Kelly Bolhofner In early times, vampires brought fear and anxiety to many people. These entities were thought to be evil. In Eighteenth century German poetry the vampire began to appear in literature (Clements). The first vampire fiction was an 1819 short story written by John Polidori entitled “The Vampyre” and was the beginning of the folklore of the vampire and inspired Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” nearly 80 years later (Ladouceur). Recently, however, these once frightening creatures have been made to be less fearsome and upsetting. “Once a creature from our nightmares, the vampire has become a teen idol and can sell books and DVDs by the million” (Clements). These beings are made to be anti-heroes in both stories and movies recently and this obsession has started a trend of them being sensationalized into an unlikely hero – the anti-hero.
While the first written fiction was not until the 1800s, the legends and fear go back even further into the 1700s, when many villagers in Serbia believed that a farmer who died had become a vampire. He was appearing to his family and many thought that he was causing illness among the town. Upon digging him up his appearance was startling. He had grown new nails and hair as well as having fresh blood smeared on this mouth. The frightened villagers drove a stake into the body and burned him; then reburied the others that had died of illness with garlic. This was followed by many more reports of vampire attacks throughout Serbia, Hungary, Russia and Greece. According to Liisa Ladouceur in “How to Kill a Vampire”, a sudden breakout of illness and death often sparked a vampire panic. While science can now explain the condition of the bodies as the natural process of death and decay, the folklore remains (Barber). It was believed that vampirism was your destiny. In ancient history gingers were thought to be destined as well as any baby born with abnormalities, “those whose hair is red, of a certain peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires” (Ladouceur). As Barber points out, just being different could determine you to be a vampire.
In Jim Steinmeyer’s “Who was Dracula? Bram Stoker’s trail of blood”, he gives credit to Stoker for defining vampire mythology. “The vague superstitions, expressed in earlier books, had to be clarified and expanded for Dracula. Stoker borrowed from everywhere. “(Steinmeyer). According to Stienmeyer, the only things that were Stoker’s true invention were the difficulty to cross running water and the need to sleep in native soil and the most important contribution was that once bitten, the victim became a new vampire. The physical appearance of Dracula is described as a menacing figure with “a big black hat, red eyes, strong nose with arched nostrils, a high forehead, bushy eyebrows, a “cruel-looking” mouth with unnaturally red lips, oddly pointed ears, and hands with hair growing on the palms.” (Clements). Prior to Stoker’s novel, a vampire was a vampire with no real name. According to Steinmeyer who looked through Stoker’s notes extensively, believes that he came up with the name from a footnote in William Wilkinson’s “An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia” in which he notes that “Wallachians give this surname to any person who renders himself conspicuous by courage, cruel actions or cunning.” (Steinmeyer)
Since Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, there have been many other versions of vampires in novels. Each has developed the vampire into what it is today. Books like Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”, Richard Matheson’s “I Am Legend” and Robert R. McCammon’s “They Thirst”. However it was not until, Anne Rice started her 10 book Vampire Chronicles with “Interview with a Vampire” that the persona of the vampire truly began to change. “Rice’s lead vampire Lestat is a cultured, angst ridden romantic who yearns desperately to be understood and to be loved.” (Ladouceur). Clements describes them as “self-reflective, capable of guilt, and focused on their own consciousness…they are spiritual beings.” (Clements). Rice shifted the perspective from vampire hunters to the vampires themselves, it is the first time we see a vampire that is capable of love and feeling. She opened the door for the modern version of vampires as teenage heartthrobs, depicted in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series.
In Meyer’s series, the traditional vampire is gone. They are described as being beautiful with pale marble like skin. Unlike the vampires of other novels, they can go out in the sun and their skin sparkles like diamonds when they do. According to Clements, “instead of vampirism being an irrevocable damnation, or even a disease or disability to be dealt with…Meyer portrays the nature of the vampire as the ideal.” (Clements) Meyers portrays them as higher than human form in many ways. They are faster, stronger and have unique gifts. In addition, they are capable of free will. They can choose to live their lives in a “vegetarian” way versus being monsters and feasting on humans. With this free will the vampire existence is not as dark and evil as earlier portrayed. In “New Moon” when Bella and Edward come to an impasse, Edward sees turning Bella into a vampire as taking away her soul. While Bella sees it differently, “I couldn’t really see Edward’s point, to be honest. What was so great about mortality? Being a vampire didn’t look like such a terrible thing – not the way the Cullens did anyway.” (Meyer)
While the hero’s characteristics remain the same – dashing, confident and gallant with few weaknesses – the antihero has evolved into something else. The former view of the anti-hero had weaknesses, was plagued with self-doubt and was the almost the opposite of the hero. Merriam Webster defines the antihero as “a protagonist or notable figure who is conspicuously lacking in heroic qualities”. Whereas the urban dictionary has many definitions that combined portray the antihero as a badass with a heroic side. He is often thought of as the hero who does the right thing in an unethical way. So why the sudden shift in our view of the anti-hero and why do we now look at this evil, gruesome, blood thirsty immortal as a hero? In Rice’s and Meyer’s books they are made to be sexy and beautiful, unlike the traditional vampire. Stories throughout the ages have changed as our cultures have changed. They have made them the bad boy that does good things while exploring temptation, sin, guilt and love. According to Clements, “vampires matter to us as metaphors…we can see parts of ourselves.” (Clements). Vampires give us an understanding of our own death and life. We can relate to them as our darkest fears and desires.
Works Cited
Barber, Phil. Vampires, Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality. Binghamton: Vail-Ballou Press, 1988. Print
Clements, Susannah. The Vampire Defanged: How the Embodiment of Evil Became a Romantic Hero. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2011. Print
Ladouceur, Liisa. How to Kill a Vampire, Fangs in Folklore, Film and Fiction. Ontario: ECW Press, 2013. Print
Meyer, Stephanie. The Twilight Saga: New Moon. New York: Hachette Book Group, 2006. Print Steinmeyer, Jim. Who is Dracula? Bram Stoker’s Trail of Blood. New York: Penguin Group, 2013. Print