Mina Harker
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 14:27, 25 January 2014 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) ← Previous diff |
Current revision Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
| - | '''R. M. Renfield''' is a [[fictional character]] in the novel ''[[Dracula]]'' by [[Bram Stoker]]. | ||
| - | A description of Renfield from Bram Stoker's [[Dracula]]: | + | '''Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker''' ([[née]] '''Murray''') is a [[Character (arts)|fictional character]] and the [[protagonist]] of [[Bram Stoker]]'s 1897 Gothic horror novel ''[[Dracula]]''. |
| - | <blockquote> | + | == In the novel == |
| - | R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable, | + | She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to [[Jonathan Harker]], and best friends with [[Lucy Westenra]]. She visits Lucy in [[Whitby]] on July 24 of that year, when schools would have closed for the summer. |
| - | periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I cannot make out. I presume that the | + | |
| - | sanguine temperament itself and the disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish, | + | |
| - | a possibly dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men, caution is as | + | |
| - | secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of on this point is, | + | |
| - | when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal. | + | |
| - | When duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed point, the latter force is paramount, and only | + | |
| - | accident of a series of accidents can balance it. - From Dr. [[John Seward]]'s journal | + | |
| - | </blockquote> | + | |
| - | He is an inmate at the [[psychiatric hospital|lunatic asylum]] overseen by Dr. [[John Seward]]. Aged fifty-nine, he suffers from a delusional belief system that leads him to eat living creatures in the hope of obtaining their life-force for himself. Being confined to the asylum, and aware of the foolishness of taking on a full-sized hospital orderly, he starts by consuming flies, then develops a scheme of feeding the flies to spiders, and the spiders to birds, in order to accumulate more and more life. When denied a cat to accommodate the birds, he eats the birds himself. | + | After her fiancé Jonathan escapes from [[Count Dracula]]'s castle, Mina travels to [[Budapest]] and joins him there. Mina cares for him during his recovery from his [[Psychological trauma|trauma]]tic encounter with the [[vampire]] and his [[Brides of Dracula|brides]], and the two return to [[England]] as husband and wife. Back home, they learn that Lucy has died from a mysterious illness stemming from severe blood loss as the result of repeated attacks by an unknown, blood-drinking animal; — the animal, they learn, was none other than Dracula taking a different shape. |
| - | During the course of the novel it is discovered, that he is under the influence of [[Count Dracula]]. | + | Mina and Jonathan join the coalition around [[Abraham Van Helsing]], and turn their attentions to destroying the Count. After Dracula learns of this plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting — and biting — Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, destining her to become a vampire at her death. The rest of the novel deals with the group's efforts to spare her this fate by killing Dracula. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is [[telepathy|telepathically]] connected with Dracula. Mina then uses her inherent telepathic abilities to track Dracula's movements. |
| - | However, when confronted by [[Mina Harker]], the object of Dracula's obsession, Renfield suffers an attack of [[conscience]] and begs her to flee from his master's grasp. Enraged by this treachery, Dracula infiltrates Renfield's cell (in the form of [[fog]]), and when Renfield lures the Count by assisting his entrance to the asylum, the base of Seward and his fellow [[vampire hunter]]s, Dracula breaks his neck. | + | Dracula flees back to his castle in [[Transylvania]], followed by Van Helsing's gang, who kill him just before sunset. As a result, Dracula's spell is lifted and Mina freed from the curse. |
| - | [[Film adaptation]]s of the novel, if they include Renfield, have a tendency to expand his role, making him a twenty-something, more active and long-standing servant of the vampire Count, often depicting his [[zoophagia|zoophagous]] [[mania]] as a result of falling under Dracula's influence, rather than as a pre-existing condition that made him vulnerable to it. [[Tod Browning]]'s 1931 film starring [[Bela Lugosi]] (with [[Dwight Frye]] as Renfield), for example, conflates the character with that of [[Jonathan Harker]], making Renfield the [[real estate]] agent who is sent to [[Transylvania]]. ''[[Nosferatu]]'' presents [[Alexander Granach]] as a Renfield similar to that of the novel, but gives him the name Knock. The K is intended to be pronounced. | + | The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name Quincey in remembrance of their American friend [[Quincey Morris]], who was killed by Dracula's [[Romani people|Szgany]] minions during the final confrontation. The birth of Jonathan and Mina's son signifies [[hope]] and life of the new as the novel heads into the 20th century.<ref>Experts Milhousen and Frytopen.</ref> |
| - | In the 1979 film ''[[Dracula (1979 film)|Dracula]]'', Renfield's first name is given as '''Milo''', and he is a laborer who goes to work at Carfax Abbey. | + | ==In other media== |
| + | Mina (or a similar character) has appeared in most film adaptations of Stoker's novel. | ||
| - | In "Bill Cosby Himself", in one of the stories he told, Bill refers to him in the line "sounding like Renfield!" | + | In Stoker's original novel, Mina Harker recovers from the vampire's curse upon Dracula's death. However, in many films, books, plays and songs, she does not lose her vampiric abilities. |
| - | + | ||
| - | [[Francis Ford Coppola]]'s 1992 film ''[[Bram Stoker's Dracula]]'' expressly states that Renfield (performed by [[Tom Waits]]) was Harker's predecessor as Count Dracula's agent in [[London]]; it is thus implied that this is the reason for his present madness. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In [[Mel Brooks]]' 1995 parody ''[[Dracula: Dead and Loving It]]'', Renfield's first name is given as '''Thomas''', and he is portrayed by [[Peter MacNicol]]. | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | == Popular Culture == | + | |
| - | In [[Jim Butcher]]'s series of novels, [[The Dresden Files]], thralls of Black Court vampires are referred to as "Renfields." | + | |
| - | + | ||
| - | In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'''s "[[Buffy vs. Dracula]]" mythos adaptation, [[Xander Harris|Xander]] served as Dracula's Renfield. | + | |
| {{GFDL}} | {{GFDL}} | ||
Current revision
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker (née Murray) is a fictional character and the protagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula.
In the novel
She begins the story as Miss Mina Murray, a young school mistress who is engaged to Jonathan Harker, and best friends with Lucy Westenra. She visits Lucy in Whitby on July 24 of that year, when schools would have closed for the summer.
After her fiancé Jonathan escapes from Count Dracula's castle, Mina travels to Budapest and joins him there. Mina cares for him during his recovery from his traumatic encounter with the vampire and his brides, and the two return to England as husband and wife. Back home, they learn that Lucy has died from a mysterious illness stemming from severe blood loss as the result of repeated attacks by an unknown, blood-drinking animal; — the animal, they learn, was none other than Dracula taking a different shape.
Mina and Jonathan join the coalition around Abraham Van Helsing, and turn their attentions to destroying the Count. After Dracula learns of this plot against him, he takes revenge by visiting — and biting — Mina at least three times. Dracula also feeds Mina his blood, destining her to become a vampire at her death. The rest of the novel deals with the group's efforts to spare her this fate by killing Dracula. Mina slowly succumbs to the blood of the vampire that flows through her veins, switching back and forth from a state of consciousness to a state of semi-trance during which she is telepathically connected with Dracula. Mina then uses her inherent telepathic abilities to track Dracula's movements.
Dracula flees back to his castle in Transylvania, followed by Van Helsing's gang, who kill him just before sunset. As a result, Dracula's spell is lifted and Mina freed from the curse.
The book closes with a note about Mina's and Jonathan's married life and the birth of their first-born son, whom they name Quincey in remembrance of their American friend Quincey Morris, who was killed by Dracula's Szgany minions during the final confrontation. The birth of Jonathan and Mina's son signifies hope and life of the new as the novel heads into the 20th century.<ref>Experts Milhousen and Frytopen.</ref>
In other media
Mina (or a similar character) has appeared in most film adaptations of Stoker's novel.
In Stoker's original novel, Mina Harker recovers from the vampire's curse upon Dracula's death. However, in many films, books, plays and songs, she does not lose her vampiric abilities.
