Vampires in Myth and History Essay

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

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.

Fear is something we all crave, well at least the excitement factor of the fear. Take haunted houses for instance, they bring in millions of dollars a year. People clamber to get to the scariest most terrifying haunted houses each Halloween. But why? Why would someone want to be intentionally scared? Or take an amusement park. Each summer people stand in long lines, in the heat of the summer all to ride a less than 30-second roller coaster that whips them around like a rag doll. It is because humans are naturally thrill seekers in some shape or form. We love the adrenaline high we get from chasing the next big wave.

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

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

Does Dracula, Queen of the Damned, or Anne Rice sound familiar? Surely, they must, but not just for one person. In fact, for people all over the world! The three terms expressed all have one thing in common; vampires. These mythical creatures are one of the most popular horror-related figures. Vampires may be a frightening subject for most, but that does not take away from the fact of their popularity throughout. The fascination of vampires has greatly affected past, present, and future cultures all around the world.

Hollywood vs the History and legends of vampires. Has Hollywood represented the long and deep history of vampires in its motion pictures? Hollywood has turned how we view a demon blood sucking like creature into something so different in each of its approaches. Does Hollywood portray the way vampires appear in history? Or do they glamorize and exaggerate everything about them. It’s simple, you can break down the Hollywood vampire into three categories. The desirable vampire. That is beautiful, attractive and desirable. They show you a world of perfection and the beauty of immortality. The horrifying vampire. That is scary, blood driven. Showing you a world of lust and death. Then finally the mix of the two.

The original myth about vampires came from the man known as Vlad the Impaler. Vlad Tepes would impale his enemies to show their leaders that they cannot win and he drank their blood as a victory celebration. He was the model for the most famous Dracula character. Most people saw him as a blood drinking sadists, while Romania thought of him as a hero defending his empire from Ottoman Turks.

Bela Lugosi is arguably the most classic example of an actor taking on a vampire role. However, during 1931 when the universal studio was casting the 1931’s Dracula, Lugosi could only barely speak English, and therefore almost lost his chance at playing the iconic part (“Dracula (1931 English-Language Film”). Nonetheless his accents and costumes, which has become the classic look of the vampire, he himself was so typecast in his role that he was actually buried after his death in his Dracula costume. Certainly, it is Lugosi’s performance that makes Tod Browning’s film such an influential Hollywood picture. Overall, I will give it a 3 star out of 5, compared with the older version film of Dracula, because of the dialogues and sounds, the plot is much easier for the audiences to understand, without any editing or background music the horror of the film is not inferior to

Feminism was a rising social shift in the late nineteenth century. Women's sexuality was seen as impure and insensitive to the society. Because of this, the feminist’s objective was to modify the conviction of the perfect Victorian while being able to express oneself sexually without shame. In other words, many women had sexual desires, but could not express them because of the society’s standard of women. To support this, Lois Drawmer wrote in his article, “Vampires: Myth and Metaphors of Enduring Evil”, “development of the women's movement received a backlash in the resurgence of reactionary ideology of “deviant” female sexuality” (Drawmer 1). Feminism was frowned upon because of the social and sexual standards of the era. Therefore,

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.

It seems in this modern world, the most agreeable option, when it comes to moral darkness and light, is to believe the underlying, superlative, and reminiscently instinctual superstitions that are conjured up over generations. Thomas C. Foster has one of the most acceptable theories upon the fictional importance of a generally conventional fear’s relation to life itself; “My guess is that as long as people act toward their fellows in exploitative and selfish ways, the vampire will be with us” (Foster, Chapter 3). Appealing to my beliefs, the well-processed example of vampirism employed by Bram Stoker and his 1897 novel Dracula brings the most common hadal, diffident, and nethermost irrationalities an undesirable lifeblood

Gothic literature originated in the 19th century, having diverged from the larger Romantic Movement. Like the Romantics, Gothic writers embraced the sublime nature and endeavored to evoke deep emotions in their readers. However, their motives were manifested in a fascination with the exotic and eerie human nature and the effects of guilt, evil, isolation and terror on a human being. Authors employ isolated and grotesque settings, supernatural beings and events, combines horror and romance as well as highlighting overwrought emotions. The ability to captivate reader’s emotional experience through the exploration of human weakness has allowed the Gothic genre to continue into the twenty-first century, modifying to reflect current societal concerns.

Vampires are one of the most oldest and most prevalent creatures known to world mythology. The beginning of vampires has remained unknown for thousands of years, but according to legend it all began in the Mediterranean sea.Only vampires can create another vampire but nobody knows the total insight into how the first vampire was made until recent history.