Vampire Literature Essay
The essay below was written in my 2nd year of college. As such it was written to illustrate the comparisons between modern day vampire literature/film & television and the historical understanding of the vampire legend.
It consists of just over 4,000 words and is something i spent well over 2 months researching.
It consists of just over 4,000 words and is something i spent well over 2 months researching.
To what extent is modern vampire literature and reaction towards it,
comparable to the historical understanding of the vampire legend?
Vampires, what are they? Can I become one? Are they real? These are just some of the many questions that have surrounded the belief in vampires over the last 500 years. The aim of this essay is not to answer these questions but to look at the relation between the historical understanding of the vampire legend and the vampire literature of today. In order to successfully answer said question I’ve employed the use of both my literary reading and related research to form my own notion. As part of my research I have looked at a wide range of materials, particularly focusing on literature from present day as well as related topics of interest such as cultural influences and religion, all of which I’m going to make reference too within this essay.
As the essay progresses I aim to sufficiently contrast and compare the differences between the conventional texts which sparked a new era for gothic literature with that of both the more contemporary literary works and the original cultural folk lore.
Furthermore I aim to look at other possible influences on the more modern works, including media, film and society. By looking not only at the literary texts I intend to explore the topic of vampire literature and its influences more broadly, thus allowing a clear and precise analysation of the question
Today’s modern day vampire is probably considered one of the most notorious and iconic figures all over the world and with the steady stream of vampire novels, films and television shows being produced it is fair to say that the vampire has become the dark horse of literature, becoming every enthusiasts dream. Yet this wasn’t always the case. Vampires were once considered the stuff of nightmares. Every culture all around the world have stories of these once terrifying ‘bloodsucking demons’ that according to literary historian Brian Frost “may go back to prehistoric times” however many of the myths surrounding such creatures emerged mainly during the 18th century particularly arising in Eastern Europe in areas such as Serbia, Roma, and Slovakia.
These myths sparked a mass hysteria throughout most the 18th century, with frequent reported sightings of alleged vampires. Most famous of which was the case of Serbian peasant Arnold Paole who is believed to be the first man accused of being a vampire. It was supposed he had killed 17 people from his village during the night, later returning to his coffin. Government officials who ordered his coffin to be opened believed at the time the body (which looked perfectly fine apart from the slight trickling of blood out the mouth) was the body of a resurrected vampire. Such stories appeared continuously, building on the already growing fear in Europe.
As the stories of such vampire attacks spread Eastern Europe soon become engulfed in the vampire pandemic., which later became known as the ‘18th Century Vampire Controversy’. Many of the alleged attacks built on the superstitious beliefs of many cultures, leading to possibly thousands of people being staked after burial.
As time went on many areas developed their own legends regarding the vampires, each similar but unique in their own way. The Serbian legends spoke of a Vukodlak, a devilish spirit that after death turned into a blood sucking monster which was known for feeding on the blood of the young. They further believed that such creatures came about as a result of particular causes of vampirism, such as having red hair, being conceived on certain days or having an ‘unnatural death’. The most famous of all Serbian legends was of the vampire ‘Sava Savanović’ who ostensibly killed millers and drank their blood, ‘Sava Savanović’’ was the vampire which inspired the novel ‘After ninety years’ by Serbian realist writer Milovan Glišić.
Probably two of the most influential folklores come from the Romani people and the country of Romania. The Romani people, who originated from South Asia, yet are largely found in Central and Eastern Europe spoke of the Millo, a creature was believed to return from the dead in order to commit horrific acts. They believed that the male vampires could father children known as Dhampirs, who could be used to kill other vampires.
Furthermore the people of Romania for told of the vampires known as Moroi, the living and the Strigoi, the death. The Strigoi were believed to have consumed the blood of a living person till death, losing their soul in the process. They too spoke of the Dhampir, a half human, half Moroi child who could be hired to detect and destroy the Strigoi.
The combination of Roma and Romanian folklore is seen in the teenage paranormal romance series Vampire Academy by bestselling author Richelle Mead., the series tells the story of Rose Hathaway, born a Dhampir who is training to become a guardian to her best friend, and Moroi princess Vasilisa Dragomir, last living member of her royal family. Throughout the series Rose spends her life training to kill the only vampire which both Moroi and Dhampir fear, the Strigoi. Mead’s series is the only known saga which directly makes reference to vampire folklore. In an interview with Richelle Mead she outlined ‘’almost every culture has myths about some type of vampire. I’d taken Eastern European folklore classes in college, so I jumped into research about those myths first and found the Moroi and Strigoi stories. There wasn’t a lot there, so I’ve had to improvise a lot in the series with how I best think a world with two vampire races would live’’. Meads use of folklore in her novels emphasises the idea that they’re some use of tradition within current modern day literature.
The spread of religion across Europe, particularly Christianity often brushed with the vampire legends of particular cultures. The separation of the Church, into the Orthodox and Roman Catholic which took place in 1054AD lead to a split opinion regarding the belief in vampires. Many believed that the diverse concept on vampire was due to the differences in the understanding of decomposing bodies. In the Catholic east it was believed that a body, after burial should de-compose almost straight away and if this didn’t happen it was a sign that the person was evil. Such explanations lead to the bodies being perfect sentiments for the resurrection of a vampire. However this belief only stretched across Eastern Europe. In the West the Catholic Church believed that if the body failed to decompose it was not evil, the person was possibly a saint and this was the reward given to them by God. Such explanations efficiently suppressed the belief in vampires which is one of the reasons most vampire beliefs come from an Eastern origin.
Vampires and religion has been an area that has been investigated right up till present day. Throughout the 13th and 14th century, the belief in Paganism took a drastic shift. It was hear that it was believed to be the work of the Devil, eventually becoming known as Satanism. Vampirism latter became another form of Satanism. This link between Vampires and the Devil lead to the belief that vampires would flee from the symbols of God, such as crosses, churches and holy water all of which had a direct link to God.
Many reports came about relating to the subject of Vampires throughout the 17th and 18th century, most of which believed that the church should not encourage people superstitions. The Archbishop of Italy in 1744, stated in his works ‘’‘vampire reports were originating in human fantasies... the suspected bodies of vampires should be left undisturbed’’ this was the belief the church later took, refusing to acknowledge their existence, whilst threatening to excommunicate anyone that did.
Although the church supported the anti-vampire movement, and was fully against accepting the possible idea of the vampire existence, it wasn’t until the release of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmila in 1872 did religion begin to play a role in Vampire Literature. The first religious character to appear in Carmila starred at the end of the novel when Laura’s father decides to call upon the priest to perform an unnamed ritual. Fanu’s reference to religion sparked the line for the combination of the both. Bran Stokers Dracula, release 25 years after Carmila re-introduced the idea of Christianity and the vampire together again. Throughout the novel there are many references to Christianity, particularly that of the Rosemary and crucifix Harper is presented with in chapter 1, that of which saves his life when Dracula attacks him later on in the novel, Symbolising the weakness of the vampire when around religious objects. As time went on the idea of the Vampire being affected by Religion appeared to all but rule itself out.
Christianity and the Catholic Church weren’t the only religions who had stories about vampires. In Jewish medieval folklore it was believed that Lilith, Adam’s first wife had left him after she refused to subservient to Adam. She had mated with Archangel Gabriel and refused to return to the Garden of Eden becoming an outcast, and eventually a vampire preying particularly on young babies.. Although she never appeared in the Bible, her name does appear in some Jewish texts. Other stories say that she was able to transform herself into an animal, and charm her victims so she could drain them. In history the first possible mention of Lilith was in Mesopotamia, where was she known as Lilitu, the storm demon, thought to bring both disease and death.
In more modern day Literature Religion still plays a role though it is not as influential as it once was, having seen only a handful of novels using religion as a weakness to their vampires. Young adult series ‘House of night’ by P.C Cast was reviewed as a novel which is ‘’heavy pagan and Wiccan based’’ with a lot of religious references. In an interview with P.C cast she stated that she modelled her fictional protestant religion known as ’The people of faith’ on the worst religious fanatics giving the House of Night series a strong moral perspective, and although her vampires aren’t affected by religion symbols, the influence on religion still plays an active role.
The same cannot be said for other Modern works. Examples such as Stephanie Meyers Twilight Saga, has seen the vampires in her novels totally un-harmed by their ‘so called’ weaknesses. She god rid of all the things that were harmful to the vampire, crosses, Churches and even Daylight therefore removing all possible threat to their existence. Similar novels that desensitised religion include ‘The vampire Diaries’ by L.J Smith, the similarities between Meyers ‘Twilight Saga’ and L.J Smith’s ‘Vampire diaries’ has been a controversy since publication, with both storylines being impeccability similar. L.J Smith too removes the ‘weaknesses’ of the vampire from her novels almost as if the disappearance of religion in present day literature is a way of defeating evil itself, If religion doesn’t acknowledge the evil then the evil surely will cease to exist.
The Victorian Era, known for its strict views on sex and sexuality was the turning point for the upcoming vampire Literature it was a time where the idea of sexual liberation was feared and magic was huge. Disease also played a large factor in Victorian life something which Stoker portrayed in ‘Dracula’. The portrayal of the vampire as a disease was a reflection of the present day climate. Over 22 million deaths were reported worldwide as the spread of cholera took hold during the 1830’s. It was known that Stoker’s mother herself had survived the disease ‘’it was said to have come out the east, rising out the yellow sea growing nearer and nearer’’. Her reference to the East is something Stoker echoes in Dracula referring to the count as ‘an invader from the east’’ him being the enemy but unsure as to what and who the enemy for a long time. Although it appears Cholera was the disease ‘Dracula’ had the closest relationship to, it wasn’t the only disease that arose during the 1800’s.
The plague made a frequent occurrence throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s increase the already exceeded death toll. The plague, known as one of the most deadly pandemics in history during the mid 1300’s., saw millions of people die after just 5-7 days of contracting the fatal disease, and although the number of cases decreased as time progressed the plagues reocrrual every 100 years or so, further increased the mortality rate.
As a result of so many deaths poor burials of the deceased became very common, graves not being dug properly were often seen all over Victorian England, even mass graves were dug to accommodate the vast number of the dead. With such a large amount of bodies to be buried the poorly executed graves started causing problems of their own. The hands and heads of these corpses started appearing above ground and appeared to most as if they were trying to escape there shallow graves. People became frantic with the idea that these individuals were returning from the dead as vampires.
In modern day literature this idea that the vampire is like a disease is rarely seen, with almost all of the latest forms of literature refer to the vampire as something far from horrific. ‘The southern vampire mysteries’ regards the vampire simply as victims of a medical condition that have left them unable to stand out in the sun, allergic to sliver and yet have given them the ability to control human minds as well as many other aspects . Charlaine Harris’s vampires offer more of a vampire based story, closer to some of the traditions consider when referring to vampires and unlike some, the novels around is considered to be the closest modern day series to incorporate the idea of a traditional vampire.
Anna Rice’s ‘Vampire Chronicles’ were released at a time which saw the introduction of a new disease. As her works hit the height of its popularity during the early 80’s people began reading the ulterior in her works, seeing it as a sly parable, reflecting the current fears of the time within the gay community, such as the discovery and spread of AIDS.
The term Vampire became a metaphor for talking about such diseases, People used this concept of disease as a way of explaining sexuality, believing vampires outlined this idea of ‘bad blood’ and the transmission of ‘bad blood’. The vampire myth allowed us to confront the things people feared, taboo subjects, in such a way it made them acceptable to talk about.
More often than not the current literature makes no reference to the idea that the vampirism as a disease. Instead many of the novels refer to the vampire being different entirely. Lynsay sands, author of ‘The Argeneau Series’ refers to her vampires as non-traditional. Calling themselves immortal, but sharing only a few of the traditional vampire traits, such as exceeded sight, smell and love for blood. They aren’t the un-dead but merely the products of enhanced technology founded from the lost city of Atlantis. The nanos which make these ‘vampires’ where originally designed to repair the damage done inside the body, instead they never left the body making them never aging and flawless. When I personally asked Lynsay sands what influenced her when writing her vampires series, she replied ‘Everyday life really, it’s amazing how funny people (including ourselves) or situations can be if we react to them. I wanted to diverge away from the traditions of vampirism, and do something different with them’’
Sand’ vampires aren’t the only ones to veer off the idea of the traditional vampire. Other series such as Lara Adrian’s ‘Midnight Breed Series’ known to have descended from eight alien vampires known as ‘geno-ones’ who bred with compatible humans (breed mates) many years before; resulting in the birth of these warrior vampires, who spend their lives protecting humans and fighting their own personal battles of blood-lust. Apart from the reference to blood, there is nothing long established with these vampires. They are unique, possibly making them more appealing to the reader.
In many of the original folk lore surrounding the vampire, it was believed that the vampire would always prey on young women, particularly those that were beautiful and fair. This analogy trickled down through the centuries, something that many of the vampire’s victims in literature have been based on. Such examples are of Stoker’s character ‘Lucy’ portrayed as being ‘slender with large brown eyes and full lips’ her character became the typical stereotype for the female in novels that have followed. Women were always portrayed as the helpless victims likely to fall prey to the terrifying vampire. The concept of having a beautiful girl as the victim indorsed this idea that the vampire, who was willing to kill such a person was pure evil. Though as the genre has developed so has the role of women. The creation of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ in the early 1990’s no longer saw the women as the incompetent being, instead the usual screaming blonde, the typical damsel in distress became the hero. The creation of Buffy has seen the women in Gothic literature take a dramatic leap forward. Lauren K. Hamilton author of New York best selling ‘Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter’ series saw the female as feared, not the frightened. Fictional protagonist Anita Blake, known in the novels as ‘The Executioner’ became the vampires’ biggest fear contrary to tradition.
Women were not the only species subjected to change. The biggest change in Vampire Literature was to the vampire himself. Before the Victorian Era, the vampire was not considered romantic or sexy in any way, but this all changed as the Romanticism period gripped Victorian England. After the publication of ‘Dracula’ Stoker’s description of the vampire Count more or less became the archetype of all future vampires. The mysterious and alluring character developed this charismatic personality, which allowed him to draw his victims in as well as the element of attractiveness which came about after he had fed, making him tall, dark and handsome. Looking at the present day literature almost all of the ‘sexy’ vampire have at least one of the following attributes associated with them.
In 1976 second biggest selling vampire novels of all time entered the chain of literature making a startling impact on the vampire’s standardize. The creation of Anna Rice’s ‘Interview with a vampire’ saw the vampire become something never acknowledged as before.. Set in New Orleans in 1791 it tells the story of the vampires Louis, Lestat and there newly turned ‘Daughter’ Claudia along with there expedition to Eastern Europe to track down others like themselves, it divulges into the relationship between both Louis and Lestat, and Louis’s struggle with the acceptance of himself. We see for the first time the vampire gain emotion. Before Rice the vampire was considered a terrifying monster with no feelings or respect for others, Rice gave them there emotions back, Louis’s struggle to kill other humans in order to survive reflected this. It started to show the vampire in a new light. No longer desensitized to emotion the opinion of the vampire changed.
Along with the emotions, her vampires where regarded as modern, reflecting off the changes in society and societal beliefs. The fear of sexual liberation was long gone allowing Rice to portray her vampires as something that was completely unheard off before. They became sexual, no longer following this traditional vampire stereotype. The coffins and crosses were gone, replaced with desire and luxury. Rice’s works became the turning point yet again for the vampire. Having given her vampires a soul the vampire symbol all but ruled out fear. Dracula became old-fashioned and instead people began finding them attractive, the concept of immortality, whilst still having a soul became the perfect answer to death.
In modern day literature, one of the biggest noticeable elements of the vampire is modern romance. Looking more closely at the vampire based novels steaming out onto our bookshelves recently almost all contain some profound love story between a vampire and a human. Whether it is adult or child fiction, the sexual element is always a large factor of the story. The conflicting struggle between the vampire and human, and is what keeps the reader engrossed in the story, making such novels bestsellers.
Young adult novels such as the ‘House of Night’ series, aimed mainly at the 16+, uses this idea of modern romance, with a mixture of fantasy, horror and mystery to sell itself. It’s noticeable that the sexual element of such stories became more profound as the age range increases. The Sookie Stackhouse Novels classed as adult fiction are such examples. Charlaine Harris, who novels contain strong erotica underline this idea that the vampire certainly have became sexual. Her main male characters known as ‘Bill Compton’ and ‘Eric Northman’ forte this engrossing sexual attraction along with there pale skin, sharp fangs and dark eyes it’s obvious her fans read her novels not just because of the story, but because her characters are so alluring. The irony of this being that she creates the dead as such attractive characters.
Other series such as ‘Midnight breed’ and ‘The Argeneau Series’ portray themselves higher up on the romance scale, these novels are extremely erotic with very strong sex scenes and extreme violence something that if released 30 years ago would have been considered atrocious. They are example of how much not only the concept of the vampire has changed, but also as how society has changed along side. When I asked Lara Adrian author of the ‘Midnight Breed’ series what inspired her to write such a sexual novel she replied ‘i used to write medieval romance, so I wanted to think of my vampires as heroes, dark knights really, dark with fangs! Beyond that I think all of my stories are a bit of underworld/blade with a dash of predator mixed in with steamy sex’ Both series explore the vampire with more emphasises on the romance than on the vampire.
Similarly young adult series such as ‘Blue bloods’ by Melissa De La Cruz is one who incorporates this idea of the modern society, with the a small romantised storyline. Set in Manhattan the series is filled with all the necessary vampire elements alongside this shirek backdrop of new York life. ‘Blue Bloods’ too contains some reasonably strong sexual references, incorporating this idea that blood exchange between two individuals needs to happen during sex. Reaction towards the series was considered to be positive. Reviewed as ‘A conception of vampires far different from stake-fleeing demons in traditional horror fiction’ La Cruz’s novels are certainly a hit with today generation of vampire lovers.
Going back to this idea of the love story between a vampire and a human in modern literature, when asked to define such a novel many will automatically think of New York’s best seller, Stephanie Meyer’s twilight saga. The love story between vampire Edward Cullen and human girl Bella Swan took the world by storm back in 2005 when the book was first released; now having become a big screen motion picture it’s seen some of the biggest fans ever recorded. Meyers work saw the vampire become the stuff of every girls dream. This idea of a immortal boyfriend falling in love with a very plain ordinary human girl. The novel itself contains some of Meyers own views, particularly that of her Norman ideas. She tries to steer her novels away from the growing sexual references in literature, moving away from topics such as sex. The idea of chastity was greatly applauded by many saying that the vampire has become completely submerged, other disagreed by saying that there was too much Norman ideas and not enough real life. Sex after marriage is not a large element in today’s society so trying to put it into a novel, acts almost like a form of brainwashing instead of updating the vampire story, people believed she was updating the vampire itself. The traditional Vampires aren’t supposed to care about moral values so why try to pretence it.
The final change in the vampire over history is that of the vampire in popular culture. Film, television and media have played an active role in the representation of the vampire. Over the years we have seen many of the famous vampire novels turned into films and television series, including ‘Dracula’, ‘True Blood’ and ‘Vampire Dairies’ all have which have modified or changed elements of vampire folklore. With over 170 versions of Dracula to date it remains the highest popularised vampire film in the world, even having it’s own unlicensed version known as ‘Nosferatu’ having been released in 1922 it appeared to similar to the original novel that it was banned and removed from publication until 1974 were it was restored. The most important element of the film involved the end scene, were the vampire was killed via sunlight rather than a stake. It became so influential that sunlight incorporated itself into the vampire folklore. Series such as HBO’s ‘True Blood’ have been responsible for incorporating elements of other beliefs and novels into there works, including the reference to ‘Carmilla’ known in the series as ‘Hotel Carmila’ a hotel which specialises in vampire clientele. With its blackout bedrooms and vampire friendly staff it represents the vampire trying to exist in a modern society.
Religion has also taken a drastic leap in popular culture when referring to the vampire. The ‘Modern’ vampire no longer just exists in the world of fiction; it exists now as a way of life. Active vampirism is something often closely related to the religions of Wiccan, Satanism and Non-pagan. Sanguinarian, Psi and Hybrid are now individually recognised as a type of living vampire each focusing on a particular element of vampirism. Sanguinarian vampires are such individuals who believe they have a physical need to drink blood in order to be at pristine health. They symptoms include having a bad reaction to sunlight, and having a preference to sleeping at night. Psi-vampires is a being that feeds of the active energy of others, they do not associate themselves with blood, but drain the individual of there emotions. Such beings reflect those that have appeared in folklore in areas such as Asia, who speak of a being known as ‘Hopi’ who drain there victims of all the emotional energy. Finally Hybrids are considered to be the worst as they carry out both the Sanguinarian act of blood drinking as well as the feeding of emotion.
The religion has been questioned as to whether it is really a reaction towards individuals taking fiction too far, forming this obsession with the vampire and convincing themselves that they too are ‘living vampires’. Charlaine Harris’s novels make reference to these fanatics, referring to them within her works as ‘fangbangers’, people that have become so engrossed with the vampires they will do anything to associate themselves with them. Furthermore she also underlines these ‘fangbangers’ as blood whores, those who are greatly addicted to the taste of blood, just like an alcoholic is too drink and without it they will become ill, similar to the so-called symptoms of those Sanguinarian vampires.
In conclusion, the folkloric vampire was considered the stuff of nightmares and disease, never associated with romance or having human attributes, but changes in society and beliefs have seen the vampire become a reality beyond our world. It’s been seen as a way of portraying different stages of life, a form of representation for things such as disease, and active vampirism as well as a way of underlying religious doubt and cultural beliefs, all of which has led to the build up to the vampire we know of today. The link between the traditional vampire legend and that of literature has developed and changed continuously over the years, sparking closer links in some areas than in others.
comparable to the historical understanding of the vampire legend?
Vampires, what are they? Can I become one? Are they real? These are just some of the many questions that have surrounded the belief in vampires over the last 500 years. The aim of this essay is not to answer these questions but to look at the relation between the historical understanding of the vampire legend and the vampire literature of today. In order to successfully answer said question I’ve employed the use of both my literary reading and related research to form my own notion. As part of my research I have looked at a wide range of materials, particularly focusing on literature from present day as well as related topics of interest such as cultural influences and religion, all of which I’m going to make reference too within this essay.
As the essay progresses I aim to sufficiently contrast and compare the differences between the conventional texts which sparked a new era for gothic literature with that of both the more contemporary literary works and the original cultural folk lore.
Furthermore I aim to look at other possible influences on the more modern works, including media, film and society. By looking not only at the literary texts I intend to explore the topic of vampire literature and its influences more broadly, thus allowing a clear and precise analysation of the question
Today’s modern day vampire is probably considered one of the most notorious and iconic figures all over the world and with the steady stream of vampire novels, films and television shows being produced it is fair to say that the vampire has become the dark horse of literature, becoming every enthusiasts dream. Yet this wasn’t always the case. Vampires were once considered the stuff of nightmares. Every culture all around the world have stories of these once terrifying ‘bloodsucking demons’ that according to literary historian Brian Frost “may go back to prehistoric times” however many of the myths surrounding such creatures emerged mainly during the 18th century particularly arising in Eastern Europe in areas such as Serbia, Roma, and Slovakia.
These myths sparked a mass hysteria throughout most the 18th century, with frequent reported sightings of alleged vampires. Most famous of which was the case of Serbian peasant Arnold Paole who is believed to be the first man accused of being a vampire. It was supposed he had killed 17 people from his village during the night, later returning to his coffin. Government officials who ordered his coffin to be opened believed at the time the body (which looked perfectly fine apart from the slight trickling of blood out the mouth) was the body of a resurrected vampire. Such stories appeared continuously, building on the already growing fear in Europe.
As the stories of such vampire attacks spread Eastern Europe soon become engulfed in the vampire pandemic., which later became known as the ‘18th Century Vampire Controversy’. Many of the alleged attacks built on the superstitious beliefs of many cultures, leading to possibly thousands of people being staked after burial.
As time went on many areas developed their own legends regarding the vampires, each similar but unique in their own way. The Serbian legends spoke of a Vukodlak, a devilish spirit that after death turned into a blood sucking monster which was known for feeding on the blood of the young. They further believed that such creatures came about as a result of particular causes of vampirism, such as having red hair, being conceived on certain days or having an ‘unnatural death’. The most famous of all Serbian legends was of the vampire ‘Sava Savanović’ who ostensibly killed millers and drank their blood, ‘Sava Savanović’’ was the vampire which inspired the novel ‘After ninety years’ by Serbian realist writer Milovan Glišić.
Probably two of the most influential folklores come from the Romani people and the country of Romania. The Romani people, who originated from South Asia, yet are largely found in Central and Eastern Europe spoke of the Millo, a creature was believed to return from the dead in order to commit horrific acts. They believed that the male vampires could father children known as Dhampirs, who could be used to kill other vampires.
Furthermore the people of Romania for told of the vampires known as Moroi, the living and the Strigoi, the death. The Strigoi were believed to have consumed the blood of a living person till death, losing their soul in the process. They too spoke of the Dhampir, a half human, half Moroi child who could be hired to detect and destroy the Strigoi.
The combination of Roma and Romanian folklore is seen in the teenage paranormal romance series Vampire Academy by bestselling author Richelle Mead., the series tells the story of Rose Hathaway, born a Dhampir who is training to become a guardian to her best friend, and Moroi princess Vasilisa Dragomir, last living member of her royal family. Throughout the series Rose spends her life training to kill the only vampire which both Moroi and Dhampir fear, the Strigoi. Mead’s series is the only known saga which directly makes reference to vampire folklore. In an interview with Richelle Mead she outlined ‘’almost every culture has myths about some type of vampire. I’d taken Eastern European folklore classes in college, so I jumped into research about those myths first and found the Moroi and Strigoi stories. There wasn’t a lot there, so I’ve had to improvise a lot in the series with how I best think a world with two vampire races would live’’. Meads use of folklore in her novels emphasises the idea that they’re some use of tradition within current modern day literature.
The spread of religion across Europe, particularly Christianity often brushed with the vampire legends of particular cultures. The separation of the Church, into the Orthodox and Roman Catholic which took place in 1054AD lead to a split opinion regarding the belief in vampires. Many believed that the diverse concept on vampire was due to the differences in the understanding of decomposing bodies. In the Catholic east it was believed that a body, after burial should de-compose almost straight away and if this didn’t happen it was a sign that the person was evil. Such explanations lead to the bodies being perfect sentiments for the resurrection of a vampire. However this belief only stretched across Eastern Europe. In the West the Catholic Church believed that if the body failed to decompose it was not evil, the person was possibly a saint and this was the reward given to them by God. Such explanations efficiently suppressed the belief in vampires which is one of the reasons most vampire beliefs come from an Eastern origin.
Vampires and religion has been an area that has been investigated right up till present day. Throughout the 13th and 14th century, the belief in Paganism took a drastic shift. It was hear that it was believed to be the work of the Devil, eventually becoming known as Satanism. Vampirism latter became another form of Satanism. This link between Vampires and the Devil lead to the belief that vampires would flee from the symbols of God, such as crosses, churches and holy water all of which had a direct link to God.
Many reports came about relating to the subject of Vampires throughout the 17th and 18th century, most of which believed that the church should not encourage people superstitions. The Archbishop of Italy in 1744, stated in his works ‘’‘vampire reports were originating in human fantasies... the suspected bodies of vampires should be left undisturbed’’ this was the belief the church later took, refusing to acknowledge their existence, whilst threatening to excommunicate anyone that did.
Although the church supported the anti-vampire movement, and was fully against accepting the possible idea of the vampire existence, it wasn’t until the release of Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmila in 1872 did religion begin to play a role in Vampire Literature. The first religious character to appear in Carmila starred at the end of the novel when Laura’s father decides to call upon the priest to perform an unnamed ritual. Fanu’s reference to religion sparked the line for the combination of the both. Bran Stokers Dracula, release 25 years after Carmila re-introduced the idea of Christianity and the vampire together again. Throughout the novel there are many references to Christianity, particularly that of the Rosemary and crucifix Harper is presented with in chapter 1, that of which saves his life when Dracula attacks him later on in the novel, Symbolising the weakness of the vampire when around religious objects. As time went on the idea of the Vampire being affected by Religion appeared to all but rule itself out.
Christianity and the Catholic Church weren’t the only religions who had stories about vampires. In Jewish medieval folklore it was believed that Lilith, Adam’s first wife had left him after she refused to subservient to Adam. She had mated with Archangel Gabriel and refused to return to the Garden of Eden becoming an outcast, and eventually a vampire preying particularly on young babies.. Although she never appeared in the Bible, her name does appear in some Jewish texts. Other stories say that she was able to transform herself into an animal, and charm her victims so she could drain them. In history the first possible mention of Lilith was in Mesopotamia, where was she known as Lilitu, the storm demon, thought to bring both disease and death.
In more modern day Literature Religion still plays a role though it is not as influential as it once was, having seen only a handful of novels using religion as a weakness to their vampires. Young adult series ‘House of night’ by P.C Cast was reviewed as a novel which is ‘’heavy pagan and Wiccan based’’ with a lot of religious references. In an interview with P.C cast she stated that she modelled her fictional protestant religion known as ’The people of faith’ on the worst religious fanatics giving the House of Night series a strong moral perspective, and although her vampires aren’t affected by religion symbols, the influence on religion still plays an active role.
The same cannot be said for other Modern works. Examples such as Stephanie Meyers Twilight Saga, has seen the vampires in her novels totally un-harmed by their ‘so called’ weaknesses. She god rid of all the things that were harmful to the vampire, crosses, Churches and even Daylight therefore removing all possible threat to their existence. Similar novels that desensitised religion include ‘The vampire Diaries’ by L.J Smith, the similarities between Meyers ‘Twilight Saga’ and L.J Smith’s ‘Vampire diaries’ has been a controversy since publication, with both storylines being impeccability similar. L.J Smith too removes the ‘weaknesses’ of the vampire from her novels almost as if the disappearance of religion in present day literature is a way of defeating evil itself, If religion doesn’t acknowledge the evil then the evil surely will cease to exist.
The Victorian Era, known for its strict views on sex and sexuality was the turning point for the upcoming vampire Literature it was a time where the idea of sexual liberation was feared and magic was huge. Disease also played a large factor in Victorian life something which Stoker portrayed in ‘Dracula’. The portrayal of the vampire as a disease was a reflection of the present day climate. Over 22 million deaths were reported worldwide as the spread of cholera took hold during the 1830’s. It was known that Stoker’s mother herself had survived the disease ‘’it was said to have come out the east, rising out the yellow sea growing nearer and nearer’’. Her reference to the East is something Stoker echoes in Dracula referring to the count as ‘an invader from the east’’ him being the enemy but unsure as to what and who the enemy for a long time. Although it appears Cholera was the disease ‘Dracula’ had the closest relationship to, it wasn’t the only disease that arose during the 1800’s.
The plague made a frequent occurrence throughout the late 1800’s and early 1900’s increase the already exceeded death toll. The plague, known as one of the most deadly pandemics in history during the mid 1300’s., saw millions of people die after just 5-7 days of contracting the fatal disease, and although the number of cases decreased as time progressed the plagues reocrrual every 100 years or so, further increased the mortality rate.
As a result of so many deaths poor burials of the deceased became very common, graves not being dug properly were often seen all over Victorian England, even mass graves were dug to accommodate the vast number of the dead. With such a large amount of bodies to be buried the poorly executed graves started causing problems of their own. The hands and heads of these corpses started appearing above ground and appeared to most as if they were trying to escape there shallow graves. People became frantic with the idea that these individuals were returning from the dead as vampires.
In modern day literature this idea that the vampire is like a disease is rarely seen, with almost all of the latest forms of literature refer to the vampire as something far from horrific. ‘The southern vampire mysteries’ regards the vampire simply as victims of a medical condition that have left them unable to stand out in the sun, allergic to sliver and yet have given them the ability to control human minds as well as many other aspects . Charlaine Harris’s vampires offer more of a vampire based story, closer to some of the traditions consider when referring to vampires and unlike some, the novels around is considered to be the closest modern day series to incorporate the idea of a traditional vampire.
Anna Rice’s ‘Vampire Chronicles’ were released at a time which saw the introduction of a new disease. As her works hit the height of its popularity during the early 80’s people began reading the ulterior in her works, seeing it as a sly parable, reflecting the current fears of the time within the gay community, such as the discovery and spread of AIDS.
The term Vampire became a metaphor for talking about such diseases, People used this concept of disease as a way of explaining sexuality, believing vampires outlined this idea of ‘bad blood’ and the transmission of ‘bad blood’. The vampire myth allowed us to confront the things people feared, taboo subjects, in such a way it made them acceptable to talk about.
More often than not the current literature makes no reference to the idea that the vampirism as a disease. Instead many of the novels refer to the vampire being different entirely. Lynsay sands, author of ‘The Argeneau Series’ refers to her vampires as non-traditional. Calling themselves immortal, but sharing only a few of the traditional vampire traits, such as exceeded sight, smell and love for blood. They aren’t the un-dead but merely the products of enhanced technology founded from the lost city of Atlantis. The nanos which make these ‘vampires’ where originally designed to repair the damage done inside the body, instead they never left the body making them never aging and flawless. When I personally asked Lynsay sands what influenced her when writing her vampires series, she replied ‘Everyday life really, it’s amazing how funny people (including ourselves) or situations can be if we react to them. I wanted to diverge away from the traditions of vampirism, and do something different with them’’
Sand’ vampires aren’t the only ones to veer off the idea of the traditional vampire. Other series such as Lara Adrian’s ‘Midnight Breed Series’ known to have descended from eight alien vampires known as ‘geno-ones’ who bred with compatible humans (breed mates) many years before; resulting in the birth of these warrior vampires, who spend their lives protecting humans and fighting their own personal battles of blood-lust. Apart from the reference to blood, there is nothing long established with these vampires. They are unique, possibly making them more appealing to the reader.
In many of the original folk lore surrounding the vampire, it was believed that the vampire would always prey on young women, particularly those that were beautiful and fair. This analogy trickled down through the centuries, something that many of the vampire’s victims in literature have been based on. Such examples are of Stoker’s character ‘Lucy’ portrayed as being ‘slender with large brown eyes and full lips’ her character became the typical stereotype for the female in novels that have followed. Women were always portrayed as the helpless victims likely to fall prey to the terrifying vampire. The concept of having a beautiful girl as the victim indorsed this idea that the vampire, who was willing to kill such a person was pure evil. Though as the genre has developed so has the role of women. The creation of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ in the early 1990’s no longer saw the women as the incompetent being, instead the usual screaming blonde, the typical damsel in distress became the hero. The creation of Buffy has seen the women in Gothic literature take a dramatic leap forward. Lauren K. Hamilton author of New York best selling ‘Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter’ series saw the female as feared, not the frightened. Fictional protagonist Anita Blake, known in the novels as ‘The Executioner’ became the vampires’ biggest fear contrary to tradition.
Women were not the only species subjected to change. The biggest change in Vampire Literature was to the vampire himself. Before the Victorian Era, the vampire was not considered romantic or sexy in any way, but this all changed as the Romanticism period gripped Victorian England. After the publication of ‘Dracula’ Stoker’s description of the vampire Count more or less became the archetype of all future vampires. The mysterious and alluring character developed this charismatic personality, which allowed him to draw his victims in as well as the element of attractiveness which came about after he had fed, making him tall, dark and handsome. Looking at the present day literature almost all of the ‘sexy’ vampire have at least one of the following attributes associated with them.
In 1976 second biggest selling vampire novels of all time entered the chain of literature making a startling impact on the vampire’s standardize. The creation of Anna Rice’s ‘Interview with a vampire’ saw the vampire become something never acknowledged as before.. Set in New Orleans in 1791 it tells the story of the vampires Louis, Lestat and there newly turned ‘Daughter’ Claudia along with there expedition to Eastern Europe to track down others like themselves, it divulges into the relationship between both Louis and Lestat, and Louis’s struggle with the acceptance of himself. We see for the first time the vampire gain emotion. Before Rice the vampire was considered a terrifying monster with no feelings or respect for others, Rice gave them there emotions back, Louis’s struggle to kill other humans in order to survive reflected this. It started to show the vampire in a new light. No longer desensitized to emotion the opinion of the vampire changed.
Along with the emotions, her vampires where regarded as modern, reflecting off the changes in society and societal beliefs. The fear of sexual liberation was long gone allowing Rice to portray her vampires as something that was completely unheard off before. They became sexual, no longer following this traditional vampire stereotype. The coffins and crosses were gone, replaced with desire and luxury. Rice’s works became the turning point yet again for the vampire. Having given her vampires a soul the vampire symbol all but ruled out fear. Dracula became old-fashioned and instead people began finding them attractive, the concept of immortality, whilst still having a soul became the perfect answer to death.
In modern day literature, one of the biggest noticeable elements of the vampire is modern romance. Looking more closely at the vampire based novels steaming out onto our bookshelves recently almost all contain some profound love story between a vampire and a human. Whether it is adult or child fiction, the sexual element is always a large factor of the story. The conflicting struggle between the vampire and human, and is what keeps the reader engrossed in the story, making such novels bestsellers.
Young adult novels such as the ‘House of Night’ series, aimed mainly at the 16+, uses this idea of modern romance, with a mixture of fantasy, horror and mystery to sell itself. It’s noticeable that the sexual element of such stories became more profound as the age range increases. The Sookie Stackhouse Novels classed as adult fiction are such examples. Charlaine Harris, who novels contain strong erotica underline this idea that the vampire certainly have became sexual. Her main male characters known as ‘Bill Compton’ and ‘Eric Northman’ forte this engrossing sexual attraction along with there pale skin, sharp fangs and dark eyes it’s obvious her fans read her novels not just because of the story, but because her characters are so alluring. The irony of this being that she creates the dead as such attractive characters.
Other series such as ‘Midnight breed’ and ‘The Argeneau Series’ portray themselves higher up on the romance scale, these novels are extremely erotic with very strong sex scenes and extreme violence something that if released 30 years ago would have been considered atrocious. They are example of how much not only the concept of the vampire has changed, but also as how society has changed along side. When I asked Lara Adrian author of the ‘Midnight Breed’ series what inspired her to write such a sexual novel she replied ‘i used to write medieval romance, so I wanted to think of my vampires as heroes, dark knights really, dark with fangs! Beyond that I think all of my stories are a bit of underworld/blade with a dash of predator mixed in with steamy sex’ Both series explore the vampire with more emphasises on the romance than on the vampire.
Similarly young adult series such as ‘Blue bloods’ by Melissa De La Cruz is one who incorporates this idea of the modern society, with the a small romantised storyline. Set in Manhattan the series is filled with all the necessary vampire elements alongside this shirek backdrop of new York life. ‘Blue Bloods’ too contains some reasonably strong sexual references, incorporating this idea that blood exchange between two individuals needs to happen during sex. Reaction towards the series was considered to be positive. Reviewed as ‘A conception of vampires far different from stake-fleeing demons in traditional horror fiction’ La Cruz’s novels are certainly a hit with today generation of vampire lovers.
Going back to this idea of the love story between a vampire and a human in modern literature, when asked to define such a novel many will automatically think of New York’s best seller, Stephanie Meyer’s twilight saga. The love story between vampire Edward Cullen and human girl Bella Swan took the world by storm back in 2005 when the book was first released; now having become a big screen motion picture it’s seen some of the biggest fans ever recorded. Meyers work saw the vampire become the stuff of every girls dream. This idea of a immortal boyfriend falling in love with a very plain ordinary human girl. The novel itself contains some of Meyers own views, particularly that of her Norman ideas. She tries to steer her novels away from the growing sexual references in literature, moving away from topics such as sex. The idea of chastity was greatly applauded by many saying that the vampire has become completely submerged, other disagreed by saying that there was too much Norman ideas and not enough real life. Sex after marriage is not a large element in today’s society so trying to put it into a novel, acts almost like a form of brainwashing instead of updating the vampire story, people believed she was updating the vampire itself. The traditional Vampires aren’t supposed to care about moral values so why try to pretence it.
The final change in the vampire over history is that of the vampire in popular culture. Film, television and media have played an active role in the representation of the vampire. Over the years we have seen many of the famous vampire novels turned into films and television series, including ‘Dracula’, ‘True Blood’ and ‘Vampire Dairies’ all have which have modified or changed elements of vampire folklore. With over 170 versions of Dracula to date it remains the highest popularised vampire film in the world, even having it’s own unlicensed version known as ‘Nosferatu’ having been released in 1922 it appeared to similar to the original novel that it was banned and removed from publication until 1974 were it was restored. The most important element of the film involved the end scene, were the vampire was killed via sunlight rather than a stake. It became so influential that sunlight incorporated itself into the vampire folklore. Series such as HBO’s ‘True Blood’ have been responsible for incorporating elements of other beliefs and novels into there works, including the reference to ‘Carmilla’ known in the series as ‘Hotel Carmila’ a hotel which specialises in vampire clientele. With its blackout bedrooms and vampire friendly staff it represents the vampire trying to exist in a modern society.
Religion has also taken a drastic leap in popular culture when referring to the vampire. The ‘Modern’ vampire no longer just exists in the world of fiction; it exists now as a way of life. Active vampirism is something often closely related to the religions of Wiccan, Satanism and Non-pagan. Sanguinarian, Psi and Hybrid are now individually recognised as a type of living vampire each focusing on a particular element of vampirism. Sanguinarian vampires are such individuals who believe they have a physical need to drink blood in order to be at pristine health. They symptoms include having a bad reaction to sunlight, and having a preference to sleeping at night. Psi-vampires is a being that feeds of the active energy of others, they do not associate themselves with blood, but drain the individual of there emotions. Such beings reflect those that have appeared in folklore in areas such as Asia, who speak of a being known as ‘Hopi’ who drain there victims of all the emotional energy. Finally Hybrids are considered to be the worst as they carry out both the Sanguinarian act of blood drinking as well as the feeding of emotion.
The religion has been questioned as to whether it is really a reaction towards individuals taking fiction too far, forming this obsession with the vampire and convincing themselves that they too are ‘living vampires’. Charlaine Harris’s novels make reference to these fanatics, referring to them within her works as ‘fangbangers’, people that have become so engrossed with the vampires they will do anything to associate themselves with them. Furthermore she also underlines these ‘fangbangers’ as blood whores, those who are greatly addicted to the taste of blood, just like an alcoholic is too drink and without it they will become ill, similar to the so-called symptoms of those Sanguinarian vampires.
In conclusion, the folkloric vampire was considered the stuff of nightmares and disease, never associated with romance or having human attributes, but changes in society and beliefs have seen the vampire become a reality beyond our world. It’s been seen as a way of portraying different stages of life, a form of representation for things such as disease, and active vampirism as well as a way of underlying religious doubt and cultural beliefs, all of which has led to the build up to the vampire we know of today. The link between the traditional vampire legend and that of literature has developed and changed continuously over the years, sparking closer links in some areas than in others.