London, Nobility, Dracula...

Dracula, the man (?) of the hour. So peculiar is his ways, so unknown are his intentions. He stands alone in his castle, observing the peasants of the town.

It seems strange he considers himself a master, even though he never leaves his castle. What makes him put himself on that level? Is it merely his wealth that gives him his high stature? Certainly he has a reputation in the land, as he describes "Here I am a noble; I am boyar, the common people know me, and I am master." (26), but it seems merely a rank bought by money. Although he continues on, "But a stranger in a strange land, he is no one, men know him not -- and to know not is to care not for. I am content if I am like the rest, so that no man stops if he see me, or pause in his speaking if he hear my words, to say "Ha ha, a stranger!"

Does Dracula simply fear being a stranger, or have some paranoid delusion that being a stranger will simply destroy him?

I also love that he fears the "new" of the world. "I myself am of an old family, and to live in a new house would kill me" and "We Translyvanian nobles love not to think that hour bones may be amongst the common dead." (29)

It all adds up to a strange conclusion. Drawing from common knowledge, Dracula is a vampire! He cannot walk about the streets in the daylight and lavish in the nobility he has. He hides away in a castle set apart from the world itself. He seems so set in leaving to London to accomplish some hidden goal, but he will lose all of his reputation by doing so.

What is Dracula's major goal? Why has he trapped Jonathan Harker in his castle ("The castle is a veritable pison, and I am a prisoner!" (32))? What does he plan to do with him in London? What will we see in the future? I can't wait to see Dracula and his progression in the story as he loses his fame and glory in Translyvania. It will be a powerful story I see already.