#truly the 'oh! he'a a bit fucked up actually' experience in real time
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Would you like to see all of Jonathan's speaking lines from the moment he joins the rest of the crew (September 30) till he witnesses the aftermath of Dracula's attack on Mina (October 3)? Well, here they are:
"I answer for Mina and myself," he said.
+
"May I come?" said Harker.
Both on his first day there, after spending most of his time working on documents with Mina. The former, when agreeing to the let's-hunt-Dracula pact, and the latter when asking to go along to visit Renfield. Your mileage may vary on whether he even did that, since Seward and Renfield and Stoker both forgot him entirely during said visit.
That's it. Oh, of course he talks more than that, but it's all described dialogue typically involved a larger group and even then is pretty brief. He suggests the importance of Renfield before the meeting. He leads the way through Carfax on Van Helsing's request, freezes up and has a minor panic attack when he thinks he sees Dracula, but is pretty silent throughout. The next day he has a brief chat with Van Helsing and hunts boxes. The next day, says hi and bye to Seward, then heads out to spend the whole day chasing leads again. When he gets back, the boys all have a music night and Jonathan reads his journal to them to keep them up on his efforts.
I'm not suggesting that Jonathan is totally silent or anything. But there's perhaps a reason Seward initially describes him as a "quiet, business-like gentleman." He's reserved for the most part and focused on the task at hand. Determined but not overzealous in any way that stands out; spends a lot of time off on his own or hanging back quietly.
All this to say... It must have been quite a shock to see quiet, paper-trail hunting Jonathan Harker abruptly start spitting out lines like:
"It cannot have gone too far yet. Guard her while I look for him!"
"May God judge me by my deserts, and punish me with more bitter suffering than even this hour, if by any act or will of mine anything ever come between us!"
"Then let us come at once, we are wasting the precious, precious time!" + "We shall break in if need be."
"I care for nothing now, except to wipe out this brute from the face of creation. I would sell my soul to do it!"
"May God give him into my hand just for long enough to destroy that earthly life of him which we are aiming at. If beyond it I could send his soul for ever and ever to burning hell I would do it!"
All of a sudden Jonathan is a big damn romantic hero. He is making huge declarations left and right, he is ready to hunt Dracula down and kill him in his pajamas, he is rushing and raging and swearing to God and cursing Dracula's soul to hell and offering to trade away his own. All this not to even mention attacking him with a knife and climbing out a window rather than waste any time with stairs.
Jonathan, who has always been pretty mild-mannered around this group to the point they almost find it hard to believe he could have been the same one to write about his experiences in the castle, is now in full on Addams family mode, public displays of affection and murder attempts included. And it's not like this situation isn't understandably dire as hell, an easy recipe for pushing someone past the limits of their composure. They all know that too.
But I just find it really fun to imagine the recalibration going on in their heads. Knowing intellectually the kind of stuff he did to stay alive all that time ago is a little different from watching him rampage around like he did today, and Seward definitely seemed to be experiencing a shift in his perception of Jonathan's manly fervor to say the least.
#dracula daily#truly the 'oh! he'a a bit fucked up actually' experience in real time#jonathan goes from following advice to not confide in his wife to practically giving her the kiss up the arm 'cara mia' treatment.#he very abruptly gives no shit about decorum or manners or the opinion of anyone else on earth but mina#it's Something to witness i imagine#dracula meta#my meta#jonathan harker
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