The use of hypnotism is extensive in the final chapters of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Van Helsing places Mina into a hypnotic or trance state numerous times to locate Dracula and learn of his premeditated actions. Stoker's great use of hypnotism is what ultimately leads to Dracula's destruction. However, what drives Stoker to use hypnotherapy to kill the most important character in his book? Taking a new historical approach can help the reader understand how Stoker was influenced by his culture to incorporate hypnosis into Dracula and why he chose it as a method to destroy Dracula, while curing Mina. Hypnosis can be traced back to the ancient Chinese and Egyptians, who used it in religious rituals and as a medical treatment. However, at the end of the 18th century, it was Franz Anton Mesmer who believed he could heal through “animal magnetism” and calming words and gestures. Not to be tied to Mesmer, doctors in France and England introduced the terms hypnosis and hypnotherapy. “In 1890, the British Medical Association approved hypnotherapy as an appropriate adjunctive therapy for several conditions” (Hypnotherapy). Considering that hypnosis was endorsed by the English around the time Dracula was written and published, it is easy to understand how Stoker was influenced by the broad discourse on hypnotism and why he decided to incorporate it into his book. Starting from chapter twenty-three through to the final chapter, twenty-seven, Stoker mentions small, but significant details that have a large influence on the outcome of the hypnosis. These small details illustrate how Stoker researched and understood how hypnosis works and its end result. Analyzing these small details can help... middle of paper... in the battle for life. In the novel, however, Stoker ensures that his female character triumphs (by surviving) and returns home to "become a dutiful wife and a caring mother." This is where we might argue that “Stoker is well ahead of her time in portraying a 'New Woman' who surpasses even the best male 'professionals' in terms of intellectual work, a 'gallant' woman with a remarkable 'male brain' who helps save the empire, although her power suddenly wanes towards the end of the novel, and she is finally summoned home to become a traditional mother figure” (Kwan-Wai Yu 158). Although Stoker was very accurate in the new scientific and technological advances that he incorporated into Dracula, he was also very accurate in portraying a strong, strong-willed woman who is able to complete a job that was unwittingly given to her in the most extraordinary way..