The Vampire in Context. From 1898 to 2012
©2017
Textbook
23 Pages
Summary
Vampires have been part of peoples’ folklore since the pre-history. Although they had meant different things and had different traits depending on the cultures, they appeared over and over again throughout various tales. In the beginning, the vampire used to be depicted as a bloodsucking, murdering monster, while more recently he became desirable, a heartthrob for which not only his fictive love interests fall, but also millions of readers who make vampire stories so popular in our time. Despite these radical changes, literary vampire stories have in common that most of them reflect on the social circumstances during their time of origin. The vampire is particularly suitable for the exemplification of sexuality.
This term paper deals with the statement that the changes in sexuality and gender account for the changes in vampire stories. Chapter 1 will look at vampires in folklore to show the legitimacy of the vampire/sexuality connection, since these have been linked very early on. Chapters 2 and 3 give an overview over sexuality and gender in the Victorian age – the time in which the literary vampire first became popular – and how these topics are perceived today. Chapters 4 and 5 will explain how the circumstances are reflected in Victorian vampire literature and modern literature respectively.
This term paper deals with the statement that the changes in sexuality and gender account for the changes in vampire stories. Chapter 1 will look at vampires in folklore to show the legitimacy of the vampire/sexuality connection, since these have been linked very early on. Chapters 2 and 3 give an overview over sexuality and gender in the Victorian age – the time in which the literary vampire first became popular – and how these topics are perceived today. Chapters 4 and 5 will explain how the circumstances are reflected in Victorian vampire literature and modern literature respectively.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
However, even the manifold legends that do not explicitly mention the sexual
drive behind the vampires' acts bear connections to sexuality. As "[the] vampire act of
drinking blood is a fundamentally intimate one, and it involves a certain kind of
penetration" (Clements 6), not to speak of the exchange of bodily fluids. So, whether the
vampires come back to have sex with his victims, or simply to drink their blood, their
actions always have a strong resemblance of sexual activities.
2. Victorian sexuality
Sexuality in Victorian times was quite repressed. While it was allowed to be
discussed in certain areas like medicine, common people were not supposed to talk
about it publicly (cf. Marchbank 31). It was also said "that sexual activity should be
confined to marriage and that young people's impulses needed to be controlled [...].
Even within marriage, sexual pleasure must be moderated by appropriate standards of
restraint" (Stearns, Sexuality 90). However, it was believed that women were not able to
gain sexual pleasure anyway. They should only engage in sexual acts to make sure that
their husbands did not stray and to conceive children. Since women were ascribed
strongly moral attitudes, it was seen as their responsibility to keep their husbands'
desires at a moderate level (cf. ibid. 91). Sexuality and corporeal desire were seen as
sinful and destructive (cf. Allen 13), and women who were sexually aggressive were
condemned "for they violated not only morality but femininity [...]" (Stearns, Sexuality
91). Sexuality also posed a problem to Victorians because it "represents a universal
biological sameness without distinction or rank that implicitly questioned the social
categorizations on which Victorian culture is constructed" (Allen 28).
As already mentioned, women were seen as the moral center in Victorian
society. The ideal woman was seen as the "angel in the house". They were supposed to
take care of their husbands, support them and provide a pleasant environment. When
they had a job, it was most likely in the childcare sector or as assistant to her husband
(cf. Peterson 677).
The image of the "angel in the house" was threatened by the rise of the "New
Woman". Women started to fight for equal rights not only in the judicial sense, but also
in the social. They demanded more freedom as individuals, better education and
political rights. Supporters of classical Victorian ideals feared the New Woman would
harm their society and eventually mankind (cf. Ledger 11f, 17).
2
3. Changing sexuality
Ideas about different notions of sexuality and gender already arose in the late
19
th
century. However, the most important changes that helped form the perceptions we
have today happened in the first decades of the 20
th
century. Groups were formed which
persistently promoted sexual liberation and medical and psychological discourses
became more and more public, particularly due to the efforts of Sigmund Freud's
psychoanalysis. For the first time, even homosexuality was considered in such
examination, although it was still illegal at this time (cf. Stearns, Sexuality 97-100).
Additionally, the aim of sexual acts shifted from the procreational to a recreational
purpose. Women's role in sexuality was reconsidered as sex became something
pleasurable (cf. ibid. 133).
The beginning globalisation and the spread of mass media also contributed to a
different understanding of sexuality. After 1950, popular culture became excessively
sexualised. Cultures have already been known to have "highlighted erotic themes
before, particularly prior to the rise of the world religions" (ibid. 139) so this was
merely a revival, but coming back it did and more than ever. The dwindling influence of
the Church did one more thing for the sexual liberation. For instance, pre-marital sex
became less excoriated (cf. ibid. 139f). However, "[the] increase in sexual promiscuity
almost inevitably produced new problems with sexually transmitted diseases" (ibid.
152). The discovery of AIDS, for example, led to a certain restraint of this promiscuity,
a panic that only eased after the development of antiretroviral drugs in the mid-90s (cf.
ibid. 153). However, sexually transmitted diseases are still an important issue in medical
discussion.
As already mentioned, homosexuality became a larger focus. While most
countries have legalised homosexuality and some even gay marriage, it is still a very
controversial topic. Particularly "[many] fundamentalist Christians [continue] to regard
homosexuality as a sin [...]" (ibid. 159), but there also several hostile acts committed by
common citizens. And although gay marriage is already legalised in some countries, gay
movements still fight more equal rights (cf. ibid 159).
Women on the other hand achieved many of the aims they were fighting for. The
feminist movement, which emerged in the late 19
th
century, "sought serious
modification of patriarchal inequalities, and most tried to overturn patriarchal structures
altogether" (Stearns, Gender 121). In the 20
th
century they were supported by numerous
organisations, not only non-governmental ones but also official and international groups
3
(cf. ibid. 119f). Particularly from the mid-20
th
century onward, the United Nations
intensified their efforts to improve women's situations. In the 1950's and 60's the UN
demanded "the equal right of men and women in the enjoyment of all civil and political
rights" (cf. ibid. 168).
4. Vampire literature and sexuality
As we have already established, the vampire functions as a metaphor for sexuality.
Moreover,
[vampires] represent something to us as humans. They represent our fears and
desires. The reason they have recurred in our stories over the last hundred years is
that vampires are rich enough a metaphor to adapt to culture's changing
worldviews and interests. We can make a vampire mean what we want it to mean.
(Clements 4-5)
So, as our culture, our society and our notions of different issues, in this case sexuality,
change, authors adapt their vampires and human characters to societal circumstances.
As Knewitz states, "[a] central feature of vampire iconography since the late 18th
century has been the way vampires linked racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-
Semitism" (120), however
[vampire] representations within popular culture [...] began to change in the
1970s, as social perceptions of Otherness changed. As women, African
Americans, and queers started to become recognized subjectivities, the vampire
iconography adapted. Vampires have become sympathetic characters who are
attractive to the reader.
(ibid. 121)
4.1 Dracula (1897)
Dracula was published at a time in which perceptions already started to change,
as we have seen. However, the traditional Victorian values were still very prominent. In
this chapter, I will outline how Stoker adapted his vampire to these classical values and
how he dealt with the uprising of the New Woman.
4.1.1 The vampire as a monster
The vampire in Dracula is introduced as a repugnant monster, particularly the
male one. Jonathan notes that
[Dracula's] face was a strong a very strong aquiline, with high bridge of the
4
thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with lofty domed forehead, and hair
growing scantily round the temples, but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were
very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to
curl in its own profusion. [...] For the rest, his ears were pale and at the tops
extremely pointed; the chin was broad and strong, and the cheeks firm though
thin.
(Stoker 23-24)
Adding to that is Dracula's rank breath. Mina is equally repulsed by Dracula and
states that "his face was not a good face; it was hard, and cruel, and sensual [...]" (ibid.
155) In terms of attractiveness, the female vampires fare indefinitely better than
Dracula. Jonathan, for instance is nearly being seduced by Dracula's brides. He is
amazed with the beauty of them, but at the same time, however, he is also repulsed by
their voluptuousness (cf. ibid. 42). While it may be easy to pin his disgust on the fact
that the brides are strangers to Jonathan, it becomes much more interesting when Lucy,
who was loved by many of the characters, is being turned into a vampire. The repulsion
towards the vampire does not lessen by the former closeness. On the contrary, it
becomes much stronger. When it comes to killing Lucy, Seward's attitude is made quite
clear:
It made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the woman whom I had
loved. And yet the feeling was not so strong as I expected. I was, in fact,
beginning to shudder at the presence of this being, this Un-Dead, as Van Helsing
called it, and to loathe it.
(ibid. 179)
He, too, laments her voluptuous wantonness and grieves the loss of her purity (cf.
ibid. 187). He even refuses to believe that the vampire still is Lucy and calls her only by
that name because "the thing that was Lucy [...] bore her shape" (ibid. 188) and he
would kill her himself with pleasure. Even Arthur, as her fiancé, does not love her
anymore. When it comes to killing her, he takes over a very important part with driving
the stake through Lucy's heart, and he is quite determined about it (cf. ibid. 192).
Mina, too, develops a strong opinion about herself after Dracula has been
drinking from her. She feels unclean as she looks in the mirror and sees the wafer scar
on her forehead (cf. ibid. 279), and Dracula's blood is like poison in her own blood, that
will destroy her (cf. ibid. 286). Mina even makes Jonathan promise to kill her should the
time come that she cannot be saved anymore, so much does she loathe the vampiric
existence (cf. ibid. 287).
In conclusion, male vampires, only seen in the form of Dracula, are not only
unattractive, but also seen as monsters that have to be killed. Female vampires, on the
5
other hand, are described as unnaturally beautiful, their voluptuousness and wantonness,
though, repulse men and their cruelty still makes them loathed.
As sexuality and particularly desire were repressed and even seen as dangers that
need to be restrained, it seems logical that the vampire as the personification of
sexuality, is seen as evil and has to be destroyed. It is also notable that
[...]only relations with vampires are sexualized in [Dracula]; indeed a deliberate
attempt is made to make sexuality seem unthinkable in 'normal relations' between
the sexes. All the close relationships, including those between Lucy and her three
suitors and Mina and her husband, are spiritualized beyond credibility. Only when
Lucy becomes a vampire is she allowed to be 'voluptuous'.
(Roth, 414)
Mina and Jonathan do have a son in the end, but he is suddenly there and there
was no mention whatsoever when he was conceived. So even if it is clear, that there are
sexual acts, they are simply omitted.
4.1.2 The angel in the house vs. the New Woman
Particularly the role of the female vampires in Dracula mirrors the notion of
womanhood in Victorian Britain. Since the emergence of the New Woman, women were
started to be seen as a threat to mankind. Therefore, "female vampires can be seen as a
representation of society's fear of women's growing role in the public sphere at the
perceived expense of their child-bearing duties" (Kungl, 109). Lucy, especially, is a
perversion of the classical mother role, since after she was turned into a vampire, she
feeds only on children, becoming a mother of some sort, yet, of course, there is nothing
natural but very monstrous about it. Furthermore, female vampires do not only hinder
men from going about their duty as respectable men, but they also give women the
chance to escape their role as proper wives, too (cf. ibid. 109).
It is quite telling that Lucy and Dracula's brides all have to die, yet Mina can be
saved. Mina is a virtuous, caring wife, the Victorian ideal of "the angel in the house".
The "angel in the house" was supposed to take care of her husband, support him and
provide a pleasant environment (cf. Peterson 677), just as Mina does after Jonathan
comes back from Dracula's castle (cf. Stoker 140f). Klemens also stresses the
differences between Mina and Lucy in this aspect. Mina
zeichnet sich [...] durch emotionale Zuwendung, Hilfsbereitschaft und
Selbstaufopferung aus. [...] Mina ist die 'gute' Mutter, die hilft, schützt und Trost
spendet. Sie repräsentiert den Gegenpart zur 'bösen' Mutter Lucy, die verletzend
und bedrohlich, also unmütterlich ist.
(147)
6
But it is not only Lucy being the 'evil' mother, as was discussed earlier, that
distincts her from Mina. Lucy's downfall even began while she was still human. Not
only does she want to marry three men at once, but she also engages in regularly nightly
walks alone. Women in the Victorian Age were not supposed to walk about without a
male companion (cf. Ledger 101), yet Lucy does this often. Additionally, prior to
becoming a vampire, Lucy receives several blood transfusions from different men,
which can be seen as a sexual act. As a human, Lucy is not the ideal woman and is
eroticised to some extent, which is exacerbated when she becomes a vampire. Like the
vampires in Dracula's castle, Lucy is often as voluptuous and wanton. She is in no
aspect the idealised angel in the house, "sondern repräsentiert dessen als unnatürlich und
unerwünscht klassifizierten Gegensatz. Sie ist im religiösen ("unholy") und sexuell-
ideologischen ("unclean") Sinne eine nicht normgerechte Frau" (Klemens 108). Mina
has always been the good wife and even after she has been bitten, she is never described
as voluptuous. Although she feels unclean herself, her virtue is never questioned.
4.2 Modern vampire literature
Modern vampire stories tend to feature female main characters. Traditionally, the
male vampire is often depicted as the active part in the relationship, while the female is
rather his victim (cf. Brick 48). This allocation can sometimes be seen even in modern
vampire stories. Stephanie Meyer's Twilight saga does feature a female human heroine
in a relationship with a male vampire, but often she is submissive to him. While it can
be said that most sexual advances emanate from Bella (and in that case, we do see
something of the liberated woman in her), the outcome of nearly every situation is
controlled by Edward. They break up when he wants it (cf. Meyer, New Moon 69); They
marry because he wants it (cf. Meyer, Breaking Dawn 16); They have sex when he
wants it or don't when he doesn't want it (cf. ibid. 85, 98). However, most of the more
recent stories (beginning in the late 20th century) feature a female lead that is not only
strong but occasionally also dominates the relationship.
This chapter deals with three of those stories. LJ Smith's series The Vampire
Diaries is about young Elena Gilbert, who falls in love with vampire Stefan Salvatore.
But not only Young Adult novels feature human female/male vampire love stories.
7
Tanya Huff's Blood Books feature adult private investigator Vicki Nelson, who solves
supernatural crimes with vampire Henry Fitzroy. In the end, this chapter will more
prominently deal with the HBO series True Blood. The show is not only a product of the
sexual liberation which reacts to new social circumstances, it also openly approaches
current topics and reflects those in the story lines.
4.2.1 The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening (Lisa Jane Smith, 1991)
4.2.1.1 Summary
In The Awakening, protagonist Elena Gilbert still copes with the death of her
parents when multiple mysterious attacks and murders happen in her hometown Fell's
Church. She finds distraction from her grief when she meets Stefan Salvatore, a new
student at her high school, and she concentrates all her efforts on seducing him. Stefan,
however, has other things on his mind: he is a vampire and since he experiences
memory losses from time to time, he is afraid that he might be responsible for the
attacks without knowing it. In the end, he cannot resist Elena anymore and they both
find out that it is Stefan's brother Damon, who secretly returned to Fell's Church,
committing the murders.
4.2.1.2 The vampire romanticised
The difference to the revolting presentation of the Victorian vampire is
immediately obvious in the way Smith constructed her main male vampire Stefan
Salvatore:
The dark curly hair framed features so fine that they might have been taken from
an old Roman coin or medallion. High cheekbones, classical straight nose... and a
mouth to keep you awake at night, Elena thought. The upper lip was beautifully
sculpted, a little sensitive, a whole lot sensual.
(Smith 19)
As much as Dracula is described with many unattractive attributes, Stefan leaves
the impression of being one of the most beautiful men Elena ever saw.
Also, Stefan tries to live of animal blood, but even then he takes only so much
that it would not kill the animal. When it does anyway, he feels deep regret over taking
this life (cf. Smith 10). Stefan considers himself evil, blaming it all on his vampire
nature, thinking that he could not change anything about it (cf. ibid. 37), yet he tries to
live with harming as few creatures as possible.
Katherine, too, decided she would not want to drink human blood, even if it had
8
Details
- Pages
- Type of Edition
- Erstausgabe
- Publication Year
- 2017
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783960676638
- File size
- 197 KB
- Language
- English
- Institution / College
- University of Hamburg – Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik
- Publication date
- 2017 (June)
- Grade
- 2,1
- Keywords
- Vampire Dracula Vampire Diaries True Blood Twilight Sexuality Gender Victorian Literature socio-cultural
