The importance of language in Braham Stoker's DraculaDracula shows a notable connection to other monster stories, as the creature is hindered by language and often defeated by it. In Beowulf, the monster Grendel is unable to speak and is excluded from the community. Shakespeare's Caliban in the Tempest was taught the language and used it to curse. In Shelly's Frankenstein, the creature was handicapped by knowing nothing at the time of its creation as an adult, and becomes a monster partly because of the treatment it receives from the people it encounters, but also because of the books it reads, which leads him to educate him to hatred and eventual fall. Count Dracula's problem wasn't that he was unintelligent in his use of language. He understood the power of language very well and uses Jonathan Harker to perfect his English. The Count's problem is that the mortals he wishes to prey on can communicate with each other very well and very efficiently. Because they are able to communicate so well, they are all able to join together their stories of the Count and discover, first, his existence and, second, his intentions. It all begins with Jonathan Harker's diary, in which he records his adventures in the Carpathians. This is important, because his diary is an important clue to finally determining what exactly is going on. His girlfriend, and later wife, Mina, transcribes the diary and then shows it to Dr. Van Helsing, a well-known doctor, lawyer, philosopher and metaphysician. Through the diary, Van Helsing is able to determine what exactly happened to Lucy, who at the beginning of the novel was a victim of the Count. Dr. Seward's phonographic diary was useful for observing Mr. Renfield, also a victim of Dracula, who the protagonists used to locate the Count's London home. Another example of language defeating Dracula is Dr. Van Helsing himself. Van Helsing was educated through books and folklore, and was thus equipped with the knowledge of how to defeat the count and his servants. The doctor's knowledge of medicine allowed him to provide the transfusions to prolong Lucy's life. Thanks to his knowledge of vampire lore, he knew how to place garlic cloves to ward off the daemon, how to use sacred wafers to "purify" what was infected with the vampire's curse, and the ritual needed to destroy a vampire..