Dracula: Chapter 3

Chapter 3 is probably the most significanat and intense chapter throughout Jonathan Harker's journal. It is the chapter where some of the mysteries of chapter 2 are answered with small drips of evidence to what is actually going on.

To begin with, the Count is beginning to act more like a king, and due to this Harker is feeling ever more like a prisoner. The scene in which he writes letters to his boss and family is significant to this, as he knows that the Count will read whatever he writes on the letters therefore he has to be very careful on what he writes. This makes Harker feel completely helpless, and adds to the unease that he goes through whilst he stays at the castle. This unease is then built on when the Count slyly forces him to stay longer (by saying he wont accept refusal), as "business" is not finished according to the Count. Also, the dramatic monologue on page 26 implies how important family history is to the Count, and the way he goes about it appears as though he wants vengence for something related to it.
The Count is still becoming more and more fearful to Jonathan Harker. Harker also has no one to go to as it is just him, and the Count in the castle. The Counts warning, which is "Let me advise you my dear young friend, nay-let me warn you with all seriousness, that should you leave these rooms you will not by any chances go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be warned!". This begins to unfold a very supernatural and gothic tone to the story, and gives the reader (possibly Harker aswell) the urge to explore the castle in greater detail.
When Harker does decide to explore the castle in places that are forbidden, everything appears to become very distorted as a result of this. An example of this is the grotesque phrase "the distant hills become melted". This distorted texture portrays the high degree of supernaturality that there is at this point. "The weird sisters" are significant to this aswell. Throughout the gothic genre you will always come across something related to lust and perhaps a degree of female nudity, and this is the point in Dracula where it is mainly portrayed. An example of this is "The fair girl advanced and bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. Sweet it was in one sense, honey sweet, and sent the same tingling through the nerves as her voice, but with a bitter underlying the sweet, a bitter offensiveness, as one smells in blood." The fact that this woman's skin in pale is also gothicly iconic. The Count's power is also shown off later in this part of the chapter, as he controls their movement through the wave of one of his hands; in the same way that he did with the wolves.
As this scene shows, Harker's sanity is declining further and further as we read through the journal. It will convey a sense of unease towards the reader as well as Harker himself as it suggests that the Count could get in control of him, like he does with the wolves and "the weird sisters".