My main character is still waiting for that answer, in case you’re wondering.
Jonathan Harker, however, seems to be losing his marbles.
—God preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I can serve his purpose. Great God! merciful God! Let me be calm, for out of that way lies madness indeed. I begin to get new lights on certain things which have puzzled me. Up to now I never quite knew what Shakespeare meant when he made Hamlet say:—
“My tablets! quick, my tablets!
‘Tis meet that I put it down,” etc.,
for now, feeling as though my own brain were unhinged or as if the shock had come which must end in its undoing, I turn to my diary for repose. The habit of entering accurately must help to soothe me.
If you want to read something nice about the usage of Shapeskeare in Dracula, I suggest you take a look here.
My favourite take on the subject, however, has to be Christy Desmet’s essay “Remembering Ophelia: Ellen Terry and the Shakespearizing of Dracula” in the excellent Shakespearean Gothic published by the Wales University Press.
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