Vampires
With regards to the origin of the word, in the English language, the word vampire is derived from a series of old Europeans terms, from German vampir another is from the early Polish vper and another one from ancient Slavic upir. (Dundes 4) The basis for this is this word as a term for vampire is found for the first time in written form in 1047 in a letter to a Novgorodian prince referring to him as Upir Lichyj which means Wicked Vampire. (Dundes 54) This would thus suggest that such a creature truly existed though it is still debatable if this is true or used mainly as a figure of speech as further evidence needs to be produced to verify the former claim. Evidence suggests that an upir was originally just a sort of supernatural creature, a spirit which accompanies the souls of the dead from the grave to the afterlife but it could not be ascertained if drinking blood is part of its behavior.
Tales of vampires or similar creatures victimizing the living have long survived in one form or another for thousands of years and has transcended cultures mainly by oral tradition and rarely through written accounts which makes it hard to prove or verify its authenticity. This fascinating history can be traced from the myths of ancient civilizations such as those of Greece (Dundes 85-87) it can also be seen through the Gothic literature of 19th century Europe and up to the present, with emphasis on how the tales of the vampire can tap into mankinds fundamental and primal fears.
Literary vampires such as Dracula will be mentioned only in passing in this paper since there are plenty of literature and even films devoted to that one character alone. This essay is specifically intended to discuss the historical, not the literary, vampire which is said to have existed and probably still does. There are stories or rumors that abound where they are usually believed to rise from the bodies of those who have committed suicide, criminals or evil sorcerers, though in some cases, some vampires thus born of sin could turn others into vampires. In other cases, however, one who died of unnatural causes such as an accident or murder was very likely to become a vampire. Furthermore, most of the European vampire myths are Slavic and or Romanian in origin.
Vampirism is the practice or behavior of drinking blood from a person or an animal. Popular culture depicts vampires mainly bite the victims neck, extracting the blood from the main artery. Based on folklore and popular culture, the term generally refers to a belief that by drinking blood, especially from humans, one can gain supernatural powers and other abilities. From a historical point of view, this practice can generally be considered a more a less commonly occurring form of cannibalism (Dundes 147-148). The consumption of anothers blood, and sometimes flesh, has been used as a psychological warfare tactic intended to terrorize the enemy to make them surrender out of fear without the need for violence or bloodshed and it can also be used to reflect various spiritual beliefs in certain cultures and is tolerated and probably done in secrecy at present since the practice would be regarded from barbaric to uncivilized.
At this point, the author would like to discuss at least two examples of vampires in literature which would be a representative sampling of how one understands vampires. One is the the more popular of them all in Dracula and the other a rather unique one created by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu titled Carmilla.
Dracula
When it comes to vampires, there is one name that is automatically associated with it or connotes vampires. This is the name of (Count) Dracula. This iconic character is the product of the mind of Irish writer Bram Stoker in his 1897 novel of the same title. It tells of a nobleman from Transylvania, situated along the Carpathian Mountains in present-day Romania and how he terrorized the region and decided to bring that terror to England until he met his match in Professor Abraham van Helsing who knew how to defeat him. It is in this novel that one will discover that the Transylvanian Count is a vampire, as discovered by one of the novels main characters, Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer sent to Transylvania to help the count settle legal problems.
As a vampire, Dracula is nocturnal. He avoids the daylight and only comes out at night. He sleeps in a coffin, covered by earth that enables him to regain his energy. Whenever he arises, he seeks human blood by biting the victims neck and drinking the blood that comes out from it. In the process, anyone who partakes of this blood also becomes a vampire as well. As a vampire, Dracula is endowed with special powers such as transforming into a bat or sometimes, into a wolf. He has the power of stealth, moving silently and sometimes undetected until it is too late. He has hypnotic powers which puts his victims under a spell, making it easy for him to take their blood. He does not cast a reflection in a mirror and will not appear in any photograph taken of him. He is also impervious to any physical harm. However, van Helsing is the only one who knows how to defeat the vampire. It is revealed that vampires are repelled by garlic, crucifixes and holy water ultimately, the most effective way to kill a vampire is to drive a stake through its heart and for a good measure, decapitate it. Another way to kill a vampire is to expose it to sunlight which will ensure instant death. This is how Van Helsing and his associates were able to prevent Dracula from spreading terror in England and eventually chase him back to Transylvania where they finally put an end to his reign of terror.
Despite this tragic ending for a character that strikes fear and terror, Stokers novel has become a timeless classic in the sense that it has appealed to readers worldwide and through time as the way he wrote the story has fascinated people about vampires and even intrigued by it. Although Stoker did not create the vampire from his imagination, the novels influence on the popularity of vampires has been singularly instrumental for many theatrical, film and television renditions and versions later on. The first and most famous version was the 1931 movie featuring Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi who played Dracula. It was Lugosi who gave Dracula a face and the way he presented Dracula helped give people an idea or impression of a vampire. This was followed by several other versions and besides Lugosi, the only other actor who is able to do justice to the character is British actor Christopher Lee who portrayed Dracula in several movies. The most recent version of the movie was in 1992 with Gary Oldman playing Dracula and what makes it different was that he portrayed him in a different way, far from the caped figure Lugosi had and adding a little cinematic license in a scene where Dracula could walk out in broad daylight albeit wearing sunglasses (McNally Florescu 1-2).
In actuality, Dracula is not exactly a fictional character but partly based on a historical figure. The historical connections with the novel and how much Stoker knew about the history is not yet definite and absolute. It is said that Stokers Dracula could be alluded to the historical Vlad III Dracula of Wallachia, who was known as Vlad Tepes, sometimes Tsepesh or Vlad the Impaler. He was the son of Vlad II (Dracul), also known as Vlad the Devil and Cneajna, a princess from Moldavia. During his reign (1456 1462), Vlad was said to have killed (or murdered) countless people who were essentially useless to humanity according to him. He would do this by mainly impaling them on a sharp pole which was his favored method, hence the cruel sobriquet (Kirtley 133). Further rumors would circulate that he would drink the blood of his victims for it was believed then that blood is the source of vitality and could even make one immortal (McNally Florescu 117). The main sources that help provide insight to these events are records by Saxon settlers in Transylvania which is adjacent to the region and had frequent encounters with Vlad III (McNally Florescu 8). Furthermore, Vlad was defeated and overthrown by the Turks, partly due to the connivance of the king of Hungary Matthias Corvinus (McNally Florescu 13,24). He later converted to the Catholic religion after being imprisoned for a long time and regained the throne in 1476 which was short-lived as he was killed by his Turkish ally.
Despite the notoriety imposed on him by many, Vlad III is regarded as a folk hero by Romanians for fighting the invading Ottoman Turks that threatened to march into Europe following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and among his impaled victims are these Turks. He was greatly revered that during the regime of Nicolae Ceaucescu in 1976, he was immensely venerated through eulogies, panegyrics and there was even a commemorative postage stamp made in his honor (McNally Florescu 4-5).
Historically, the name Dracula is taken from a secret society of knights called the Order of the Dragon where the word Dracu means dragon which closely follows draco. The order was founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg who was the Holy Roman Emperor whose domains included what is now Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, In this capacity, part of his mandate was to defend Christianity and the Empire against the invading Ottoman Turks. Vlad Dracul, father of Vlad III, entered admitted the order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks which earned him the right to be part of this society. From 1431 onward, Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and subsequently, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage carried the dragon symbol. The name Dracula, or Dracul essentially means Son of Dracul and that was how Tepes inherited and carried the name (McNally Florescu 9).
Stoker came across the name Dracula when he studied Romanian history. Furthermore, several ideas have been floated that Stoker got help from a Hungarian professor named Arminius Vambery (McNally Florescu 7 150). Tentatively, he was thinking of calling his character Count Wampyr but decided otherwise. However, some scholars have questioned the extent of this connection. They argue that Stoker knew little of the historic Vlad III except for the name Dracula. This is justified as there are sections in the novel where Dracula refers to his own background as he narrates them to Harker, and these speeches show that Stoker was familiar with Romanian history.
However, Stoker did not include any details about Vlad IIIs reign and did not make any mention of his use of impalement. Vlad III was an ethnic Vlach. In the novel, Dracula claims to be a Szkely We Szekelys have a right to be proud... And later Again, when, after the battle of Mohacs, we threw off the Hungarian yoke, we of the Dracula blood were amongst their leaders. (Stoker 31). The Battle of Mohacs took place in 1526, so if Dracula or any of his ancestors were involved or saw action, he or Vlad III could not be one and the same person. Given Stokers use of historical background to add more horror to his novel, it appears to be unlikely that he would have neglected to mention that his villain had impaled thousands of people. It can be be inferred here that Stoker either did not know much about the historic Vlad III, or did not intend his character Dracula to be the same person as Vlad III and this issue is still open to debate with no definite answer in sight (Kirtley 135).
The Dracula legend created by Stoker and as well as it has been portrayed in films and television shows may be a amalgamation or combination of manifold influences. Many of Stokers biographers and literary critics have found parallelism to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan le Fanus classic, Carmilla which also depicts a vampire albeit female. In writing Dracula, it may have been possible that Stoker had gotten ideas based on stories about the sdhe, some of which feature blood-drinking women which he also incorporated in his novel as Draculas brides (Stoker 37-38).
It has been suggested that Stoker drew inspiration from the life and times of Countess Elizabeth (Erszebet) Bathory, who was born in the Kingdom of Hungary. Bathory was known or suspected to have tortured and murdered hundreds of young women over a long period of time, and it was commonly believed that she committed these atrociries in order to bathe in or drink their blood. One thing to note here is that her victims are young maidens because it is believed or she believed that this would enable her to maintain her youth. By far, there is no credible evidence of blood-drinking or other blood crimes in the story of Bathory to verify if this is true. However, the lore surrounding her life may have influenced Stoker which can also explain why Dracula always appears younger after feeding from the blood of his victims (McNally Florescu 126-130).
For the setting or abode of Dracula, it is believed that the castle of Count Dracula was inspired by Slains Castle where Stoker was a guest of the 19th Earl of Erroll. It should be noted that since Stoker visited the castle in 1895 which was five years after work on Dracula had begun, it is unlikely to be relevant or connected to the story. Many of the scenes in Whitby and London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although in some cases he intentionally distorts the geography for the sake of artistic license (McNally Florescu 150).
It can be said here that Dracula was the product of different historical characters. Upon careful observation, the personalities Stoker used to create his character were known to be cruel and to an extent, bloodthirsty. It is from these personalities that Count Dracula was born though based on a historical person. Stoker merely added a touch of artistic license in making Dracula the iconic figure he is known to this day.
Carmilla
Carmilla is a female vampire and a novella written by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu and a contemporary of Dracula author Bram Stoker though this novella was written way ahead of Stokers by 20 years. He was an Irish writer like Stoker but his writing specialty lay in Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the premier ghost story writer of the nineteenth century and had a a rather profound influence on the development of this genre in the Victorian era. The story is told from the perspective of Laura, the other protagonist in the story. In essence, Carmilla is a narrative discussed in the first-person perspective characterized by the use of Is in the story.
Written in 1872, Carmilla is considered one of the classics of the vampire genre though not in the same class as Stokers Dracula. The novella is one of five tales of the supernatural that was published under the name of In a Glass Darkly. Carmilla is the only vampire story in this collection. Carmilla contains elements of traditional Gothic fiction as well as drawing on Irish folklore too which would explain why Carmilla has certain qualities of a banshee. A banshee is an Irish spirit that haunts a family and foretells the deaths of family members it is also characterized by giving a powerful and piercing shriek. Like the banshee, Carmilla is attracted to Laura s family and is considered her distant ancestress. She is depicted as a beautiful woman, wearing white garments and has nocturnal habits which is a vampire-like quality.
There is an element of Irish lore found in the novella and it is manifested in the strange way in which Carmilla manages to ingratiate herself into Laura s family home because of her relationship with Laura so that she can have her way on Laura in due course. She arrives by carriage with a mysterious attendant, and arranges to have an accident and then pretend to be too injured to travel. The attendant, posing as Carmilla s mother, who persuades Laura s father into caring Carmilla until she can return to collect her sometime in the future once she has fully recovered from her injury (Le Fanu 14-17).
More of Carmillas character would be revealed as Carmilla and Laura become very close friends nearly to the point of being sisters, but the disturbing part of the story would be when Carmillas mood abruptly changes in certain situations. She sometimes makes romantic advances towards Laura which would unsettle her and everyone who seems to notice. Carmilla would not disclose anything about herself or her background, despite being close to Laura who is naturally intrigued and wanted to get to know her more. Her secrecy or refusal to divulge any information about herself is not the only mysterious thing about her (Le Fanu Tracy 263). It is also discovered that Carmilla sleeps mostly in the day, and appears to sleepwalk at night. When a funeral procession passes by the two girls and Laura begins singing a hymn, Carmilla suddenly goes into an outburst and scolds Laura for singing a Christian song (Le Fanu 23-25).
What makes this story unique is that there is a strong lesbian element in the story which was considered sort of scandalous in 1872 when the book was written and considering this was the Victorian era which was characterized by conservatism and such a story would raise a howl and branded as an act of impropriety, if not immorality although this would not cause a similar concern at present. What raised eyebrows, if not outrage in the story was that not only is Laura put at risk through her closeness with Carmilla but there is a fear that she could become a lesbian as well because of this relationship that was considered unusual or unthinkable at the time. Perverse sexuality is always a characeristic feature of the vampire genre and the author thinks that lesbian overtones in the story were probably considered immoral, if not indecent by the time the book was written. The fear of perverse female sexuality would reappear in Dracula some twenty or so years later.
As stated earlier, the story is told in first person from Laura s point of view and written about eight years after the events in the story had transpired. One can only know what Laura knows which is very little about Carmilla which is baffling to say the least. Even at the end of the story, Carmilla s motives and purpose remain a mystery. Le Fanu somehow intentionally left it that way so one can never know who or what her mysterious attendants are or why they served her or where they went. It is a mystery and wonder to know how Carmilla picked Laura as a victim. The researcher had difficulty in relating with Laura as read read this story. The researcher believes it was because Laura herself is not much of a heroine. In fact, she is classic vampire victim like Lucy and Mina in Dracula who are often demure and innocent, all the more the reason why they are easy victims for vampires. Laura appears to be apathetic and seems unwilling to fight for her life. It is as though she wants to die. Although she loves and loathes Carmilla at the same time, she seems unwilling to do something about their relationship and extricate herself from it. It is possible that Carmilla may have had her under some sort of spell but it is not clear from the story if this is the case. In fact, the researcher thinks it is unlikely that Laura was under Carmillas control because even years after Carmilla has gone, Laura is still haunted by her and often thinks she hears her footsteps or senses she is nearby.
The researcher thinks the most interesting character is Baron Vordenburg, a man who had devoted himself to the study of vampire lore his whole life, who turns up in time to save Laura and is also a most useful in the story as his character explains all about vampires before the end of the story. Baron Vordenburg is obviously a forerunner to many expert vampire hunters such as Van Helsing in Dracula to Giles the Watcher in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The researcher believes Carmilla is a must read for any true fan of vampire fiction, not just because it is a good read, but because of how it has influenced so many other stories in this genre, most notably Bram Stoker s classic novel Dracula and is probably a welcome relief to those who find Dracula a trite vampire figure although there is also the likes of Lestat and Edward Cullen in addition to Celine in the movie Underworld as well as Blade in the Marvel comic book and movie adaptation of the same title.
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