Dracula 4

"...I saw Van Helsing break down. He raised his hands over his head in a sort of mute despair, and then beat his palms together in a helpless way; finally he sat down on a chair, and... began to sob, with loud, dry sobs that seemed to come from the very racking of his heart. Then he raised his arms again, as though appealing to the whole universe. “God! God! God!” he said. “What have we done... that we are so sore beset? Is there fate amongst us still, sent down from the pagan world of old, that such things must be, and in such way? This poor mother, all unknowing, and all for the best as she think, does such thing as lose her daughter body and soul; and we must not tell her... or she die, then both die. Oh, how we are beset! How are all the powers of the devils against us!” Suddenly he jumped to his feet. “Come,” he said, “come, we must see and act. Devils or no devils, or all the devils at once, it matters not; we fight him all the same.”"
Chapter 11, Page 147-148

In this passage, we see a humanity in Van Helsing we have not seen before in the book. Previously he has been very aloof and calculating character, but now he finally expresses his emotions. The author uses simile to describe Van Helsing's emotions, "as though appealing to the whole universe". His dialect in the way he talks is also noticeable: "as she think" instead of "thinks", and "or she die" instead of "dies". He describes the powers they are set against as "pagan" and that fate works against them, as though his actions are actively contested by a manifestation of evil. In reality he is, which is dramatic irony.