The word vampire is a term which hardly hold realistic connotations. It 's a word associated primarily with two things, fear and romance. The idea of a real life equivalent to a vampire is a somewhat crazy notion to persons outside the pagan, occult, and otherwise magickal* subculture. In this subculture, however, vampirism is a real thing to be embraced or defended against. Individuals who absorb energy either through psychic means or even through the consumption of small amounts of blood generally fall under the blanket term “Real Life Vampire” or RLV for short. RLV, however, is a term that can be broken into many, many sub groups, so what exactly is a real life vampire? A “real vampire” is generally defined as a condition which may include but is not limited to a real need for blood or life energy, increased sensitivity, light sensitivity, and nocturnal tendencies (House Eclipse: Vampire House & Resource.) When taken into religious contexts, real vampirism is associated with a slew of mental abilities, but nothings specific. Real vampires as a whole don 't claim to be non-human, or have enhanced physical strength or abilities such as shape shifting or immortality. (Sanguinarius: Terminology & Lingo) Although there is much overlapping between the two, real vampires can be broken into two general categories: psi vampires and sanguine vampires. Both stem from a need for energy, however, sanguinarian vampires acquire the energy through consuming small amounts of blood,
The myth of the vampire existed in a multitude of civilizations and cultures under various names such is strigoi (for the Romanian territory), Apotamkin, etc. But no matter the name, vampires will always refer to gothic creatures that drain the blood of humans, thus being monstrous.
Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more
Although vampires have always been known for drinking blood and immortal, the nature of their kind has developed over time into a more compassionate kind. Dracula and Lestat centered more on European and aristocratic culture and the immortal aspect of the monster where they were sinister and preyed on the weak. The culture of vampires were seen as malicious and predators, whereas the Cullens are the “good vampires” that do not feed on human blood. Throughout the twentieth century, vampires main focus in on the Western culture. Since the barrier between human society and the immortals has been broken down over the past century, the vampires in modern media are now viewed as more of a misunderstood, heroic character. Protection over the ones the vampires care about is a vital part of their identity.
To be a vampire, you have to take something from someone else to benefit yourself, whether that be anything from blood to money. Vampires weren’t always what we see today in “Twilight. Vampirism does not always have to do with vampires but selfishness, exploitation, and refusal to respect.
Representations of the vampire archetype have changed over time. This is because people have different context of vampires due to different eras. The Bram Stoker’s original vampire text “Dracula” is about two men going on a business trip to meet Dracula. He was very welcoming but after a day the two man saw Dracula for who he was really was a vampire. It reflects the context of 1897 by the humans saw the vampire as a demon from the devil. The humans saw the Vampire was a demon because they were evil. In 2008 Catherine Hardwick released “Twilight”. This film is about a family of vampire called the Cullen’s trying to live a normal human live. The Cullen's didn’t feed from humans blood they feeded of animal blood The kids go to a school in a small town called Forks, Washington. The similarities between the archetypes in both text are that the vampire in Twilight and Dracula feeded on blood, don’t go in the sun and wear clothes what are hide most of their body’s. However, the main difference are, In the Cullen's talk to human and live close to him, go to school to with them, whereas Dracula doesn't.
Anne Rice writer of such vampire books as Interview with a Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, Queen of the Damned, etc has what I think one the best takes on what it means to be a vampire. “Interview with a Vampire”, for example, is a book that follows the life of a man named Louis and his journey in becoming a vampire. You don’t learn much on how the vampires in this universe came to be, but you do learn what their weaknesses are. The vampires must drink blood to maintain themselves whether it be human or animal and it must be part of a fresh kill. Drinking old blood will kill them if they drink too much of it. Now there is another rule to this that will be addressed below. They cannot go out into the sunlight and if they do it will surely mean the death of them, almost instantly turning them into dust. The sun is really the only true death for these vampires. Beheading can be consider a true death for them but it is not necessarily one and to think that
Now these creatures are naturally Dark, though many of them choose not to be malicious. Some choose simply to go into isolation and live their lives away from society. However, one thing that is certain about the Vampire is their need for blood. A vampire cannot survive without blood. Most often, lore says that vampires get their blood by drinking it from humans. They simply come up, give the victim a nice, solid bite on the neck, and drain the blood from their system. This, in turn, would also turn the victim into a vampire.
People have always and will always be affected by the infamous vampire. “Norine Dresser, a folklorist at UCLA also wrote a book at that time called American Vampires in which she documented vampire images in the media and described the effects on people who claimed to be vampires. She sent out a questionnaire, and out of 574 respondents, 27 percent admitted to a belief in vampires” (Ramsland 65). Certain individuals would file their teeth into a razor-sharp weapon, sleep in coffins, avoid the sun, and dress entirely in black. Some people would even form small groups to exchange blood in secret. Sadly enough, people would go too far to become their fictitious character. Known as “Lust Murders,” people would kill in order to get a sexual pleasure as a vampire would. In 1827, a moody 24 year old vine dresser named Leger killed a 12 year old girl in the woods. He admitted that he drank her blood, mutilated her genitals, tore out and ate a part of her heart, and then buried her remains. When he was questioned about his horrific event, he talked with no emotion or remorse. Two other “Lust Murders” comprise of a man cutting his arm for his wife to suck on before sex because it would arouse his wife so strongly. The second is “a man dissected his victims and got so caught up in the gore that he trembled with the desire to wallow in it and consume it” (Ramsland 105).
That people or characters can show the same traits as one. Whether it is being selfish or rude. Taking advantage of someone or putting their own needs before anything, these are all traits of a vampire. However, most authors do use the mythical means of a vampire in their books, rather than letting a human take on these qualities. He proves his points by giving some examples in books like “The Unicorn” and “A Severed Head.”
Vampire have been made out to be a lot of thing over the years of history. Vampires are evil mythological beings who roam the world at night searching for people whose blood they feed upon. They may be the best-known classic monsters of all. Most people associate vampires with Count Dracula, the legendary, blood-sucking subject of Bram Stoker’s epic novel, Dracula, which was published in 1897. But the history of vampires began long before Stoker was born. (History.com Staff A+E Networks, 2017). Many people also believed that vampire’s legends came from bats “vampire bats” but the legends and myths go much deeper and older.
In the late nineteenth century vampires started to evolve into to what is the modern day vampire. Although they were still seen as “evil”, the vampires of the late twentieth century were no longer creepy creatures that would crawl out of their coffins to seduce women and feed from their blood. This was the start of a new period of
If someone said the word vampires, what immediately comes to mind is the “classic “ image of one with fangs and a cape that feed on innocent lives. Although you can have your classic vampires in books and movies, not all are portrayed like that. As Foster explains in How To Read Literature Like A Professor, usually in literature, the portrayal of a vampire is used to signify the evil and pure, and when the sinister succeeds he takes that purity and vitality away from the victim. A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, follows the journey of two women who are married to the same man, and how he exhibits those traits of a vampire and attempts to take that vivacity away from them.
The legend of the vampire in history is boundlessly frightening to all and fascinating to people world-wide. Vampires are creatures of the night who live by feeding on the blood of human beings. Stories of vampire creatures have been told around the world from nearly the beginning of time itself. The way they look, their tendencies, purposes, and other characteristics of vampires, appear to differ based on the time period in which the vampire folklore originated or what culture it derived from. These cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks, and the Romans all have various folklores that explain how the vampire came to be.
In most of the novels and movies, vampires are always known as the living creature of the night. To fulfill their sexual desire and get what they want, vampires will mostly hunt and seduced their victims during night time. According to Vampire Legendary Creature by Alison Eldridge, “Creatures with vampiric characteristics have appeared at least as far back as ancient Greece, where stories were told of creatures that attacked people in their sleep and drained their bodily fluids. Tales of walking corpses that drank the blood of the living and spread plague flourished in medieval Europe in times of disease, and people lacking a modern understanding of infectious disease came to believe that those who became vampires preyed first upon their own families.” (Eldridge)
By definition, vampires are “reanimated corpses that are said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). In Penny Dreadful, there is a twist. Dracula, the first vampire, is a fallen angel and Lucifer’s brother. While Lucifer fell to Hell and fed on the souls of the dead, Dracula