I think the most horrifying thing here is that the Count is intentionally pushing Jonathan to see if he’ll say no to him.
It’s someone implicit earlier on that he is testing the limits of Jonathan’s manners, like keeping him up all night to see if he mentions it. Or requesting he stay longer and seeing if he objects.
But this entry it is explicit. He didn’t have to tell Jonathan that he had the letters. But he did. And he burns the letter to Mina right in front of him. It’s blatant manipulation.
And the sad part is that his assessment of Jonathan is right. He’s not a fighter. Jonathan does reseal the letter when requested. His response to knowing he’s in a hopeless situation is to comply.
that said, I don’t believe for a second that the man actually gave those letters to Dracula. I think Dracula killed him and then took them, and it was either deliberately because he somehow knew or it was by coincidence. That was absolutely my first impression because that just SOUNDS like something he’d do—kill a man and then cover it up by pretending he gave him the letters willingly.
I also think that, if the man did hand them over, it was because he and his group are enthralled by Dracula. I don’t care what racist BS Stoker intended, we’ve seen vampires can hypnotize and enthrall and I’m going to believe that people helping Dracula aren’t doing it willingly.
Writing letters were the common way of communicating between people of certain economic level and class in England during the 19th Century, and they do. A lot.
The London District Post, how managed the letters posted in the capital and delivered to a metropolis address, in 1868, for instance, delivered in excess of 110 million letters. No matter how you organize it, it was never going to be a fast and reliable service, depending on sorting by hand, delivering by hand, traveling by horseback or on foot, etc. No matter how much money the Crown were ready to pour in (not much!), nor how much the industrialist were ready to invest (Even less!), the quaint and curious Post Service take its time, and like our beloved Daily Dracula, some days may pass without notice of our beloved friends, even when they live in the same city, and not were trapped in a castle far away in the last corner of the civilized world.
But then, Arthur receive the letter of his good friend Quincy, and his answer is A BRIEF TELEGRAM SHORTER THAN A TWEET??? ART????
First, telegrams were expensive. They were paid BY WORD, so Arthur is expending good money to answer his good friend letter.
- But Jonathomas, is just a telegram! how much can it cost?
Oh sweet summer child…
One Sterling Pound of 1890 was, inflation adjusted, more or less 2376 $ in today’s money.
Two thousand three hundred and seventy six United States Dollars (2220 € for the rest of us) in the year of Our Lord 2022.
The price of a telegram, 1885, was a sixpence for 12 words (a “tanner” if you were not a refined person), plus a farthing for extra word. And our loquacious friend has sent 15 words! That’s 7d and a half, and it sounds like pocket money, isn’t it?
Well… It’s a littleless than 75$ to answer the letter of his dearest friend Quincy P. Morris.
75$
Here is something we now know of Art: His pockets are deep and full of gold.
Second, telegrams were hand delivered same day, right to the receiver, by uniformed personnel. The best, most reliable and fast way to guarantee that someone was going to get your message was to use the relatively new (only 20 years or so in active!) Telegram Service!
So, Arthur, ART, has gone incredible lengths in order to made his taunting message get to his very very special friend Quincy P. Morris, at great expense. It’s not a disdain, nor a lonely and boring “k” after a heartfelt declaration: His money is were his heart is, and he wants Quincy to know, as soon as humanly possible, “I’ll be there with you”.
I choose to believe that there wasn’t a new Dracula daily because the Suitor Trio aka The Harem Hooligans got smashed together by Quincy’s campfire and they’re all nursing headaches.
jonathan harker when he is given terrible omens, driven round in circles for hours, meets the weirdest guy on earth, is isolated in a creepy castle: well this is odd :/
jonathan harker when his shaving glass is thrown out the window: i am a prisoner!! i have been trapped i am like a wild animal!!! how will i be able to shave?? through the reflection on my pot or watch case???? oh my prison guard is SOULLESS and i am DISTROUGHT
Ah, yes. It would seem we’re all immensely enjoying Dracula Daily♂️
I’m so pop culture poisoned I had no idea count dracula was fun. I’ve never read the book before so I was expecting this gloomy, intimidating “extremely do not make eye contact” type of guy. but OG drac is just a goofy dude inviting his new buddy jonny harker over to his big house where he lives alone for movies night and popcorn while going hee hee hoo hoo I’m definitely NOT a creature of the night hee hee I’m a very normal older gentleman from this century!! don’t worry about me bookin it the moment dawn breaks tee hee!! ohhh no don’t look at my coffin in the other room!! he’s a total party guy. I’d deffo put my life at stake(!) to come hang out with him and play ye olde playstation. I finally understand what’s so sexy about dracula
Hey if you’re new to tumblr don’t worry about people telling you not to come here because it’s “dead” or a “hell site” or “the users will force you to eat bees”, it’s actually pretty cool, no matter what the rest of the internet keeps telling you. Oh, and you totally won’t need those crosses and garlic they gave you. Yeah, no, I don’t know why they broke down weeping and told you that for your mother’s sake you should stay away from this website. Maybe a joke about the history of nsfw content I guess? Anyways, come on in, we’ve been eagerly awaiting your visit.
“Welcome to my social network! Enter freely and of your own will!”
are we not gonna address the fact that jonathan just. fully accepted that he just met this guy and suddenly dracula is like ‘my friend!!! my amazing f—“ oh my god we’re dracula
I thought it was like a modern take on the book but no yall are just collectively reading actual Dracula and liveblogging it like Jonathan Harker is an influencer or some shit. Never change
If any of you want to know how painfully polite and non confrontational English people can truly be, sign up for daily Dracula. I keep seeing foreign readers complain about Johnathan not ever asking any questions but I’m just there reading like “well yeah that would be so rude omg the man has opened his home to you why would you offend him like that”. Yes I would get killed by Dracula but at least I would be a good guest thank you and good day
honestly Jonathan Harker’s stronger than me bc if a man carried my luggage to my room, provided me with food and a place to stay, accompanied me each meal just so I didn’t feel lonely AND said i was his Friend and gave me free access to his library I’d literally unsee the tiny red flags like why is he not eating, why aren’t there mirrors, is he even alive, etc etc and keep going like he’s literally meeting all my standards who can do it like Dracula
Dracula would be the language-learner who’s like ‘Sorry, my English isn’t the best. Would you use the subjunctive here?’ and Jon’s like ‘wtf is subjunctive’.
as someone who’s not subscribed myself, I love seeing people’s posts about the daily Dracula stuff, bc it makes me feel like I’m someone in town overhearing all the gossip about the weird shit being described in the letters from Your Good Friend Jonathan Harker, which imo makes this all the more communal and organic, bc quite frankly secondhand weird town gossip is the best way to receive news
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