The thing in the coffin writhed, and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips. The body shook and quivered and twisted in wild contortions. The sharp white teeth champed together till the lips were cut, and the mouth was smeared with a crimson foam. But Arthur never faltered. He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake.
– Bram Stoker
Dracula, Chapter 16. In one of the most disconcerting scenes in the novel, Arthur Holmwood drives a stake through the undead vampire Lucy’s heart before she is beheaded and her mouth filled with garlic. Arthur was Lucy’s fiancé while she lived and the four men present agree that he is the right person for the job. There is a heavy sexual symbolism to this scene, with the stake representing a phallic symbol. Bodily fluids flow in the form of blood from Lucy’s heart. The beautiful and innocent Lucy Westenra was the evil Dracula’s first victim in England. The vampire hunters carry out their ritual on Lucy to save her soul.