Jan Perkowski is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. Aside from teaching courses on vampire mythology and folklore, he also researches Slavic mythology and Russian language. Perkowski has contributed many works towards vampire mythology and folklore, and “in studying the Slavic Vampire” he “devised an outline of analysis to be applied to individual accounts of Slavic vampires” (Stern). This allows for students to deconstruct the Slavic vampire to see how it may differ or strongly relate to the stereotypical vampire that the contemporary audience knows today. Today’s stereotypical vampire is commonly thought to die from a wooden stake piercing the heart or from the burning heat of the sun (Guõmundsdóttir). Physical characteristics are oftentimes extremely pale with a long nose, paired with sharp canine fangs that enhance the vampire’s unearthly, ghastly mien. The historical portrayal of the folkloric and legendary vampire is often grotesque. The uncertainty and fear of a disastrous and mysterious disease otherwise called as the Black Death spread across Europe in the mid-14th century (Benedictow). The looming, ominous plague clouded over Europe as swarms of rats carrying the bubonic plague spread throughout the city streets like a tsunami crashes into New York City, waves weaving intricately along and in-between the skyscrapers, looking for the next open space they can swell into. The lack of knowledge in regards to the origin of
Since the beginning of time vampires have been categorized into different "types” and are portrayed in different ways throughout several books. This paper will focus on three vampires from the following books: Dracula by Bram Stoker, and I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Dracula is considered to be the traditional vampire, where it all started, and the vampires in Matheson’s book, follow somewhat Stoker’s concept, but is more of a modern “type” of vampires. Certain vampire elements have been presented, but others have been completely removed or altered. In addition, elements along with appearances are used to infer if the vampire is a form of “the other”. There are two types of vampires; the traditional or modern vampire which can be distinguished based on the elements present in their storyline.
The first writer to introduce the vampire in literature was Lord Byron in the eighteenth century, but the most significant writer to develop the myth was Bram Stoker. He is the „father” of the vampire as he gave a complete description of the vampire in his most famous book” Dracula”. After the release of the book, the myth of the vampire became extremely popular amongst writers and as a consequence the books whose main
The truly shocking and terrible, blood-sucking-monster we once knew have now changed into beautiful, perfect,and healthy human beings. This paper will discuss the change and the reason why the change of idea many still accept and like the modern picture of vampires.In order to answer this, I will examine the differences between Bram Stoker's Dracula , the typical figure of horror before, and the soft light just before sunrise or after sunset's Edward Cullen, the obvious example of the 21st century vampire. From this, I will be able to decide out what changed in the features of the vampires we know today.Many would think about Edward Cullen as a "shockingly disrespectful behavior of the vampire old example" (Mole).
A horror classic by Abraham Stocker, Dracula, may be one of the most notorious villain stories of all time. Bram Stocker is a Irish writer who changed the view of what to read in his time. He shows dark and twisted situations and metaphors throughout Dracula and many other of his horror novels. This novel was released in the Victorian era, which saw his type of writing as equivalent to the devil. This era was a long time of peace and bright minded people. Stockers style surprised many readers, because he always has you thinking it can’t get any darker than it is but it always exceeds the previous twisted situation or event. Bram Stocker shows Dracula as an iconic creature, with many reasons to be feared, but displayed in the wrong time era.
which has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged
The vampire is the popular character in folklore from early civilization to modern life. The vampire appears in people mind with the passion of immortality, fear, love and mystery. People are attracted with vampire because the superstition of the vampire has done for centuries. Are they real? What are they? Where they come from? There are a few of thousand questions about the beliefs of vampire during many centuries. People don’t stop their curiosity with vampire- the legend that emulates the world cultures and religions. One of the most important reason that made vampire still popular until today is the great transformation. During the time, with the creative of human, vampire reforms to fit with modern age. According to the “Jung and the Jungians on Myth”, Steven Walke implies myth is a metaphor and come from the collective of human psyche. People use vampire as the tools to explain human thinking. Therefore, the charging in the thinking of people in different period of time will effect to the symbol of vampire. The research will explain the transformation of vampire by diving to three main topics: the vampire in the historical and religion thinking; the charging of vampire in literature and movie; the symbol of vampire in modern people thinking. Although three main topics seem separately, these connect and develop other idea like cause and effect. Depend on the information of history, the image of vampire in novel become reality. From the idea of vampire in novel, modern
Who would’ve guessed that the modern tale of vampirism is nothing more than an exaggerated representation of many of the people in our current society? One of the best metaphors for drug addiction is the blood lust of a vampire. Consistently throughout literature and television, vampires are portrayed as impulse-reacting monsters that lack self control. “Each of the vampire’s victims are momentary meals and the vampires are drawn to them through the needs of their subconscious” (Ramsland 5). Vampires directly represent drug addicts because the two are both drawn to something that they will eventually feel guilty for, but neither of them can turn down the opportunity to indulge. What is addiction? According to Pawel Jedras, author of “The Role of Anticipation in Drug Addiction and Reward,” “addiction [is] the craving [or need] for something that is not actually needed or necessary for survival” (Jedras). “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” by Karen Russell is a story consisting of vampires and the idea of addiction. The story’s main characters are two married vampires named Clyde and Magreb. Clyde is a recovering blood addict and Magreb is his supportive wife. The story focuses on Clyde and the problems that his addiction causes in his life. “Vampires in the Lemon Grove” by Karen Russell, represents a person’s struggle with drug addiction, seclusion from others, and the pushing away of loved ones because Clyde does all of these
“Vampire Religion” is an article written about Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” The article is one that was found very useful in reading and understanding the story. Christopher Herbert, the author, argues of the importance that religion and events of the world played on the writing of “Dracula.” There are two parts to the article, one is “Religion/Superstition” and the second part is “The Vampire in the Church.” Both parts are vital to the article.
The first record of vampires’ undead activity was in Sebia (Butler 77). The local inhabitants’ lives were uneasy, because they were confused about their identities and what they should follow (Butler 77). In this circumstance, vampire myth appeared to express the society’s anxiety by their irregularities, such as upsetting healthy sexuality and destroying normal patterns of reproduction (Butler 78). Places like back alleys and hidden recess provide opportunities for vampires to gain their powers and their exotic influence
Different depictions of vampires are commonly exhibited in vampire folklore in past and present literature and film. The diversity of different variations of vampire legends are prominently seen in most literature, but the main ideas and attributes are generally the same. This is not that case when focusing on specific novels discussed in class. The novels I Am Legend by Richard Matheson and Fledgling by Octavia Butler are two contrasting works of vampire folklore. The novels are about different societies of vampires. They both emerged in different ways, the survive and feed in contrasting ways, and they both represent completely different forms of vampires. This essay will examine the characterizations of the contrasting the vampire species in both I Am Legend and Fledgling, as well as, investigating how these different species of vampires relate to human species.
On the basis of the evidence currently available, it seems fair to suggest that Polidori’ s The Vampyre is not just a story of a monstrous figure of the vampire from folklore tradition waiting to be destroyed by a wooden stake through the heart, it is rather that kind of nineteenth century vampire whose literary presence is highly loaded with metaphorical connotations. For instance, Lord Ruthven’s presence in the
As one of the most attractive and enduring figures in the Gothic literature, the vampires have moved from being a peripheral element with the genre to a place near the center and are capable of generating its own massive tradition now. In the recent literary history, they have already been adapted to play a role of a rebel against the moral, social, religious, and even sexual taboos. Put simply, the vampires are now a metaphor of human beings in the modern society and life.
When the image of a vampire is brought to mind one imagines a tall, thin and pale European aristocratic man dressed in fine clothes and displaying a set of pearly white fangs. However neither the aristocratic status nor the fangs can be found in folkloric accounts of vampirism. The true image of a vampire is a difficult thing to describe due to the influence that different cultures have had on the development of the myth. The depiction of vampirism in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend differ from one another and while these depictions stray from the folkloric accounts of vampires both find their roots in legend.
Legends about vampires have been traced back to several countries in Europe: no one is sure just where and when the myth began. a vampire, as almost everyone knows is one of the "living dead." the most famous vampire is Count Dracula. Like all the others, he lives on human blood, it is the only food that can satisfy him. He sleeps all day in a coffin at night he roams around the countryside searching for new victims. When the vampire finds his victim, he plunges his fanglike teeth into his or her neck and creates another
When ancient societies did not understand some unusual phenomena, they attributed it to some mythological creature. They did not know for instance that the reason behind the appearance of fangs is the Porphyria disease. Only scientists did. They did not know for instance that the reason behind lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between the electrically charged regions within clouds .Only scientists did. Thus, it is this inclination to provide explanations for themselves that led ancient societies to invent a mythological creature like the vampire. It is this same inclination that led ancient societies to attribute lightning to an angry God. Asking a scientific question like “Are Vampires real ? “ represents the real wooden stake that penetrates the heart of this supernatural myth. In truth, vampires have no real existence. Yet, despite the absence of concrete scientific explanations for the vampire myth, the subject continues to fascinate many people generation after generation. For instance, nineteenth century artists and thinkers who do not believe in its existence find the subject very intriguing and see numerous metaphoric possibilities in a mythic creature from the past. Nineteenth century thinkers and artists are using the popularity of the vampire myth to raise awareness of very real and potential anxieties. In nineteenth century Gothic novels, particularly, the vampire figure has been exploited and transformed from myth into a metaphor to