Renfield
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R. M. Renfield is a fictional character in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.
[edit] In the novel
A description of Renfield from the novel:
R. M. Renfield, aetat 59. Sanguine temperament, great physical strength, morbidly excitable, periods of gloom, ending in some fixed idea which I cannot make out. I presume that the sanguine temperament itself and the disturbing influence end in a mentally-accomplished finish, a possibly dangerous man, probably dangerous if unselfish. In selfish men, caution is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves. What I think of on this point is, when self is the fixed point the centripetal force is balanced with the centrifugal. When duty, a cause, etc., is the fixed point, the latter force is paramount, and only accident or a series of accidents can balance it. — From Dr. John Seward's journal
[edit] Headline text
He is an inmate at the lunatic asylum overseen by Dr. John Seward. He suffers from delusions which compel him to eat living creatures in the hope of obtaining their life-force for himself. Being confined to the asylum, and aware of the foolishness of taking on a full-sized hospital orderly, he starts by consuming flies, then develops a scheme of feeding the flies to spiders, and the spiders to birds, in order to accumulate more and more life. When denied a cat to accommodate the birds, he eats the birds himself. He also changes his ideas to accommodate madam Mina Harker by quickly eating all flies and stating that it was an old habit. Doctor Seward diagnoses him as a zoophagous maniac.
During the course of the novel it is discovered that he is under the influence of Count Dracula. The vampire, whose abilities include control over animals such as rats, bats and spiders, comes to Renfield with an offer: if Renfield worships him, he will provide Renfield with an endless supply of food.
However, when confronted by Mina Harker, the object of Dracula's obsession, Renfield suffers an attack of conscience and begs her to flee from his master's grasp. Enraged by this treachery, Dracula infiltrates Renfield's cell (in the form of fog), and when Renfield lures the Count by assisting his entrance to the asylum, the base of Seward and his fellow vampire hunters, Dracula breaks his neck.
He appeared to have sudden moments in which he was aware of his insanity and kept it in check; he willingly gives information about the Count. He dies in a state of sanity.
[edit] In other media
Film adaptations of the novel, if they include Renfield, have a tendency to expand his role, making him a long-standing servant of the vampire Count, often depicting his mania as a result of falling under Dracula's influence, rather than as a pre-existing condition that made him vulnerable to it. Tod Browning's 1931 film, for example, conflates the character with that of Jonathan Harker, making Renfield (played by Dwight Frye) the real estate agent who is sent to Transylvania and falls under Dracula's (Bela Lugosi) power. The 1922 silent film Nosferatu presents Alexander Granach as a Renfield similar to that of the novel, but gives him the name Knock, and in a deviation from the novel, survives only to be caught and trapped in prison where he is unable to help Count Orlok, his master, escape the morning sunlight.
In Count Dracula, Klaus Kinski (who portrayed a Count Orlok-style Dracula in Nosferatu the Vampyre) played Renfield as mute. Kinski's own "Nosferatu" (1979) has its own Renfield, actor Roland Topor, who, as in the original, is Jonathan Harker's employer who goes fully mad before Dracula arrives.
The BBC version of "Count Dracula" (1977), starring Louis Jourdan in the title role, includes Jack Shepherd as a sympathetic Renfield in a novel-faithful prominent role which highlights his relationship with Mina. This is the first truly by-the-book version of Renfield, not to be matched until Tom Waits' portrayal in the Coppola version. The Frank Langella "Dracula" (1979) has Tony Haygarth playing "Milo" Renfield as a unkempt workman who in enthralled by Dracula while he is unloading the boxes as Carfax. Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula suggests that Renfield (portrayed by Tom Waits) was Harker's predecessor as Count Dracula's agent in London; it is implied that this is the reason for his present madness.
The main two Dracula parody films both include Frye-ish Renfield. George Hamilton's 1977 "Love at First Bite" features Arte Johnson as Renfield, who carries around a large array of creatures, including a boa constrictor, for nourishment. Mel Brooks's 1995 "Dracula: Dead and Loving It!" has Peter MacNicol in the role.
Renfield appears as the protagonist in a number of works that provide his backstory or retell the Dracula tale from his viewpoint. The novels The Book of Renfield by Tim Lucas and Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hamby are examples of this as is Gary Reed's graphic novel Renfield: A Tale Of Madness.
Renfield is re-imagined in the book Fangland into a wannabe artiste named Stimson Beevers who communicates with his master via email by John Marks.
In the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, during the course of the game the player ends up in a cell after being beaten by the main antagonist. If the player saves, the person who saves the data (code named "Paramedic") will tell the main protagonist about Renfield being rescued from the prison by Dracula. This ends up giving the main protagonist a bad dream when play resumes and the main protagonist has nightmares about Dracula anytime he is brought up.
In The Dresden Files, Renfields are people who have been enslaved to a Black Court vampire by raw, psychic strength. Renfields are left with little mind and are aggressive, murderous, raving lunatics who die within a year or two of having their psyche ripped to shreds.
In the PC game Dracula: Origin, Renfield is the guardian of Godalming Manor, Dracula's castle in London. In order to succeed him, the player must throw him a bottle with flies inside. As he sees it, he starts eating them and Van Helsing can go through the room.
In the Japanese manga Blood Alone, Renfields are humans who have tasted the blood of vampires and acquired vampire-like powers such as immortality. However they also lose their self-will and become fully devoted to the vampire whose blood they have tasted. Not being fully vampirised they can serve their masters during the daytime hours.
