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I hadn’t the heart to write last night; that terrible record of Jonathan’s upset me so. Poor dear! How he must have suffered, whether it be true or only imagination. I wonder if there is any truth in it at all.
Here, Mina writes in her journal after reading Jonathan’s account of his time at Castle Dracula. As she imagines what he experienced to be impossible, she immediately doubts that any of his story is actually true. However, her sympathy and love for her husband show through as she pities him even if none of his recalled events actually happened.
I suppose one ought to pity any thing so hunted as the Count. That is just it: this Thing is not human—not even beast.
Mina writes about the Count in her journal and needs to stop herself from feeling sorry for him, the beast who killed her best friend and turned her into a vampire. The fact that Mina’s kindness can almost extend towards Count Dracula shows the boundlessness of her empathy and need to care for others.
His wife, through her terror and horror and distress, saw some sure danger to him; instantly forgetting her own grief, she seized hold of him and cried out:-- ‘No! no! Jonathan, you must not leave me. I have suffered enough tonight, God knows, without the dread of his harming you.’
After Count Dracula comes to Mina and puts Jonathan in a stupor, Jonathan awakens and threatens to go look for him. Although Mina suffered greatly that night, she immediately puts aside her own trauma to focus on Jonathan’s well-being, asking him to stay under the pretext of protecting her. While husbands were seen as overtly protective figures, Mina sometimes manipulates Jonathan to keep him safe.
She was so good and brave that we all felt that our hearts were strengthened to work and endure for her, and we began to discuss what we were to do.
Harker writes in his journal describing the group’s reaction to Mina’s resolve to survive until Count Dracula’s demise. Mina acts as an inspiration to all of the men throughout the novel, most likely because she embodies the ideal of a virtuous woman at the end of the nineteenth century. Had Mina been flawed in any way, the men may not have felt as compelled to protect her.
I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace, such as I never could have imagined might have rested there.
Here, Mina recounts her feelings as she sees Mr. Morris plunge a knife into Count Dracula’s heart. While they all rejoice to be rid of the Count and the dangers he posed, Mina alone feels happy to see him at peace, as he should have been when he died long ago. Mina’s sympathy for the Count who inflicted on her so much pain reveals her forgiving and maternal nature.
