Literary Portrayal Of The Slavic Vampire

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.

“Vampire Religion” is an article written about Bram Stoker’s “Dracula.” The article is one that was found very useful in reading and understanding the story. Christopher Herbert, the author, argues of the importance that religion and events of the world played on the writing of “Dracula.” There are two parts to the article, one is “Religion/Superstition” and the second part is “The Vampire in the Church.” Both parts are vital to the article.

On the basis of the evidence currently available, 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

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

When the image of a vampire is brought to mind one imagines a tall, thin and pale European aristocratic man dressed in fine clothes and displaying a set of pearly white fangs. However neither the aristocratic status nor the fangs can be found in folkloric accounts of vampirism. The true image of a vampire is a difficult thing to describe due to the influence that different cultures have had on the development of the myth. The depiction of vampirism in Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend differ from one another and while these depictions stray from the folkloric accounts of vampires both find their roots in legend.

In today’s society, we have created a distinct image of what constitutes as a vampire and what constitutes as a ghost. However, this distinction within the context of Medieval Europe, challenges that vampires and ghosts are two distinct entities. In fact, by looking at ghost stories and Icelandic sagas, it becomes evident that while vampires and ghosts each have distinct qualities, that there are a frequent number of similar characteristics between them. This ultimately helps voice the attitudes of the folk and latinate and their perspectives on the supernatural. It is then the duty of the historian to help look at evidence to determine why these differences exist and how they intersect with the attitudes of the people living during the Medieval

In this article it shows how the vampire started as a bloodthirsty monster in stories and how the eventually evolved into the modern envisage seen in media. What makes this important for the thesis, is the evolution form the first stories that spurred this villain in the shadows. The evolution of the vampire across the cultures is a very important aspect for research within this paper in order to fully describe how this creature was first envisioned in the early folklore to what we see today in the recent adaptations. Attempting to describe this progression without bringing to the forefront the classics such as Bram Stokers would be a large disservice to this paper.

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.

which has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged

A horror classic by Abraham Stocker, Dracula, may be one of the most notorious villain stories of all time. Bram Stocker is a Irish writer who changed the view of what to read in his time. He shows dark and twisted situations and metaphors throughout Dracula and many other of his horror novels. This novel was released in the Victorian era, which saw his type of writing as equivalent to the devil. This era was a long time of peace and bright minded people. Stockers style surprised many readers, because he always has you thinking it can’t get any darker than it is but it always exceeds the previous twisted situation or event. Bram Stocker shows Dracula as an iconic creature, with many reasons to be feared, but displayed in the wrong time era.

When ancient societies did not understand some unusual phenomena, they attributed it to some mythological creature. They did not know for instance that the reason behind the appearance of fangs is the Porphyria disease. Only scientists did. They did not know for instance that the reason behind lightning is a massive electrostatic discharge between the electrically charged regions within clouds .Only scientists did. Thus, it is this inclination to provide explanations for themselves that led ancient societies to invent a mythological creature like the vampire. It is this same inclination that led ancient societies to attribute lightning to an angry God. Asking a scientific question like “Are Vampires real ? “ represents the real wooden stake that penetrates the heart of this supernatural myth. In truth, vampires have no real existence. Yet, despite the absence of concrete scientific explanations for the vampire myth, the subject continues to fascinate many people generation after generation. For instance, nineteenth century artists and thinkers who do not believe in its existence find the subject very intriguing and see numerous metaphoric possibilities in a mythic creature from the past. Nineteenth century thinkers and artists are using the popularity of the vampire myth to raise awareness of very real and potential anxieties. In nineteenth century Gothic novels, particularly, the vampire figure has been exploited and transformed from myth into a metaphor to

As one of the most attractive and enduring figures in the Gothic literature, the vampires have moved from being a peripheral element with the genre to a place near the center and are capable of generating its own massive tradition now. In the recent literary history, they have already been adapted to play a role of a rebel against the moral, social, religious, and even sexual taboos. Put simply, the vampires are now a metaphor of human beings in the modern society and life.

The first writer to introduce the vampire in literature was Lord Byron in the eighteenth century, but the most significant writer to develop the myth was Bram Stoker. He is the „father” of the vampire as he gave a complete description of the vampire in his most famous book” Dracula”. After the release of the book, the myth of the vampire became extremely popular amongst writers and as a consequence the books whose main

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).

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