We are reading Dracula in school right now, and each chapter is going to be summarized by a student on their blog. The first chapter that I need to give a summary for is chapter 3.

At the end of chapter two, Jonathan Harker finally realizes that Count Dracula is keeping him prisoner in the castle. Realizing this freaks him out as it would for anybody. At the beginning of chapter three he tries every door and window, but over time realizes that he is helpless and begins to think about what he could do to get out of the castle. He concludes that he can’t let the Count know that he’s figured out that he is a prisoner. Jonathan later walks in on the Count making his bed, which conforms his suspicion that there is nobody in the house other then the Count and himself. In the night, Jonathan has a long talk with Count Dracula and he learns a lot about Transylvanian history. He finds it strange that the Count spoke about these events like he had been present for all of them.

The next day (May 12^th), the Count asks Jonathan a lot of questions about living in England and solicitors, and Jonathan finds is slightly odd that he is asking so many questions and that he already knows so much about the country. Then the Count asks Jonathan if he had written to Mr. Peter Hawkins, and when Jonathan tells him that he hasn’t, and the Count tells him to write to Mr. Hawkins telling him that he will stay at the Castle Dracula for another month. Jonathan has no choice but to comply as he is afraid of the Count, even though he would like to leave the place as soon as possible. Jonathan writes to Mr. Hawkins, and to his fiancé Mina, but is not allowed to include any personal details. Before the Count leaves for the night, he warns Jonathan not to fall asleep in any part of the castle except his own room, because there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Later in the evening, Jonathan goes out towards the stone staircase where he could see outside into the dark courtyard. While he is looking out, he suddenly sees the count emerge from his window, and begin to crawl down the castle wall, and Jonathan is greatly startled and disturbed by this. What manner of man is this, or what manner of creature is it in the semblance of man? I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear—in awful fear—and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of…

Jonathan Harker’s next diary entry is three days later, and he has seen the Count crawl down the wall once more since his last entry. After the Count leaves that night, he decides that it would be a good time to explore more of the castle. Almost all of the doors are locked, and the few that weren’t only had dusty furniture in them. Finally, he found another door that wasn’t locked and gave way with pressure. He decided to sit down in the room and write in his diary instead of going back to his bedroom. Later on, even though he felt tired he decided to disobey the Count’s warning and sleep there. He recalls the next part from the morning after, and he’s not sure whether it really happened or if it was a dream. Sometime after Jonathan finished writing in his diary, he suddenly, realized that he wasn’t alone in the room. There were three young women standing across from him, and he came up to him and stared at him for a long time, and whispered together. Two were dark, and one was fair. I felt in my heart a wicked, burning desire that they would kiss me with those red lips. The fair woman came up to him and was about to drink his blood when the count appeared, and was very angry at the three women. Jonathan notes that his eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell-fire blazed behind them. The Count had brought a bag with him, and when one of the women opened it and Jonathan heard the sound of a half-smothered child. After this, he passed out from horror.