The Vampire As A Gothic Figure
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The Vampire as a Gothic Figure
The vampire myth has persisted through many ages and cultures; although it has not always been called the vampire. In the Gothic literary genre the vampire has evolved with the culture it is written into and this has continued into the post-modern medias. The vampire is most certainly a gothic figure, embodying many common themes including abjection, female gothic, the outsider and the doppelganger.
Abjection, as described by Julia Kristeva in “The Improper/Unclean”, is easily summed up as a distortion between self and other. The examples of this in vampire tales are extensive and many beyond those here can be found. Life and death is the most obvious as is death and birth. There is also an element of sexual ambiguity. A female, when changed into a vampire, now takes on the position of being the one to penetrate, by her fangs, her victims; a very male position. This penetration, the vampires bite, brings pain or pleasure which is often given a particular sexual description. The boarder between pain and pleasure is being distorted. In White Wolfs “World of Darkness” especially, the vampires bite referred to as a Kiss is portrayed as pleasure, nearly orgasmic yet death and sickness are its end. The description of a vampires bite, the drawing of blood and life from a human as a kiss, something so intimate and special is, in itself, another
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ambiguity. A much ignored element of abjection involves the familial relationship. Those of the human father and child and the vampire Sire and Childe. Consider the example of
Anne Rices “The Vampire Lestat”. Louis is born to Lestat as a vampire, taught as a child would be about his new world and life, he is indulged spoiled and eventually even the disappointment of his Sire, his father. It mirrors, in a distinctly distorted sense the human family.
Within an exploration of the abject in vampires, we find the element of female gothic beginning to emerge. The female is now in the masculine role, the one causing penetration, this is a position of dominance and control. Yet there is another element in complete contrast to this, one of submissiveness. In Bram Stokers “Dracula” the female vampires within Draculas castle are completely submissive to him. Further in modern shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, females are often in a submissive role; Spike and Drusilla are an example. This continues through White Wolfs “Kindred the Embraced”, Only a single female vampire holds a position of power and that only of what is considered a Ðsoft artsy clan. Further it is suggested she is the consort to the Prince, a hint at female Ðsleeping to the top taboo perhaps?
To examine the vampire as an outsider seems almost pointless in its obviousness; however, there is more here to examine then one might first assume. Modern vampires generally come in two varieties, the Nosferatu and the Byronic Vampire. The Nosferatu induces fear as an outsider from its purely repulsive appearance, which is usually quite
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monstrous; its