May 15th and 16th’s journal entries by Jonathan are extremely interesting in terms of a gender analysis of Dracula because it is one of the clearest examples of Jonathan actually taking on the role of a Gothic heroine
Not only does he compare himself to a young lady of the past who would have occupied the room and done exactly what he is doing (writing to someone they love) and reclining on the comfortable couches, but this narrative turn is precisely the classic Gothic trope of a young woman who has been brought to a big old lonely house venturing out into an abandoned and forbidden part of the house (representing her mind) and discovering something exciting and terrible (sexuality). Think of Jane Eyre or Crimson Peak
The three women place him under a thrall and he is open about while being duly terrified he is also aroused. Notably he is also in a very submissive position which was customary for female characters at the time. Ravishing stories are very common in sexually repressed cultures because resistance to the idea and being in a position of submission gives the woman of the story plausible deniability in the face of sexuality
When the Count comes in it gets no less erotic and actually gets more direct as he verbally claims Jonathan as his and responds that he CAN love when the three women accuse him of being unable to, the implication clear that he will love Jonathan before giving him over to them for “kisses”
Jonathan then wakes undressed in his own bed, his agency removed by literally having been moved away from his progress exploring and back into where the Count is keeping him and allowing him to go
