Fangs And Fiction
The Origin Of Vampires
From fiction and folklore to popular culture, vampires have been a legend maintained through the centuries. With the spooky season upon us, we’re sure to see more of the bloody beasts in books, on screens and in shop windows. Be they magic or myth, these fanged creatures are resurrected time and time again, hypnotising audiences worldwide. But what’s so gripping about vampires?
According to Britannica (2024), stories told in ancient Greece included creatures attacking people in their sleep and draining their bodily fluids, while in medieval Europe tales of walking corpses spreading the plague were popular in times of disease. Research has also revealed that vampiric characteristics have been linked to diseases such as porphyria, which induces sensitivity to sunlight, tuberculosis, causing wasting, pellagra, which thins the skin, and even rabies, which causes biting and potentially repulsion by light or garlic (Britannica, 2024). So, it seems at least some of their grotesque features were founded in facts.
It is known that Vampire myths became especially popular in Eastern Europe. Belief in them was so prominent that it led to rituals such as staking corpses through the heart, or burying them face down to prevent their escape from their graves. However, it was Gothic European Literature that saw the popularisation of the modern incarnation of vampires as we know it. According to Britannica (2024), during the 18th and 19th centuries, vampire hysteria was reaching a peak in Europe, just as vampiric figures were appearing in poetry. This included Heinrich Ossenfelder’s ‘Der Vampyr’ (1748), John Stagg’s ‘The Vampyre’ (1810) and Lord Byron’s ‘The Giaour” (1813).
The Notorious Dracula
Bram Stoker arguably created the most significant piece of vampire fiction in his novel Dracula (1897), about the Transylvanian count who could control thoughts, shape-shift and prey on innocent victims. A major work of Gothic literature, Stoker’s creation solidified the archetypal vampiric characteristics and inspired a genre dedicated to the mythical creature. With timeless topical themes such as good versus evil, science and superstition, gender roles, and the ‘other’, Dracula produces literary criticism and comment, even in the modern era, as much of the book’s subtext has been applicable through generations. Consequently, vampires have become popularised across cultures with adaptations in books, television and film, from F. W. Murnau’s early cinema classic Nosferatu (1922) to Stephanie Meyer’s novel and film Twilight Saga.
The Morbid Appeal
Some say our fascination with vampires is all down to psychology. For instance, vampires represent our innate fascination with immortality; they blur the boundaries of life and death, experience resurrection and ultimately, undermine the certainty of death. Equally, their power over other beings and hunger for flesh are indicative of the deep visceral desires and fears of humankind; they act on impulse and violate physical constraints, defying propriety and by extension, society itself. They evoke the rebel in us all, and vicariously, they act out what we wouldn’t and couldn’t.
Thus, while vampiric tales and their characteristics have evolved, the universal themes and the symbolic nature of them have remained, to ensure we’ll stay fascinated with them forever.
References
Eldridge, A. (2024) Vampire, Britannica. Source: Vampire : Characteristics, History, Powers, Folklore, & Facts, Britannica
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Jessica Lucas is a qualified English Language teaching professional and specialises in educational content creation.
