, Lucy will be especially hungry and be sure to come out.
The following day, Seward has regressed to his previous skepticism and wonders if Van Helsing is mad. The next day, Van Helsing meets with Seward, Holmwood and Morris, and explains what he must do. Holmwood is horrified by the idea of anyone mutilating Lucy's corpse, but Van Helsing finally convinces him that his motives are good. Holmwood agrees to go with Van Helsing to the churchyard.
Analysis
Seward's horror at the news that Lucy is responsible for the wounds on the children's throats is a reflection of how seriously the Victorians took women's maternal duty and sexual chastity. Lucy, who is effectively both the Count's sexual conquest and a destroyer of children, has transgressed both ideals.
Van Helsing's painstaking efforts to persuade Seward of the reality of Lucy's Un-dead state show how closed and prejudiced the conventional scientific mind can be. Even when Seward seems to be convinced, he regresses overnight to his previous skepticism. In comparison, Holmwood and Morris are more open-minded, probably because they have not had Seward's one-sided scientific training.
It is ironic, however, that Seward's objections to Van Helsing's ideas are not scientifically based, but emotional. He first reacts with anger, because he loved Lucy and feels that Van Helsing is attacking her. Then, he looks for other "rational" explanations for what has happened, including the possibility of body-snatchers at work, though in order to make this explanation fit, he has to ignore Lucy's bizarrely un-corpselike appearance. Finally, when he runs out of rational explanations, he forms a thesis that Van Helsing is mad, when there is far less evidence for this than for the possibility that Lucy is what Van Helsing says she is - Un-dead. The overall picture of Seward is of a well-meaning, honorable but mentally somewhat crippled character.