The Vampire in Fiction
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The vampire is a creature in folklore and fiction who has had a long life and whose appeal seems never to diminish. The best known vampire in literature is Dracula, from the novel of the same name written by Bram Stoker at the end of the nineteenth century. A more recent example is the vampire in a series of books by Anne Rice, and this character as well has proven quite popular since his debut in Interview with the Vampire in 1976. Using a more recent use of the character in The Vampire Lestat (1985), the second installment in the author's Chronicles of the Vampires, we can analyze the sexuality of this character, one of the important elements of its appeal, and their beauty and irresistibility as shown by Rice in the novel. The vampire has always been a character who evokes a dual response in the reader, and the same response can be discerned in other characters in these novels. On the one hand, there is the expected horror at the nature of the existence of the vampire and at the way the creature goes out in the night and seeks victims, draining their blood in order to sustain his or her own existence. On the other hand, there is a strong sense of sexuality and personal appeal which brings readers back again and again and which makes it easier for the vampire to find victims. There is generally a sexual component in literary and film renditions of the vampire, which sets the creature apart from other horror characters. This sexuality has usually been strictly heter
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eat fount that I knew would satisfy my thirst as it had never been satisfied before.
Blood and blood and blood. And it was not merely the dry hissing could of the thirst that was quenched and dissolved, it was all my craving, all the want and misery and hunger that I had ever known (Rice 90).
This passage and many others in the novel link vampirism and sexuality, link the experience of drinking blood with sexual congress in a way that develops the eroticism of vampirism.
The beauty of the vampires also contrasts with the way we usually think of them, but again, even Dracula was seen as having a strong magnetic appeal even though he was not described as beautiful as are Rice's vampires. Her vampires indeed become more beautiful as time passes rather than less, for this life makes them stronger and more appealing rather than less. They have a sense of what humans are thinking, and they can manipulate these thoughts and feelings to their own ends. In our own society, power is seen as sexually appealing, and vampires have forms of power human beings only dream of experiencing.
Vampirism is not seen here as a horror to be avoided but as an opportunity to be embraced, and the character who shows this most clearly is Les
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1938
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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