Professional paper
Dracula’s Grandparents: The Antagonist as a Prototype of the Modern Vampire in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel” and John William Polidori’s The Vampyre
Bence Gábor Kvéder
; Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs
Abstract
When a conversation turns to the topic of vampires, the main character of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) is usually cited as a conventional prototype. However, it is important to note that the eponymous antagonist of the revolutionary novel is not the first vampire in English-language literature. Mainly through their potential historical, socio-cultural, and psychological interpretations, two members of the pre-Dracula era significantly contributed to the traditional idea of vampirism.
Critics seem to agree that the first male vampire of the English literary canon appeared in John Polidori’s novelette, The Vampyre (1819), while the issue of the first female representative of this Gothic character may be more problematic. Traditionally, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla
(1872) tends to be identified as the pioneering work in this regard. However, Samuel Coleridge’s narrative poem, “Christabel” (1816), might be a relevant candidate as well: according to certain scholarly views, it may fulfil a similar role as “its” Victorian descendant. This essay will concentrate on the most significant characteristics of vampirism that are traceable both in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Christabel” and in John William Polidori’s The Vampyre. Mostly based on the behaviour of the two supernatural creatures, namely Geraldine and Lord Ruthven, respectively, the analysis will focus on the influence that these literary
works had on the general features of vampire-figures as Gothic antagonists.
Keywords
vampire; transgression; aristocrat; homoeroticism; virtue; vice; "Christabel"; The Vampyre
Hrčak ID:
244491
URI
Publication date:
4.4.2020.
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