A History of Vampires and Their Transformation from Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures

McFadden, M. (2021). A History of Vampires and Their Transformation From Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures. Curiosity: Interdisciplinary Journal of Research and Innovation, 1(2). https://doi.org/10.36898/001c.22205 LITERARY STUDIES A History of Vampires and Their Transformation From Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures Mary McFadden, BA in English 1 1 English, Dixie State University Keywords: vampire, archetype, carl jung, joseph campbell, folklore, vampire lore, vampire archetype, dracula, varney the vampire, giaour https://doi.org/10.36898/001c.22205 Curiosity: Interdisciplinary Journal of Research and Innovation Vol. 1, Issue 2, 2021 Throughout the history of vampire stories—from folklore to literary fiction—the portrayal of these inhuman creatures has metamorphosed from Carl Jung’s myth, born of the Shadow archetype, into three distinct vampiric archetypes, none of which have completely left their mythic origins behind. These archetypes present themselves as the monster vampire, the tragic vampire, and the romantic vampire. By examining the etymology of the word vampire, ancient vampire folklore, early to modern vampire literature, and early to contemporary vampire cinema, this paper will show that the vampire is no longer relegated to the role of antagonist to the story’s protagonist. The vampire could be the tragic anti-hero or the protagonist of a story. Many early folklores about vampires are represented by stories humankind told to explain evil and misfortune visited upon their family. However, when the vampire entered early literary fiction, authors began to exercise their power to manipulate the vampire narrative, creating new vampire constructs. This shift in vampire characterizations is an allegorical commentary on man’s fight to vo ercome his sinful nature by seeking salvation through redemption. While some researchers note the existence of a vampire archetype, Carl Jung, founder of analytical psychology, believed that monsters, such as the vampire, are not archetypes themselves, but rather myths, born of archetypes. While Carl Jung’s beliefs would classify a vampire as a myth, I intend to show that early to modern stories of vampires show a gradual shift from the monster myth to three separate vampire portrayals/archetypes. One portrayal of vampires remaining that of the terrifying creature of origin, as is characterized by Carl Jung’s Shadow archetype; another portrayal being the tragic and tortured Byronic hero—or antihero; and the last progresses through the first two stages into the modern, beguiling, often-romanticized, literary figures of fantasy, the heroic vampire. I intend to show that these three distinct portrayals, though never fully leaving their mythic origins behind, have become their own archetypes, and the development of these archetypes mirrors humankind’s path to finding redemption from their own sinful natures, or dark desires, whether based in Judeo-Christian beliefs, other religious beliefs, or a secular moralistic belief system. Carl Jung believes there are four main archetypes: The Self, the Persona, the Shadow, and the Anima/Animus. These archetypes are primordial images—archaic remnants imprinted on the unconscious mind, the part of the mind where automatic processing occurs. These primordial images are passed down from our ancestors. Jung states: A History of Vampires and Their Transformation From Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures The term “archetype” is often misunderstood as meaning a certain definite ythom logical image or motif. But this would be no more than a conscious representation…The archetype is, on the contrary, an inherited tendency of the human mind to form representations of mythological motifs—representations that vary a great deal without losing their basic pattern. (Jung, 1968, p. 120) Jung claims that every personality has a dark side that is the gateway to the unconscious mind and dreams. Through this gateway, the archetypal Shadow figure enters our dreams. ythsM are not themselves archetypes. They are created by archetypes. The Shadow archetype is the hidden part of the human psyche—the part we fear for its obscurity. This fear causes our mind to create myths to represent this hidden part of our psyche (Jung, 1968, p. 38). Following Jung’s logic, a vampire cannot be an archetype in itself; instead, it is a myth born of the Shadow archetype. So, what makes the vampire, or any other creature of myth, the embodiment of Carl Jung’s Shadow archetype? Tales of evil creatures abound in the time before Christianity. They are the representation of early humankind’s darker side; the images Jung claims are passed down to their descendants through their DNA, just as according to Lamentations 5:7 in the Bible, the child bears the iniquities of their father (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Lamentations 5:7). These iniquities are our sin, and Jung’s Shadow archetype might very well be itself a representation of this sin and the vampire myth its manifestation. In his book The Power of Myth, a manuscript of a conversation between Joseph Campbell, best known for his theory of the archetypal hero’s journey, and journalist Bill Moyers, Campbell claims: These bits of information from ancient times, which have to do with the themes that have supported human life, built civilizations, and informed religions over the millennia, have to do with deep inner problems, inner mysteries, inner thresholds of passage, and if you don’t know what the guide signs are along the way, you have to work it out for yourself. (Campbell & Moyer, 1998, p. 4) To this, Moyer interprets Campbell’s meaning to be, “[W]e tell stories to try to come to terms with the world, to harmonize our lives with reality” (Campbell & Moyer, 1998, p. 4). It is in humankind’s nature to ask, “Why is this happening?” In that desire to reconcile the cognitive dissonance felt when we cannot unite what we see to what we understand, our mind searches for new comprehension through the creation of myths. Curiosity: Interdisciplinary Journal of Research and Innovation 2 A History of Vampires and Their Transformation From Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures Early Vampire Folklore Many countries and cultures have some form of vampire folklore in their history. These stories, as Campbell and Moyers suggest, have origins in the fears of those who are just trying to make sense of the world around them. Here are just a few examples. Abhartach (Celtic) Abhartach, a jealous dwarfish, ruelc chieftain, and sorcerer, from the Irish town of Slaghtaverty in Londonberry, ruled during the 5th and 6th-centuries. Some stories say he fell to his death when he climbed a ledge outside his wife’s bedroom window to catch her cheating on him. Other versions of his tale say that a neighboring chieftain slew him. Abhartach was buried in an upright, rather than the typical prone position, as were many rulers of that time. The next day, the sorcerer returned from the grave and demanded that his subjects slit their wrists and fill a bowl with their blood for his consumption. The blood was necessary to sustain his life. Abhartach was then, once again, slain by either another chieftain or an assassin and buried upright. He rose from the dead, once more, the next night, to continue his reign of terror. The chieftain or assassin killed Abhartach one last time. This time, at the suggestion of a druid, they buried him upside down, trapping him in his grave (Bane, 2020, p. 13; Gallagher, 2017, p. 26). As is the case with most modern vampire stories, Abhartach began as a human, returns from the dead, and drinks blood. Baital (Indian) An eleventh-century Sanskrit story, Baital Pachisi, or Vetala Panchevimshati, translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton in the mid- nineteenth century and renamed to Vikram and the Vampire, is the account of a baital and a king named Vikram. The baital is an evil spirit that can possess the dead, is half-man half-bat with a short stumpy tail. It drinks human blood and devours sacrifices of human flesh. Its gruesome ountenancc e causes those who look upon it to grow weak and faint with fear. When at rest, baitals spend their time hanging from trees near cemeteries (Bane, 2020, p. 28-29). This ancient creature’s penchant for hanging from trees and its part-bat form was likely inspiration for literary vampires with the ability to turn into bats. Berwick (English/Scottish) In England’s northernmost area, abutting the river Tweed, there was a village named Berwick, or Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Though the town was in England, it came under Scottish rule during the twelfth century. In 1196, there was a prosperous but morally bankrupt merchant who died of the plague. After his burial, written accounts say that he would roam the streets at night, spreading disease as he went and announcing that there would be no peace for the villagers unless his body was set aflame and burned to ashes. The Berwick vampire only left his grave in the evening and returned to it every day before dawn. By the time the villagers exhumed his body and burned it, roughly half of the villagers had perished from the plague (Bane, 2020, p. 33; Summers, Curiosity: Interdisciplinary Journal of Research and Innovation 3 A History of Vampires and Their Transformation From Solely Monsters to Monstrous, Tragic, and Romantic Figures 1996, p. 82-83). The Berwick vampire is an early example of the undead rising from the grave only at night to terrorize the living, much like many literary fiction ampires.v Upyr (Slavic) The upyr is an ancient Slavic vampire thought to be created in one of two ways. When a heretic, someone whose beliefs lie outside a religion’s dictates, dies, that person might become an upyr.

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