MBTI Type: ESFP

Dracula left Romania to wander the crowded streets of London, to feel its life, its blood. Mina accurately perceives that he has a great lust for life. Indeed. Dracula wastes no time in taking opportunities as they arise, from dancing with Lucy to establish the connection she desires to sneaking into a busy sanitarium in the middle of the night. He is not afraid to react physically, becoming violent under stress and reacting quickly, such as when he breaks the mirror to disguise his lack of a reflection from Van Helsing. It takes him no time at all to single out and prey on Mina, while the others in the house sleep peacefully next door. He confronts and then attacks Jonathan Harker and Van Helsing in his own basement. He sneaks into Lucy’s room to seduce her with her father downstairs. He changes his plan instantly and impulsively from a desire to live in England to making Lucy his vampire queen and returning home, where they will “make more of our kind.” He is a romantic, a deeply emotional man who forms an instant, strong, silent connection to Lucy. He selectively appeals to the people he likes, and takes a different method with those he doesn’t—with Mina, he is gentle and kind in the presence of others, with Lucy more formidable and romantic, and with Jonathan, a potential antagonist, he allows his façade to drop into polite hostility (“I would invite you too, but you are leaving?”). Dracula is mysterious in his intentions, and vague in sharing his feelings, except for Lucy – even then, he expresses his desires for her in a shared vision to create more of “our kind,” without descending into overly sentimental dialogue. He also lets a few blunt hints drop along the way (“I despise women with no life in them… no blood”). Dracula takes decisive action based on the facts of any given situation, oriented toward altering his circumstances. He ensures Mina is at his mercy through hypnotism, he recruits and then dispatches with Renfield, he breaks Lucy out of the asylum, and he arranges for himself and her to be transported back to Romania. However, he is too irrational in his fascination for Lucy to realize that taking her endangers his chances of survival; it would be better for him to let her alone and instead, arranges for them both to escape. His Ni is also quite good. Dracula sizes up the group in Dr. Seward’s home and understands each person’s role in it. He has an immediate sense of Lucy having only just met her (the next day, he remarks to Jonathan, “She’s not like other women, is she?” and comprehends that Jonathan’s intention is to marry her); he admits he “sensed” Mina was in poor health. Dracula has a romantic view of the world, often interpreting it in singular ways (calling the wolves’ howls lonely). In a way, his intuition is his undoing – he becomes so determined to have Lucy (a singular desire),  that he assumes he can get away with her unchallenged, despite Van Helsing proving a formidable opportunist.

Enneagram: 7w8 sx/sp

Dracula came to England in order to find stimulating experiences, to enjoy the rush and whirl of humanity, and to feed upon it. He sees no reason to deny himself anything, be it Mina or Lucy, and excuses his actions through a rationalization of need, as if he is powerless against his desperation and not in control of his own actions. He seduces Lucy into enjoying the night with him, by pointing out its pleasures and also giving pleasure to her. Though it seems an act of love, it is really to fulfill his own hedonism, desire not to be alone, and arrogant contempt for lesser beings. He has a polished and charming presence, and an excuse for everything. Dracula’s 8 wing has an unconscious power and need to size up those who hold the floor in a room and identify himself as one of them, without over-assertion. He welcomes Lucy’s rude, flippant argumentative nature, because he despises women with no life in them, no blood. This is precisely the sort of stimulating encounter I hoped to find in England. He takes her statement of she loves to be frightened as a direct invitation to seduce her. Dracula tries to mind-control Van Helsing, whom he sees as an enemy, and cannot contain his violent reaction to his presence — he accurately perceives him as a threat and tries to eliminate him. He enjoys dominating and sneering at Jonathan, both in causing the cross to explode into flames in Jonathan’s hand (he accurately perceives Jonathan does not have faith) and in his subtle digs over signing the deed.