Throughout the course of the history of the formation of the vampire, the creature has undergone numerous interpretations and motives in literature. Yet, regardless of the various differentiations and alterations of the creature that various authors have made, the purpose behind each iteration of the vampire is significant in order to convey a message from the author towards an audience. Although some form of vampire has existed for millennia throughout different regions of the world, the tales of the vampire have since spread swiftly towards the West where the creature is seen to depict several personifications of human attributes.
Through this diaspora experienced by the mythology and telling of the vampire, the vampire has functioned as a foil for humankind, functioning as two components seen within humans, the inner evil repressed in most, and the ideal human as the other. Vampires in mythology and literature of the past several centuries have served as a medium through which human societies have acknowledged various perceptions and constituents of human individuality, and the manner in which these negative sentiments are projected in the form of the vampire.
Furthermore, through the numerous changes of the depiction of vampire myths the subject of the personality of vampires develops throughout the span of time, thus modern vampires have transformed to possess more humane qualities which cause current vampires to coexist peacefully with humans and form an interconnected society within contemporary stories in Hollywood and other literary works. Through the course of centuries, vampires have evolved from the embodiment of all the negative aspects of humans and into an archetype personality that humans pursue to obtain.
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Whereas once vampires were depicted as pale, repugnant creatures, they know are seen to exist as a human with desirable qualities in modern literature. The vampire has endured the test of time and has existed since the dawn of civilization as a metaphor for the issues that exist within a particular society and philosophies regarding life and death. During the course of centuries, the vampire has progressed to adhere to societal tendencies, changing from the animalistic beast of ancient folklore to an enthralling and multifaceted organism within today’s societal view.
Vampires once served as advisories for the public to not stray from societal norms, but now exist as a form of entertainment. Therefore, vampire exists as a recurring model for existence in modern entertainment that has existed for several millennia, idolized by many where they once were condemned by society, as around the world the vampire has existed in some form and has served as an antagonist of human life and morals. Nevertheless, over time vampires have become more relatable and less demeaning than previous iterations due to the implementation of contemporary notions of sexuality and gender in society, a growing disassociation with religion and sanctity that exist within society in the United States, and an enthrallment with a multiplicity of various ideologies that exist today that were nonexistent during early renditions of the vampire that are now adopted by them which shaped vampires in the modern era.
Traditionally, the vampire is seen as a carnivorous, primitive creature that craves the blood of other beings. Conversely, such is not the case in modern adaptations of the traditional mythology, as they now adored and respected by the population at large, in part due to their affiliation with sex and gender as a whole. Audiences of the vampire genre have adored the predators’ enduring attractiveness and glamorized their animalistic influence. Furthermore, whilst the creatures are able to be easily categorized as barbaric predators over other various type of life, the notion that insinuates the separation vampires and sex/gender identity is a notion that is utterly false and does not hold true. This relationship between sex and vampires is a projection of the permeating function that sex possesses within conventional culture today. F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu film is an early depiction of the vampire and the role of sexuality within the film as well as the empowering of women and subversion of the gender of the vampire. Murnau’s film paved the way for the approach in which sexuality and gender were presented in the many iterations of vampire films that followed the 1922 film’s release.
Vampires within European folklore and literature are constantly seen to have an erotic element to their very nature, essentially there exists a prominence on stealing the life aura from others in an erogenous aspect. Murnau adamantly received influence from such preconceived notions in his depiction of Nosferatu includes the rejection of conventional gender roles and the enablement of women when seen on Murnau’s vampire, who demonstrates a feminine characteristic that enhances the vampire’s androgyny or ambisexual nature (Furthermore, Nosferatu continues to explore the notions of sexuality by the vampire’s distorting of customary perceptions of sexuality and gender, where the vampire typically serves as an archetype of several prohibited gender identities and sexualities. Murnau’s film continues to empower women by rejecting the traditional stereotypes of women by including a robust, decisive character in the form of Ellen. After Thomas Hutter becomes injured, it is his resilient, self-determining wife Ellen who must defend him. Murnau clearly was inspired in the creation of his film by the time period in which he existed in, where strives for gender equality were being made.
This depiction of Nosferatu almost creates sympathy for the creature as he is capable of rational thought which marks the beginning of the shift towards a more relatable vampire which exists today. The subversion of conventional gender roles by Nosferatu allowed for the mannerism to be reiterated through countless films that would follow the 1922 film’s release. Although Nosferatu is not the only vampire literature to defy traditional gender roles, it was the film that created the fundamental basis for the concept to be explored upon by later films and other works of literature. Nosferatu implemented the vampire that was gender neutral which is seen in later films that would follow, ultimately allowing for vampires to be seen as friendlier and more relatable as a result. Such an example of the blending of genders in a vampire exists in the 2008 film Let the Right One In directed by Tomas Alfredson. In the film, Eli is a gender-neutral vampire who acts as a caretaker for Oskar, a bullied 12-year-old. The vampire within this iteration is depicted with immense strength contained in the small stature of a prepubescent girl named Eli. As previously mentioned, Eli is differentiated from other humans within a similar age range as she assumes the role of protector of Oskar from the local bullies and overall exudes a pessimistic demeanor on life.
Eli displays superhuman feats, such as inconceivable strength, and also exudes a particular fondness for logic-based puzzles, as she is a vampire with an intellect far beyond the age of a normal 12-year-old. This theme of empowering women is borrowed from Nosferatu and in addition, the concept of tremendous strength within a stature that is petite is a reference that also links back to Murnau’s film, as Count Orlok is shown to possess immense strength whilst retaining his slender, emaciated physique. Let the Right One In brilliantly demonstrates a subversion from typically female vampires who are often seen to be seductive, deceptive, and overall sexual. Although Eli is none of the above, such is the case likely due to Eli’s extremely young physical appearance. Thus, while Eli shares several qualities of other girls within the same age range, she demonstrates character qualities and physical capabilities not customarily coupled even with female vampires, which effectively increases the idea of the epicene vampire to incorporate juvenile vampires. This commendably civilizes the vampire by adapting the creature to contemporary theories of gender and sexuality which contribute to the vigorous adjustment that occur within vampire literature to assimilate the vampire into American culture.
Vampire mythology was once intertwined with religion and serve as an antithesis for religion until recently due to the growing secularization of the United States, and as a result the vampire has lost most of the negative connotation that associated them with such qualities, allowing them to become favorable in today’s society. The vampire has undergone a metamorphosis from an antagonistic creature of religion, to a source of entertainment, as shown within Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where the titular character himself goes from being a tyrant to ultimately receiving salvation for his actions at the end of the novel, which demonstrates the evolution of the literary vampire as a whole. Typically, the vampire was seen as an antichrist figure who was a walking embodiment of sins which led to the negative connotation behind them. This antichrist persona is true in the famous Bram Stoker’s Dracula, where Jesus Christ and Dracula can be seen to be foils of one another.
Based on an overall rough description of the two, the differences are apparent, whereas Jesus Christ is often depicted as providing light to the world, Dracula appears to be the very embodiment of darkness and only comes out during the nights. Furthermore, Jesus Christ gave his life so that others may live, and Dracula steals the life force of others so that he may continue to live, and Dracula is a greedy aristocratic villain, Jesus was a modest man who preached helping others before oneself. Not only do the two contrast starkly in terms of demeanor and actions, but the two also contrast in terms of their appearance, as Stoker states, “His face was a strong, a very strong, aquiline, with high of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils, with lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples but profusely elsewhere… with peculiarly sharp white teeth. ‘ (Stoker 26-7). Clearly Dracula resembles a hairy beast with sharp teeth used for preying on the poor people around his manor, a stark contrast from Christ. This persona created by Stoker is significant because it helps to arrange the foundation for the negative sentiment of the vampire that would follow the book’s publication in 1897. As mentioned previously, Murnau’s Nosferatu has some influence from Stoker’s Dracula, such as components of amatory and homoerotic subtext.
Yet, as both Nosferatu and Dracula are antagonistic creatures, just as all vampires within literature once were, Dracula is eventually redeemed and receives redemption when he is killed. Towards the end of the novel Stoker writes, “I shall be glad as long as I live that even in that moment of final dissolution, there was in the face a look of peace (Dracula’s face), such as I never could have imagined might have rested there” . Bram Stoker creates the basis for the vampire that is followed by many others after him, but also demonstrates the ability of redemption, even to despicable creatures such as Dracula, which illustrates the reasoning of why vampires were able to transform in the amicable personality in today’s rendition of them. Despite the early renditions of vampires which were ghastly in nature, Stoker foreshadowed the possibility of change within the vampire which was a lead built upon by authors after him, done so without even a full realization.
Lastly, the existence of various ideologies within modern society which have been applied to vampires is a proponent in the transformation of the modern vampire due to aforementioned ideologies being applied to vampires which ultimately humanizes them and transforms them into the creature that is cherished by society. An example of a modern-day characteristic that has been applied to the vampire is the vegetarian lifestyle. The vampires within Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight coexist with humans as vegetarians, and as a result they have exploded into the cultural phenomenon they are today. The vampires choose to exist with humans, and not prey on them, as seen with Dracula and Nosferatu. This development demonstrates a metaphor for the vampires merely seeking to live a peaceful life, rather than antagonize humans. Within Twilight, the character Edward Cullen, who happens to be a vampire, provides the rationale for his lifestyle by stating, “the others — the majority of our kind who are
quite content with our lot — they, too, wonder at how we live. But you see, just because we’ve been… dealt a certain hand… it doesn’t mean that we can’t choose to rise above — to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted. To try to retain whatever essential humanity we can” (Meyer 145). Through this dialogue, Meyer exhibits qualities within Edward Cullen that have yet to be portrayed in other vampires up until this point and have been building up to since the Bram Stoker depiction of the vampire. Whereas once the vampire was a feared creature that preyed on humans, Meyer retaliates against such preconceived notions and asserts that vampires can exist as normal people and attend a high school such as Edward Cullen within her critically acclaimed Twilight series.
The vampire has undergone various variations and has evolved from many different themes explored during the course of the millennia in which the folklore has existed. The reason why one can say this is because the vampire has definitely become more human over the years. In other words, this entire study comes down to the fact that whilst the vampire as a mythical figure started out as fundamentally different from humans, the contemporary vampire has become more and more similar. The definitions that are used for metaphor and metonymy in this thesis are, as outlined in chapter 2.3, those that David Sapir uses. In that sense, the vampire has gone from belonging to a separate semantic field, the ‘supernatural’ field, to moving more and more into the semantic field of ‘human’. Therefore, we can almost use ‘vampire’ and ‘human’ as two contiguous terms. In chapter three we saw that Dracula is a very supernatural vampire.
Both in his physical appearance and with regards to his powers and psyche, we see that he is definitely of another world than the human world. He has hair growing on his palms, fangs and red eyes; he has an aversion to holy objects and garlic, and he is able to transform into, for instance, a bat or mist. These characteristics are a part of the stereotypical, or archetypal, image of a vampire. It is those characteristics that one has heard about in myths and folktales. Furthermore, in the metaphorical sense, he relates to humans in that he is representative of the sides of ourselves that we wish to keep hidden. The fact that he only walks around at night, that he has to be invited into the homes of others, that he does not have a reflection in the mirror and that he does not appear much physically as a vampire in the novel, all point to the idea that Dracula might just be a manifestation of our own fears. For the human characters in the novel it might be the fear of the New Woman, fear of homoeroticism or an abundant eroticism in general. In order to be representative of this fear, the type of vampire that Dracula is having to be as far removed from human nature as possible, and as a result of that he is principally metaphorical.
Works Cited
- Klingman, Gail. The Wedding of the Dead, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1988. 252-409
- Let the Right One In. Directed by Tomas Alfredson, performances by Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, and Per Ragnar, EFTI, 2008.
- Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight, Little, Brown and Company, 2005. http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/Stefani_Mayer_Alatoranliq-eng.pdf
- Nosferatu. Directed by F.W. Murnau, performances by Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, and Alexander Granach, Prana Film, 1922.
- Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990. https://www.planetebook.com/free-ebooks/dracula.pdf
- “Vampire Evolution.” Vampire Evolution, www.cse.unr.edu/~lambertt/vamp.html.
The Continuing Humanization and Reconstruction of the Vampire. (2022, Mar 09). Retrieved from https://paperap.com/the-continuing-humanization-and-reconstruction-of-the-vampire/
