Gratuitous Multiple Personality in “Dracula” by Bram Stoker (post 3): Renfield frequently switches personalities, and his doctor is puzzled.

What is the purpose of Mr. Renfield in the plot of Dracula? Since his zoophagia seemed motivated by a thirst for blood, I had imagined him to be an ally of Dracula. But I was proved wrong when it turned out that Dracula’s only use for Renfield was to get an invitation into the building where Mina (Dracula’s intended victim) was residing. Indeed, since Renfield opposes Dracula’s assault of Mina, Dracula kills him.

Renfield is a longterm, mental hospital patient, and since it turns out that his only vital function in the plot is to let Dracula gain access to the building where Mina and her husband are guests, it really doesn’t matter what kind of mental illness he has. Indeed, the doctors find him puzzling, and never do give him a definite diagnosis.

Renfield’s disgusting appetite for insects and small animals is not consistent. Sometimes he has no interest in it. And in the chapter before Dracula kills him, Renfield’s switches from one personality to another are noteworthy. To quote from the psychiatrist’s diary:

“I am puzzled about Renfield. His moods change so rapidly that I find it difficult to keep touch of them…This morning, when I went to see him…his manner was that of a man commanding destiny…he was in the clouds and looked down on all the weaknesses and wants of us poor mortals…

“…for an instant he unconsciously relapsed into his old servile manner, bent low before me, and actually fawned upon me…

“…he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as he—a dogged silence…He was sulky…

“…he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being soaped…for it seemed that before me was a child…

“…he at once fell from his high-horse and became a child again” (1, pp. 235-238).

Note: In multiple personality, child-aged personalities are the most common kind.

And at various other times, Renfield has seemed so normal that the doctor was tempted to discharge him from the hospital.

In short, multiple personality is the most likely diagnosis for the multiple switches in personality described above.

But there is no apparent reason for the author to include a person with multiple personality in this plot. And since the diagnosis is not recognized by the characters who are doctors, I don’t know if the author even knew that that is what Renfield portrays.

In conclusion, Dracula is one more novel with “gratuitous multiple personality.” (Search it in this blog for previous examples and a discussion of the issue.)

1. Bram Stoker. Dracula [1897]. Edited by Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal. New York, W. W. Norton, 1997.