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Renfield character profile
Who?
● R
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Renfield is a patient at the lunatic asylum where Dr Seward works and is
described as a ​“madman”
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● Renfield is thought to suffer delusions which make him feel the need to eat
creatures in order to sustain him
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● Renfield provides a barometer of Dracula’s strength and his erratic changes in
behaviour coincide with Dracula’s comings and goings
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Renfield
seems to be a more realistic depiction of the impacts of mental ill-health and
is arguably more representative of a common vampire than Dracula
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Due to the mind control that
Dracula exerts on Mina, she becomes a sort of female version of Renfield and
takes his place as the measure of Dracula’s movements
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He puzzles medical professionals and yet remains one of
the novel’s most charismatic and fascinating characters
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This creates a sense of
immortality, which is also reflected in Dracula as the ​“undead”
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​This is taken directly from Deuteronomy
in the Bible, and stems from the Jewish belief that blood is literally the source
of life
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This almost
blasphemous use of religious symbolism highlights Renfield as
unconventional and undoubtedly controversial amongst the Victorian reader
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His almost childlike fascination and curiosity with
living beings portrays him as infantile, added to the fact that he cannot sustain
his basic needs and has to be locked up for his own safety
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As a minion in
forced servitude to his master, it could be argued that Renfield is almost a
guinea pig on which to test Dracula’s strength
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Unlike modern day psychiatric units, patients had
very little freedom and were often detained against their own will
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● Renfield syndrome - also called Clinical Vampirism - is a phenomenon that
has been documented in people who are fixated by the power of blood
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For some people, it leads to
murderous tendencies and a fascination with gory sexual fantasies
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Serial killers who act out such
desires or confess to being aroused by consuming blood are often diagnosed
with Vampire Personality Disorder (VPD), although this is not a
widely-accepted condition
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● Something which he shares with Dracula is his greed - Renfield is tempted by
the animals which he believes to be life-giving and indulges his passion in a
grotesque manner
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He describes Dracula as ​“lord and master”, ​presenting him as a sort
of regal and foreboding figure in the novel
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Renfield is also exploited by Dracula, who uses him to gain entry into
the asylum and then kills him - despite a desire to learn from the best,
Renfield’s journey into Vampirism is cut short
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This introduces the Gothic convention of exterior
forces controlling humans as well as spooky settings
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Appearances in the novel
● Renfield is described by Dr Seward: ​“R
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Renfield, aetat 59
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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
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What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed point the
centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal
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, is
the fixed point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of
accidents can balance it”
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These insects become a nuisance to Dr Seward
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When Seward refuses, Renfield eats the birds whole and disgorges
feathers
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He runs into Carfax - Dracula’s new estate - and
submits himself to his master
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● Dr Seward notes a change in Renfield’s routine - whilst he is furious and
vengeful at night, he is calm and almost normal during the day
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● Renfield escapes to Carfax again but becomes strangely calm when a large
bat flies overhead
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He only managed to make a small cut on his wrist, and he
lapped up the blood from the wound on the floor
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● Periodically, Seward writes in his journal that Renfield appears to be normal
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● Mina is interested by this and asks to meet Renfield, who is polite and
appears sane
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Seward believes he is
lying
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He
wants to be released and appears to be perfectly well
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Renfield begs not to be kept
near Carfax anymore and becomes withdrawn and depressed
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It is ascertained that Dracula offered Renfield an
unlimited amount of blood in order to be let into the asylum
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● Before his death, Renfield warns Van Helsing and Seward that he fears
Dracula wants to hurt Mina
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