Emily Fischer
5/26/16
AP World History
Period 2
Vampires: More Than a Modern Fantasy
When you think of vampires, do you think of Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Vampire Diaries? Or, do you think of ancient vampiric legends such as Lamastu, empusai, and even Vlad the Impaler? What if both modern vampire culture and the origins of vampirism were connected, not only by topic, but by relevance? Vampiric myths allow us to understand the history and those involved, as well as to relate to the present and view how current culture evolved into what it is. Although something usually thought as irrelevant and unusual, vampiric legends explain the continuity of humans to use scapegoats to explain the unknown, whether due to a lack of
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She spread terror through villages, but was actually the cause of lack of medical knowledge. When miscarriages or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) occurred, ancient peoples did not understand, and therefore drew their own conclusions, conclusions that would help satisfy not only their lack of technology but also their misunderstanding of the world. Similarly, in ancient Greece, a myth of a demoness named Lamia was widespread. This legend originated from Greek gods and goddesses, for it was said that Lamia was originally a mistress of Zeus. Motivated by jealousy, Hera drove the poor lover insane, causing her to eat all of her 5 children. Once awoken from her daze, Lamia soon realized what she had done and transformed into a half-snake monster, cursed to eat human children and fetuses due to the jealousy she felt for their mothers. Additionally, a related myth sprouted among ancient Hebrew texts about a demoness named Lilith. According to the texts, Lilith, not Eve, was the wife of Adam, but left the Garden of Eden due to her disagreeance of God’s will for woman to be inferior to man. God sent angels after her, but she refused to enter Eden again, so the angels said they would kill 100 of Lilith’s children every single day until she came back to Eden. Lilith therefore swore to forever kidnap and devour human children, turning into a hideous monster. All three of these legends described the
Have you ever thought to yourself, what has influenced vampire literature today? Well, neither have I, but it wouldn’t hurt to touch on the subject. Dracula introduces the idea of lust and death within vampirism. Also, there are many connections that I make throughout this essay between Dracula and I am Legend, proving that Dracula was an influence on the book. The opposition of Dracula has had great influences on vampire literature.We see that these two pieces of literature are so much similar than one would think. Both authors even use similar words to describe the similar things, which I hadn’t even noticed until I made further inspection. .The book Dracula, written by
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 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).
One of the oldest and well known mythological monsters throughout history are blood sucking immortals known as vampires. They transgress the boundaries that humans are always trying to establish. Vampire lore has reflected the values and social structures of the culture it has existed in, but over the past century the values have transformed. From the classic story of Stoker’s Dracula where he is presented as sinister and non-human, the vampire aspect of literature has evolved drastically to a more heroic immortal.
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
Ever since my middle school friend introduced me to Twilight, I have been obsessed with vampires. With my obsession came a need to share my interest with other people. After my friends got sick of listening to my constant chatter about vampires, I turned to my mom to talk about my interest. When I told my mom about modern day vampires, she laughed and told me that the creatures I was talking about were not vampires. She said that vampires are bloodthirsty evil beings that are not handsome and certainly not sparkly. Through my conversation with my mother, I found out that the views of vampires have changed greatly throughout generations. I found that cultural and societal changes that occur throughout history has changed our image and perspectives of vampires.
The vampire is not by any means a new manifestation of the fears of a society. Their presence in human culture can be traced back for centuries in human folklore. The first Anglicized representations of the creature in literature date back to the English poetry of the early 1700s, and were then followed in the fiction genre by such works as John William Polidori’s The Vampyre, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, and of course, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. For the audiences of the 18th century, vampires embodied many of the following common fears shared between the people: of illness, both mental and epidemic, of an embraced sexuality, particularly that of women’s and homosexuals’, and of foreigners. As the archetypical vampire evolved throughout the
Prisilia: The pod people’s goal and ways of obtaining it are similar to those done by Dracula. The pod people begin converting the entire town of Santa Mira. This is successfully done because Miles, the town doctor was gone from the town on a conference. This gives the aliens enough time to get the towns people turned. However, when the pod people find out that Miles and Becky are still human and refuse to cooperate, they send in their friends and previous allies in the form of Danny and Jack. If it were not for them, Miles would have never opened the door. In a similar way, Dracula uses Lucy and later on Mina to try and deflect Jonathan and his friends from successfully guarding off and eventually finishing Dracula’s master plan of taking
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.
Vampires have fell under a certain stereotype ever since the early nineteenth Century, and even up until today. Movies, novels and people in general have depicted vampires as bloodsucking demons who turn into bats, and I am sure everyone is familiar with any vampires need to seduce women almost daily. Vampires are said to be " an alien nocturnal species," as Nina Auerbach's book-"Our vampires, ourselves" states; but all vampires are not the coffin lying, shadow loitering monsters that the media perceives them to be. First of all, vampires are neither inhuman nor nonhuman, " they are simply more alive than they should be." What does this statement infer? Does this perception imply that vampires are actually ghosts? No,
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.
Orlomoski, Caitlyn, "From Monsters to Victims: Vampires and Their Cultural Evolution from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-First Century" (2011). Honors Scholar Theses. Paper 208.
The legend of the vampire has emerged countless times within human imagination over the past few centuries. The first available representation of the mythical creature in prose fiction can be found in John Polidori’s “The Vampyre” (1810). It was not until eight decades later that Bram Stoker popularized the existence of this figure with the publication of “Dracula” in 1897. The folklore of the vampire has come a long way since and can be found in today’s popular media more frequently than ever before. However, with due course of time, the representation of the creature has taken alternate routes and today’s vampires are noticeable different – socially and physically – from their predecessors. One effective path to trace this