Arthur Holmwood

Arthur Holmwood
Dracula character
First appearance Dracula
Created by Bram Stoker
Information
Aliases Lord Godalming
Species Human
Gender Male
Title The Hon[1]
Relatives Lord Godalming (father)(Deceased)

Sir Arthur "Art" Holmwood (Later Lord Godalming) is a fictional character of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula.

In the novel

Holmwood is engaged to Lucy Westenra, and is best friends with the other two men who proposed to her on the very same day— Quincey Morris and Doctor John Seward. Holmwood is the one who drives a wooden stake into Lucy after she becomes a vampire and helps hunt Count Dracula. He is the only son of Lord Godalming'[2] who towards the middle of the story dies to which Arthur then succeeds his father as Lord Godalming. It is through his wealth and fortune that the team are able to be funded in their operation of vanquishing Dracula. He has been depicted aiding the other protagonists of the novel in raiding Draculas many lairs throughout London as well as aiding in the investigation of locating Dracula's many purchased estates. It is mentioned in the note at the end of the novel, written seven years after Dracula's death, that Holmwood is now married happily.

It is of interest to note that Holmwood and Jonathan Harker exchange personality types depending on whose significant other is being terrorized by the Count. In the beginning, Holmwood is emotional and prone to melancholia while Jonathan attempts to maintain a strong will and recovery after his time in Dracula's castle. After the death of Holmwood's father, Holmwood gains a somewhat stronger will, befitting his new title, while Jonathan is prone to melancholia as his wife is terrorized by the Count.

In other media

Though a major character in the novel, Arthur Holmwood has been omitted from some adaptations of the story. In the 1977 adaptation Count Dracula, he is merged with the character Quincey Morris and renamed Quincey Holmwood. In the 1992 adaptation, Bram Stoker's Dracula, he is portrayed faithfully to his counterpart in the novel. In the 2006 adaptation Dracula, Holmwood is a more important character than he is in the novel and is portrayed much more negatively, aiding Dracula's travels to England in the belief that Dracula may be able to cure him of the syphilis that prevents him from consummating his marriage. To date he has been portrayed in films and television by:

In the 1938 Mercury Theatre radio production of Dracula, Holmwood's character was combined with John Seward's and renamed Arthur Seward, who was voiced by Orson Welles who also voiced Dracula in the adaptation. The 2004 film Dracula 3000 features a character named Arthur Holmwood, though it is a futuristic science fiction/horror film and this Holmwood is not intended to be the same person. In the full motion video based game Dracula Unleashed, Holmwood is played by Jay Nickerson.

In the novel Anno Dracula by Kim Newman, in which the events of Stoker's Dracula ended with the villain slaying Abraham Van Helsing and subsequently conquering the United Kingdom, Holmwood is again a major character. Having himself become a vampire- which Newman justifies on the grounds that Holmwood was the most useless member of the group of hunters, contributing nothing to the effort beyond his association with Lucy, and was therefore the most likely candidate to betray the group—he is now an aide to the new Prime Minister, Lord Ruthven. In this version, Holmwood, though outwardly kind and genteel, is actually a megalomaniac who hopes to eventually use his new vampiric powers to usurp Ruthven and, eventually, Dracula himself, showing little concern for even the rules of vampiric society.

Holmwood is also a traitor in the comic Victorian Undead II; here an agent of the Diogenes Club reporting to Mycroft Holmes, Holmwood was sent to Transylvania to investigate local legends as a means of providing Britain with a new defense after the revenant attack on London a year prior, but decided to aid Dracula in controlling the UK in exchange for his own power. However, Dracula's lust for power and impatience eventually made him distrust Holmwood, with Dracula dismissively discarding Holmwood so that Lucy- saved by Holmwood's betrayal- can feed on him instead.

Miscellaneous

Holmwood and Godalming are both places in Surrey.

References

  1. ↑ Stoker, Bram. Dracula (PDF). Chapter 6, Mina Murray's Journal, 26 July. p. 105. Mr. Holmwood, he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming
  2. ↑ Stoker, Bram. Dracula (PDF). Chapter 6, Mina Murray's Journal, 26 July. p. 105. Mr. Holmwood, he is the Hon. Arthur Holmwood, only son of Lord Godalming
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