Since new readers are concerned about the future entries of the asylum doctor, John Seward, I went through all his stuff again and made a list of
dates of Dr Seward’s sections, what is safe to read and what is not
First off, every diary or letter by other characters that mention him are free from asylum content. Dr Seward is mentioned the first time on May 24 by someone else.
—
XXX entries that contain the treatment of his patient
May -[25]
June -[05]-[18]
July -[01]-[08]-[19]-[20]
August -[19]-[20]-[23]
September -[04]-[20](by substitute doctor)-[26](briefly mentioned)-[30](second entry chapter 18)
October -[01](3x that day)-[02]-[03](chapter 22)
—
XXX entries without patient, potentially important for plot
September -[02]-[03]-[06]-[07]-[08]-[09]-[10]-[11]-[13]-[18]-[19]-[20](by Seward! not substitute doctor!)-[22]-[27]-[28]-[29](2x that day)-[30](first entry)
everything that comes afterOctober 3 / chapter 22issafe
So, I’ve seen a lot of posts that treat Lucy’s bubbly letter to Mina as containing a jarring tonal shift in describing the clever doctor who has “an immense lunatic asylum all under his own care.” But Lucy is not that clueless. It’s complicated! Which makes it more interesting! I’m not about to become a Victorian asylum apologist here. But I think that the novel makes more sense and is more interesting if we have more knowledge of reality and debate surrounding asylums (and other institutions) in late Victorian Britain. I’ll try to keep this short.
When I teach Victorian hospitals in Modern Europe 101, I describe them as institutions between care and control. And this is hardly original. But this fact, that they both institutions designed for social support (paternalistic) and institutions of state/medical control, is central to what they’re doing and how they’re understood. Also, crucially (!), in 1897, we’re several decades after a big reform of asylums, inspired in part by Wilkie Collins’ 1859/60 sensation novel The Woman in White. See this 1859 treatise by a doctor. So, like prisons, workhouses, and hospitals, asylums are conceptualized as institutions for 1) helping Society’s Unfortunates™ 2) keeping society itself healthy by managing said unfortunates. Yeah. So this mention of an asylum absolutely should ping some ominous alarm bells for us. But it also tells us that Mr. Hot Doctor – crucially both well-born and wealthy – is a young man with a social conscience and practical ideas for putting his ideals into action. So hot! Victorian readers, incidentally, would also have been alert to this tension and ambiguity. Just think of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! Fictional Victorian doctors are constantly messing with things they shouldn’t (except Dr. Watson who is a darling.)
All that said… the reconceptualization of medical institutions from the late 18th century onwards are part of what Michel Foucault has called “The Birth of the Clinic,” meaning that hospitals were sites of managing the sick, educating male medical experts, and edifying wealthy visitors who got tours of the wards. Philippe Pinel’s 1806 Treatise on Insanity is illustrative here. So is the (in)famous case of Ignaz Semmelweis, the advocate of chlorine disinfection. It’s not the case that no one understood or cared about medical hygiene before the 19th century. They absolutely did. But 19th-century doctors specifically– respectably middle-class, well-educated, male – were shocked by the insinuation that they, the experts, could be less clean than poor women’s bodies. The very idea! The fact that Semmelweis was a Jewish man whose father was in trade may have been relevant. That’s a bit of a digression. But medical and scientific ideas on basically everything have been changing, and changing rapidly, accompanied by heated debate and international competition, throughout the 19th century. Mr. Hot Doctor is doing cutting-edge work. But because he’s overseeing a private asylum, he’s also doing it without much outside oversight. So what has he chosen as his ideal model of care? Is he inspired by Florence Nightingale’s principles of hospital design? We shall see. Dun dun dunnn.
Remembered this from my personal traits headcanons thing and man, it also fits so well for Seward. Lucy sees this strange dude that everyone else thinks is creepy and is just enthralled by him. An asylum, how fancy!
(Spoilers) I mean I think multiple interpretations very valid, but I keep wondering if all these people who have already settled on Seward as The Worst Villain ActuallyTM are actually going to enjoy the rest of Dracula Daily? Like, if they are going to be able to engage with it and have a fun time with it? Because I mean. There’s a lot of Seward.
I also find it interesting that this is the tipping point for many. Like, the ableism and 19th century bad medical practice is, well, bad. But yesterday (which I love) was a hotpot of misogyny and racism, and even back with Dracula and Jonathan there was quite a bit of racism and xenophobia going on. And yet I found the discussion there either more nuanced (great!) or non-existent, because people wanna focus on memes and fun times. I’m curious why that is. I would say that maybe it’s because this hits closer to home for many but it isn’t like the types of racism and misogyny explained isn’t alive today as well. Hmm. Food for thought.
I want to know how Quincy convinced Jack to essentially throw a tiny bachelor’s party for Arthur. Was Jack just in his office writing in his diary about how he’s burying his depression in work and then an American CowboyTM just walks through the door like, “Jack! We’re getting drunk!”
“what. No, I’m burying my depression in work.”
“Nonsense! We’re going to have a party for our friend who strangely proposed to the exact same woman as we did on the exact same day, great minds think alike I guess.”
“How did you get in here?”
“I’m an American Cowboy in Victorian England, nothing short of the supernatural is going to stop me.”
So do you think Arthur, Jack and Quincey were all aware that they were crushing on the same woman, since they obviously know each other and hang out - or did it come out after a while? Like they were all gushing about this girl they liked and then slowly but surely they all realise it’s the same person?
alright I know it’s a tragic reflection of things but I can’t help but be very happy that both of the men Lucy rejected were, admittedly, both sad about it, but also immediately were like “please count me as your dearest friends I’ll be there to support you because you’re amazing”
i’m working on a series of dracula designs to match my harker//
first are Dr. Seward (M) and Arthur Holmwood/Lord Godalming (L) in my mind Holmwood/Godalming is soft and sad and Seward is all dark and sharp and looks like he hasn’t slept in about a week//
edit: added Quincey Morris on R
[Image ID. Three pieces of digital art depicting Lucy Westenra’s three suitors. On the left is Arthur Holmwood, dressed in a navy coat. He is short, blond, and crying. In the middle is Jack Seward, dressed in a tan suit and carrying a doctor’s bag. He has dark hair and looks exceedingly tired. On the right is Quincey Morris, has dark hair and is dressed like a cowboy. He smiles and holds a gun. End ID.]
When Lucy said that Dr. Seward was imperturbable, what she actually didn’t realise is that he’s just got anxiety and awkward social skills around a girl he likes.
life is about accepting that while i may want to be quincey “hot smooth cowboy” morris i am in fact, to the ver y depths of my soul, jack “sat on his hat and brought his emotional support scalpel to a proposal” seward
I’m viewing him through a 21st century lens, but I’m thinking Jack Seward, the lunatic asylum man, might have at least one foot on the spectrum. When Lucy first describes him, she notes how brilliant he is (and he’s in charge of an entire asylum at the age of only 29, which maybe isn’t quite Doogie Howser levels of accomplishment, but it is very impressive), but also how when he looks at her it seems like he’s trying to psychoanalyze her. He tells her she would be a curious psychological study, *and means it as a compliment.*
Then when he makes his proposal, he plans out everything he means to say, immediately flubs it by almost sitting on his hat, gets flustered, and (to look nonchalant and cool) starts fidgeting with the first thing he finds in his pockets, a scalpel.
Brilliant at one thing, barely able to carry on a conversation without making it weird, awkward fidgeting when nervous … yeah, I think he might be one of ours.
ALT
