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The attraction to immortality and vampires
Characteristics Of A Vampire
Characteristics Of A Vampire
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Vampires
True vampires possess different characteristics, powers and weaknesses than the fictional vampire.
The outward appearance is only slightly different to that of a human, their eyes are usually larger and more defined with long lashes. Their features are often pointed; the females and males are slender. This helps hide their inhuman strength; therefore their opponents almost always underestimate them.
All vampires are attractive; because of this vampires are almost always hunted by the same sex, to help prevent the hunter from forming an emotional attachment with their intended victim.
Vampires are in a sense immortal. They cannot die of old age and are always in their prime at around 20 – 30 years of age (physically). They are immune to almost any diseases and poisons and cannot spread a disease from one human to another. They can recover from most wounds; a new vampire might take three days to recover from a wound that would take an older vampire three minutes. Vampires can of course be killed if the wound is large enough that they will die before they have time to heal, this means that old vampires are almost impossible to kill as they heal almost instantaneously
All vampires are extremely strong generally the older they get the stronger, faster and smarter they get. Age is not everything in the power department; the quantity of self-discipline and will power the vampire has limits the force it can gather.
The powers/abilities that the average vampire has are:
- Weaponry, All vampires have an affinity with weapons, they can pick up almost any weapon and use it effectively, young or new vampires are trained in weaponry and martial arts. Vampires usually become an expert in one or two weapons. Vampires are the best assassins but aren’t used very often because they aren’t easily found and the reluctance of the seeker because of the misconception that the vampire will kill them, and then ask about the job proposition, when it would actually happen the other way around, in most circumstances.
- Vampires are stronger and faster than any other known species, even Elves who are widely thought of as the fastest and strongest sentient creatures that still exist.
Some common misconceptions about vampires are:
- Sunlight is traditionally a way to kill a vampire. This is partly true, vampires are allergic to sunlight, especially young vampires, the reaction lessens the older and more experienced the vampire becomes.
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.
Just some of The vampire’s numerous powers are: He can turn humans into the Undead, he is virtually immortal, he has the ability to grow younger by drinking blood, he casts no shadow, he casts no reflection, he has the ability to crawl along walls, he has the ability to control animals, he can control the weather and he also has the power to transform his own shape. Here we can see these powers.
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
Vampires in both folklore and history are considered evil creatures who are capable of killing or harming individuals. They have a bad reputation which ties both forms together. The folkloric vampires consist of tales told by people and have been preserved orally and historic vampires also have been brought about by tales. The differences between the two are extreme. The folkloric vampires have a specific order to how it is written which was created by Vladimir Propp.
Vampires have been viewed with fear and fascination for centuries. Of all the vampires in literature, Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula is probably the most prominent vampire. Recently, there has been an upsurge of public interest in socially acceptable vampires, like the Cullens in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This essay will contrast Stoker’s Dracula with Carlisle Cullen, one of the newer vampires from the Twilight series. They will be examined in terms of their origins and how they dealt with immortality.
Similar characteristics of vampires are evident in The Vampire Diaries, The Twilight Saga, and Stoker’s Dracula. Vampires in The Vampire Diaries become immortal, live, and die in similar ways to Stoker’s Dracula. In The Vampire Diaries, to become a vampire, a human has to die with vampire blood in their system. In the first episode, “The Return,” of season two. Caroline Forbes is in critical condition with her health and her friends, some of which are vampires, decide that to restore her health, she needs to ingest Damon, a vampire’s, blood. Katherine Pierce, the evil doppelganger of Elena, then murders Caroline to make her presence in the town known to the Salvatore Brothers. This ultimately makes Caroline a vampire. Life as an immortal being in The Vampire Diaries allows vampires to compel human minds, manipulating them. Katherine Pierce often used this technique to get what she wanted. Despite the longevity of life that has power perks, to kill the vampires, a wooden stake driven through the heart will suffice. These characteristics are apparent in Bram Stoker’s Dracula as well. Dracula compels Lucy to sleepwalk and come to him while unconscious during the night. He obtains the ability to compel or
Dracula is a mythical creature designed to wreak havoc on the lives of mortals through the terror and intimidation of death by bite. Vampires are undead beings that kill humans for their blood to survive. Human blood is the vampire’s sustenance, and only way of staying alive. Throughout time, humans have come up with ways to repel vampires, such as lighting jack-o-lanterns on All Hallows Eve, placing garlic around the neck, a stake through the heart, sunlight, etc. Both beings have a survival instinct, whether it be hunger or safety, both are strong emotions. In the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, the characters Lucy, John, and Van Helsing strive for survival, therefore killing Dracula.
The biggest difference is the fact that unlike in the earlier vampire tales, modern vampires are perceived as inhumanly attractive. Afterall, Dracula is described as a “tall old man, clean shaven save for a long white mustache, and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about him anywhere.” (Dracula, 42). Whereas in Twilight, “Everyone of them was chalky pale… They all had very dark eyes despite the range in their hair...were all, devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful.” (Twilight, 18-19). Another dissimilarity is that Dracula does not have a reflection. While Jonathan Harker may be unable to see the Count in his mirror, in Twilight, Edward shows up in pictures and has a reflection. Lastly, another major difference between the two kinds of vampires lies in their sleeping habits. Twilight vampires do not sleep in coffins, in fact, they do not sleep at all. But in Dracula, Jonathan discovers the count sleeping in a
Edward was bitten at 17, and never labeled as horrifying. Twilight vampires are “devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful”.
Throughout history, we have seen vampires come in every form and shape, which commonly comes through the medium of film or television. The traditional vampire is often ingrained into many Americans heads as a dark and bat-like figure with a lust for blood supplied through his innocent victims and large fangs, yet we constantly see movies that differ from this stereotype. The 1980 movie “The Shining” directed by Stanley Kubrick exemplifies a very modern and mutated image of the vampire in the form of psychosis while the 1931 movie “Dracula” displays the vampire in a more traditional sense, however, both films show the apparent influence of Slavic roots.
First a major difference is sunlight does not affect the vampires in Twilight. The only thing the sun does to them is making them glow like glitter is on them. In Dracula the vampires are very weak when they get into the sun. Next big difference that you usually do not see in vampires is in Twilight they show up in pictures and mirrors. In Dracula it is shown when Jonathan was shaving that Dracula could not be seen in the mirror (29-30). The final difference between Dracula and Twilight is Holy items do not harm the vampires in Twilight. In Dracula however the items either burn the vampires, they just do not go near them. They usually just try to find an alternate solution around the object. This is shown when Draula used the wolf from the zoo to break the window open to get inside to suck on Lucy’s blood
Humanity has always been fascinated with the allure of immortality and although in the beginning vampires were not a symbol of this, as time passed and society changed so did the ideas and perceptions surrounding them. The most important thing to ask yourself at this point is 'What is immortality?' Unfortunately this isn't as easily answered as asked. The Merriam Webster Dictionary says immortality is 'the quality or state of being immortal; esp : unending existence' while The World Book Encyclopedia states it as 'the continued and eternal life of a human being after the death of the body.' A more humorous definition can be found in The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce:
Simply searching through articles, databases, and other resources, vampires are depicted as malicious and monstrous creatures. First off, the vampire is famous for its dark and mysterious image affiliated with fear and death. In many ways, “the vampire can be seen through its most basic characterization as the bringer of death”(Stevens par. 3) and evokes a “marginal world of darkness, secrecy, vulnerability, excess, and horror” (Stevens par. 6). Obviously, the vampire has adopted a dark, fearful, and mysterious image. Next, vampires are famous for their unique characteristics. Dictionary.com defines the vampire as “a preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse, that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night”(dictionary.com). Vampires are also known for their distinct weakness suck as “various tailsmans and herbs”(Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia) but the only way to kill a vampire is “only by cremation or if a stake is driven through their hearts”(Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia). Another distinct and commonly known characteristic of the vampire is their fear of the light as it could potentially kill them. Emotionally, the vampires are almost viewed as sex symbols as they “indulge in their desires ...
The vampire genre is one that is so widely exploited because anything can be done with it. It can be made into a horror story made to induce nightmares, into a story that displays humans can be just as monstrous as the monster, or into a romance that proves that love conquers all. The mystery and sensuality that shrouds vampires allows for a vampire story to be anything and everything the writer or reader desires.
Fangs, dead, blood, and bats. Those are some things that come to peoples minds when they think about vampires. In Webster’s International Dictionary vampires are defined as “a bloodsucking ghost or reanimated body of a dead person, believed to come from the grave and wander about by night sucking the blood of persons asleep…” Whatever people think of vampires, they are not really what they are believed to be.