“ | The blood is the life! | „ |
~ Renfield's most famous quote. |
Raeford Morton Renfield is the secondary antagonist of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and several of its film and TV adaptations. The most common version of the character is Count Dracula's insane and completely devoted slave.
Portrayals[]
Renfield has been played by several actors in several adaptations of Dracula. They include:
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Biography[]

R. M. Renfield in his cell - Illustration inspired by the 1992 film.
In Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, Renfield is a lawyer who becomes Dracula's henchman after visiting the vampire's palatial lair Castle Dracula. Dracula promises to make him immortal if he follows Dracula's orders. Renfield has a complete mental breakdown after Dracula drinks his blood, and upon returning to England is institutionalized in Dr. Jack Seward's asylum. Renfield raves about "the master" and becomes obsessed with eating insects and small mammals in order to gain their "life force"; his gaolers write him off as a lunatic, unaware that he is prophesying Dracula's travels to England. At one point, Renfield attacks Seward, cutting his arm and drinking his blood.
Throughout Renfield's institutionalization, Dracula appears to him in several animal forms - including that of a bat and a wolf - to instruct him to engineer Mina Harker to come to him and be his bride. When Mina visits him in the asylum, however, Renfield has an attack of conscience and warns her that Dracula is going to kill her. Enraged, Dracula appears in Renfield's cell and attacks him; Renfield tries in vain to fight the Count, who ultimately breaks Renfield's neck.
External Links[]
- Renfield on Wikipedia
- Renfield on the Universal Monsters Wiki
- R.M. Renfield on the Dracula Wiki
- R.M. Renfield on the Hero Wiki
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