Numbers have, for centuries, been known to represent a variety of things. Specifically, relating to spirituality and the meanings behind numbers. As an example, the number 2 deals with balance, power, etc. After closely analyzing Dracula, it occurred to me that the number 3 was a prevalent, and reoccurring character throughout the novel.
There are three female vampires, “In the moonlight opposite me were three young women, ladies by their dress and manner” (44). The Count asks Jonathan to write three letters when he is held in captivity, “Last night the count asked me in the suavest tones to write three letters…” (49). Lucy gets three marriage proposals from three different men in one day, “Just fancy! THREE proposals in one day!” (64.) When Jonathan goes to find the Count in the chapel, he comes across his coffin on the third try, “Into two of these I went, but saw nothing except fragments of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a discovery. There, in one of the great boxes, of which there were fifty in all, on a pile of newly dug earth, lay the Count!” (50). Lastly, the old man from the harbor has two male friends that are with him, “I came up here an hour ago with Lucy, and we has a most interesting talk with my old friend and the two others who always come and join him” (73).
Picking up on this reoccurring symbol made me think of the sign of the Devil: 666. There are three 6’s, which connects back to Dracula and the idea that Count Dracula and the Devil are one and the same. Relating to the idea of religion in Dracula, the count represents the Anti-Christ, but rises from the dead. Jesus was resurrected three days later. The number 3 ties the idea of religion together with Dracula.