Vampire Appearances around the world The initial surge of Vampire-like folklore has existed for thousands of years, with various cultures around the early word creating mythological creatures that drain your life essence, while simultaneously explaining the effects of entropy on the body, as well as missing children, sudden bouts of illness or death. The Mesopotamians, Ancient Greeks and Herbrew cultures all had references of such creatures, such as the Greek myth of a Vrykolakas, the Mesopotamian Lilitu, or the Herbrew Lillith. In this section I shall briefly explore various interpretations of the vampire before honing in on the more recognizable European variation, focusing on its traditions, superstitions and powers. - When discussing the various iterations of the Vampire, I’ll be concluding each with various Apotropaics, these are objects or traditions …show more content…
A Varkolak being an unusual combination of both a wolf and a Vampire. Believing that this unified creature was born from living a sacrilegious life, an excommunication from the church, being buried in un-consecrated grounds, or finally indulging in the meat of a sheep that has been attacked by a werewolf or common wolf, creating a vampire like creature with hairy palms, glowing red eyes and wolf like maw and fangs. The bodies of possible Varkolak share many similarities to those of the rest of Europe, such as a lack of decay; instead perhaps retaining a bloated, swollen body, holding a patchy, and blotchy complexion and in one account from the 18th century author Pitton de Tournefort “Fresh and gorged with new blood”. He also describes a tradition within northern Greek and Slavic settlements in which those with red hair and grey eyes as possible
J. Gordon Melton, in the excerpt “Sexuality and the Vampire” published in his The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead (1998), explains that vampires have a sexual appearance that started from their origin in Dracula. Melton supports his statement by analyzing the monsters' transition to sexual beings through the stories of Dracula’s desires, multiple countries’ erotic tales revolving around vampire-like beings, the manifestation of sensual themes in literary, stage, and screen works, and their current evolution of the once terrified immortals to loved heroes. The purpose of this essay was to outline the seductiveness of the written immortal creatures in order to explain the fanged-mammals’ appeal beyond their terrifying monster abilities.
Ramsland, Katherine. "Dracula." Vampyres Only. The Crime Library, 07 June 2007. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.
In a world with ghosts, monsters, demons, and ghouls, there is one being that resonates in everyone’s mind. The idea of these creatures can be found in almost every culture on the planet in one form or another. They prey on the weak and they feast on the blood of their victims. They are compared to a fox for being quick and cunning, but also rather seductive in their nature. With their unholy existence one can only describe them as almost demonic. So what is this horrid creature? Well it is none other than the vampire, a creature as old as time itself. Throughout history there have been many different variations of the vampire, each with their own unique abilities. But one cannot help but mention
The vampire had been depicted as the epitome of offensive and seductive behavior in their early representations. It has suffered an enduring image of something inhuman and monstrous that feeds and thrives at the expense of others. As David Punter and Glennis Byron have asserted, “Confounding all categories, the vampire is the ultimate embodiment of transgression” (The Gothic 268). The transgressive behavior of the vampire was first observed with Stoker’s Dracula. Although this figure is attractive to us in many ways, with his intelligence and immortality, the Count is primaril...
Count Dracula has been the frontrunner for the modern day vampire lore and legends since being printed back in 1897, pop culture took the vampire traits from Bram Stoker’s Dracula and twisted them. In modern portrayals of vampire lore, each author chooses an original aspect from Stoker but then creates a little bit of their own lore in the process. Count Dracula appears to be a walking corpse from the pale and gaunt visual aesthetics to the coolness of his undead skin (Stoker). In some cultures, the vampire is able to transform from the body of a human being to that of a fellow creature of the night, a bat. In the novel Dracula more than one town was easily visualized through the detailed descriptions throughout the novel, thus
From Transylvania to Hollywood, vampires have transformed from unfamiliar, mysterious personalities to one of the most dominant monsters in the horror genre today. Vampires are one of the oldest and most noted creatures in mythology, with many variations of them around the world. Although the most famous version is Bram Stoker’s Dracula, many variants have come before and after telling of the same legend with their own added ideas and modifications to relate to their cultures. Today, there is a multitude of literary and film works that convey and resurface peoples’ fear of vampires. As gothic works like Dracula, by Bram Stoker and Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire directed by Scott Jeralds share certain traits reflective of the genre; These factors include setting, actions of each vampire, the initial reactions to news of them, and how their presence affects the people who live within the region the vampires inhabit.
In Twilight, Edward Cullen presents the question; “ But what if I’m not the hero? What if I’m the bad guy?” The role of vampires is very controversial. Back in the day they were evil, soulless monsters and people genuinely feared them. However, in the present day it seems that we have grown to love them and even hope to one day be them. There are a plethora of vampire stories and many of them have become immense hits. With so many vampire stories, it is not uncommon that readers are able to identify a vast amount of similarities. Although similar in aspects, there are still many differences between the classic and modern day vampires. Two highly popular stories, in which we can easily identify similarities and differences, are Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight.
Based on the previous findings, 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 story is but an attempt made by Polidori to tackle issues related to moral standards like vice and virtue.
When people hear the world “Dracula” they think black cape, red blood, and white vampire. The creative story of Count Dracula is fiction, but the inspiration behind it is as real as life itself. In the words of Richard Means, “‘Dracula’ is the story of the Transylvanian Count Dracula, a vampire who terrorizes a group of friends, led by Abraham Van Helsing, in his search for victims in London.” The novel by Bram Stoker is widely known and popular throughout most of the world, although not many people know the initial spark for the story. The fictional character, Count Dracula, was actually inspired by Vlad Tepes, a ruthless Romanian prince, who truly earned his horrid reputation.
In early folklore, the vampire was a creature of superstition, imagined as a walking corpse with terrible breath who fed off blood at night. It was a hideous creature that rose from its grave to haunt villages. Hundreds of years later, the image has changed greatly in Western literature and film, from a terrifying monster to a suave, charming individual who is dangerous but irresistible. Today, the vampire is a staple in literature and movies because the image is more attractive than terrifying. Older vampire novels published during a time when sex was taboo and unsafe presented the vampire as a sexual tempter and a monster. However, with the development of safe and affordable
The Vampire story came from a prince that impaled his enemies with stakes and actually had a bloodlust. That is a good example of how Vampires can be similar to human beings, because some humans can be the worst vampires there are. There may not be real life vampires that live off eating human blood, but people are a little similar to them. Humans
attack or presence of a vampire. For example, in the latter of the book Van
... the charismatic, chic and sensual creatures have made their way into modern culture, the concept of vampirism has undertaken many new meanings. Meanings that are not associated with the thirst for blood and brutality, but rather a thirst for understanding. Vampires have metamorphosed into a metaphor for our human desires, needs and passions. No longer are they the metaphor for our dark side, but rather they’re an accepted part of us.
Two months after the death of Count Dracula, Mina and I traveled to Transylvania in order to destroy the sisters. The beautiful female vampires are still hunting victims during the night and still sleep in the earth they were buried with. Are trip was long and arduous. We traveled via coach to London and picked up a ticket on the steam ship SS Cornwall bound for Lübeck, currently under control by the Prussian Empire. Then our journey continued again by coach as we traveled to Berlin, then by train we continued on to Budapest. We continued to Cluj-Napoca in Transylvania and finished our journey by coach to Bran. It was Bran where we were heading therefore we could get to castle Dracula, and defeat the remaining vampires. As we reached
The author’s op-ed piece was published in 2009, the very peak of the vampire contagion, where one could find these creatures wherever they looked. This pandemonium that arose from vampires is what drove del Toro and Hogan to pen “Why Vampires Never Die.” Furthermore, the purpose behind this essay is to give an abridged description of the past of vampires for the people who had become fanatics of the creatures. Also, this essay showed how vampires have persisted in pop culture. They suggest that vampires have been remade by diverse cultures at different times, and this change echoes that society's angst and concerns. The novelist’s imply that Stroker’s Dracula may mirror an exaggerated human on a prim...