NovelGuide: Dracula: Novel Summary: Chapter 18

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Chapter 18

Summary
Seward's diary records that Holmwood and Morris have read all of the diaries and letters that Mina has transcribed. Mina asks Seward if she can visit Renfield, and Seward agrees. Before Mina enters Renfield's room, Renfield swallows all his flies and spiders. Renfield behaves courteously and rationally with her.
Van Helsing returns and Seward tells him that his diary has come to be of use, thanks to Mina's suggestion that its contents be opened to their friends' perusal. Van Helsing compliments Mina on having a "man's brain" and a "woman's heart." But he is not prepared to let her run any more risks. She must have nothing further to do with their work in destroying the Count, as it is "no part for a woman."
Van Helsing gathers the company together to teach them about vampires. He says that they are immortal (though as we saw with Lucy, they can be killed by driving a stake through the heart and cutting off the head); that they are as strong as twenty men; that they gain strength from sucking the lifeblood of other beings; that they can command the dead, the elements, and various animals, including rats, owls, bats, and wolves; that they can change size and shape, even taking the form of dust; and that they can sometimes become invisible. If they fail in their attempt to destroy the Count, they risk becoming vampires like him.
Van Helsing goes on to say that they themselves have certain factors on their side: they have the benefit of science and free will; they can work equally well at night or in the day; and their cause is altruistic. In addition, vampires have certain weaknesses: they cannot thrive without their diet of fresh blood; they can only go where they are first invited; they have no power during the day, when they must take shelter in a coffin or box of earth; and they can only cross water at low or high tide. Sacred objects like crucifixes repel them; and a wild rose branch can imprison them in their coffins.
Van Helsing has had a friend at Budapest University research Count Dracula's background. He has discovered that in normal life, the Count was the cleverest, most cunning and bravest man in the land. His descendants included great men and women, and the Count cannot survive without access to the consecrated earth in which they are buried - hence the boxes of earth he has brought with him from Transylvania. Van Helsing says that their first task is to locate these boxes.
Suddenly, there is a gunshot and the window shatters. It turns out that Morris has gone outside and shot a bat that was sitting on the window-sill. He believes that he missed it.
Van Helsing explains that once they have found the boxes, they must sterilize the earth so that the Count can no longer take refuge in it. He tells Mina that she can take no further part in their work: "We are men, and able to bear; but you must be our star and our hope, and we shall act all the more free that you are not in the danger, such as we are."
Seward receives a message from Renfield asking to see him at once. The whole group of friends goes to visit him. Renfield passionately and rationally pleads with Seward to discharge him from the asylum. He says that his motives for demanding his freedom, though he cannot disclose them, are unselfish, and warns of dire consequences if his request is denied. Seward is skeptical, as he has known Renfield have lucid periods before and then regress to dangerous behavior. Seward refuses to release Renfield.
Analysis
Van Helsing pays Mina the ultimate compliment in an age of rigid gender stereotypes: he says that she has a "man's brain" and a "woman's heart," thereby embodying the highest qualities of both sexes. Modern readers may feel more comfortable discussing male and female principles, which are familiar concepts in psychology. Mina feels strong emotion (feminine principle) but can detach herself sufficiently to pursue a rational course of action (masculine principle), as we have seen in Chapter 17, where she is moved by Seward's account of Lucy's death but insists that the information be shared among their friends, the better to oppose the Count - unlike Seward, who, overcome by emotion, was more inclined to keep it secret.
Though Van Helsing admires Mina's masculine aspects, he is not prepared to liberate her from the woman's traditional role. Immediately following his compliment, he rules that she must no longer "have to do with this so terrible affair. it is no part for a woman."