Dracula

by Bram Stoker

Dracula: Logos 4 key examples

Definition of Logos

Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Jonathan and Dracula:

Responding to the terrifying events that take place at Castle Dracula, Jonathan Harker begins to use logical arguments—or logos—in his diary entries in Chapter 3:

Let me begin with facts - bare, meagre facts, verified by books and figures, and of which there can be no doubt. I must not confuse them with experiences which will have to rest on my own observation or my memory of them.

Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Seward and the Un-Dead:

At the beginning of Chapter 15, as an attempt to reason through Van Helsing's assertion that Lucy is the one biting the children, Dr. Seward uses logos:

The logic is simple, no madman's logic this time, jumping from tussock to tussock in a misty bog. If it be not true, then proof will be relief; at worst it will not harm.

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Chapter 18
Explanation and Analysis—Renfield's Argument:

In an intense passage towards the end of Chapter 18, Dr. Seward's inmate, Renfield, uses ethos, logos, and pathos as he argues for his freedom. At first, Renfield appeals to Seward's logical side as a man of science:

'You, gentlemen, who by nationality, by heredity, or by the possession of natural gifts, are fitted to hold your respective places in the moving world, I take to witness that I am as sane as at least the majority of men who are in full possession of their liberties. And I am sure that you, Dr. Seward, humanitarian and medico-journalist as well as scientist, will deem it a moral duty to deal with me as one to be considered as under exceptional circumstances.

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Chapter 26
Explanation and Analysis—Mina Harker's Memorandum:

Mina Harker's use of logical reasoning/argumentation (logos) to deduce the route Dracula will take to his castle is quite impressive: not on her part, for being "smart for a woman," but on Stoker's part, for writing a woman who holds her own and even exceeds the intelligence of the male protagonists. In Chapter 26, she utilizes a series of well-reasoned exclusions to deduce that Dracula will likely travel by water:

My surmise is, this: that in London the Count decided to get back to his Castle by water, as the most safe and secret way. He was brought from the Castle by Szgany, and probably they delivered their cargo to Slovaks who took their boxes to Varna, for there they were shipped for London. Thus the Count had knowledge of persons who could arrange this service. When the box was on land, before sunrise or after sunset, he came out from his box, met Skinsky and instructed him what to do as to arranging the carriage of the box up some river. When this was done, and he knew that all was in train, he blotted out his traces, as he thought, by murdering his agent.

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