Literature and Drama Editor Gemma Bini traces the history of vampires in folklore and English fiction.
The vampire is a canonical figure that has long ‘haunted’ the pages of English literature, appearing in countless works across different periods and genres. Over time, the image of the vampire has splintered into myriads of variations, ranging from the archetypal, eerie Count Dracula to the romantic, brooding Edward Cullen. This variety demonstrates how this character has evolved into a very complex character within horror, suscitating both fear and fascination, personifying both terror and temptation. As a result, the vampire does not represent just a scary shadow in fiction but also the mirror of our anxieties, desires and cultural shifts. Yet, this raises a few important questions: where does this myth find its origins, and in what ways has it transformed throughout the history of literature?
Before entering the realm of literature as a well-established trope, the vampire had already occupied centuries of folklore, appearing in myths and legends across cultures. In ancient Greece, for example, vampires were called Lamia, Enipusa, or the Strige. These creatures were all described as women who were succubi, blood suckers and ghouls. While the Strige and Empusa were imagined as more animalistic and monstrous, Lamia occupied a liminal space between beauty and horror. According to the myth, she once was the beautiful queen of ancient Libya. Her life, however, would descend into tragedy when Zeus chose her as a lover and provoked the wrath of his wife, Hera. The queen of Mount Olympus punished the human by killing all of Lamia’s children: driven into madness due to the pain of her loss, Lamia started eating other people’s children and would later be transformed into a blood-sucking, prophetic monster by Zeus. Irish folklore similarly casts vampires as women, though their origins are different. The dearg-dul (red blood sucker) is painted as the spirit of a beautiful woman who, after being forced into a loveless wedding and dying of depression, gets out of her grave to seek vengeance against those who wronged her - until her thirst for blood could not be contained anymore.
The modern myth of the vampire, however, was born of Romanian folklore. Here, these creatures are called strigoi and moroi. Strigoi are described as strong, immortal spirits who have the powers to transform into a cloud of mist, turning into animals and drinking blood. Moroi, instead, are said to be ‘lesser’ vampires as they are mortal - but still feared as parasitic revenants. Transylvania, with its long tradition of tales about these sinister beings, would become the symbolic homeland of the vampire. Yet, it is important to note that the association between Romania and Count Dracula was not self-evident until Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula.
Stoker drew inspiration from both Romanian folklore and history, blending them to create his iconic villain. Many readers have associated the character of Count Dracula to the 15th-century real-life prince of Wallachia, Vladimir the Impaler. The prince, however, actually had a positive reputation in his land as someone who managed to oppose the Ottoman Empire. His infamous impalements, while brutal, were understood at the time as a means to enforce justice. Under his rule, Wallachia experienced relative economic stability and security. Stoker transformed this figure by blending his life story with the Romanian tales of strigoi, thus creating a character that embodied both aristocratic and supernatural power. Despite perhaps a common assumption, in actuality, Stoker was not the first author to fictionalise the vampire.
The first who described vampires in English fiction was John William Polidori, a doctor who accompanied Lord Byron to Switzerland in 1816 after the poet was forced into exile due to threats of lynching. Polidori took part in the famous competition that inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and wrote The Vampyre. The main character of this short prose novel is Lord Ruthven, whose name was taken from Lady Caroline Lamb's Glenarvon. Lady Caroline had been a lover of Lord Byron’s, but her relationship ended bitterly when he publicly insulted her, prompting her to try to kill herself with a broken wine glass. She later wrote a Gothic novel, Glenarvon, in which she parodied the figure of Byron through the character of Clarence de Ruthven. Polidori, who also disliked Byron’s pretentiousness, borrowed the name from Lady Caroline’s work and described the figure of an arrogant, evil, aristocratic blood-sucker - who ‘suspiciously’ resembled him. Yet, the story will initially be attributed to Byron himself after being published in 1819 by Henry Colburn in the New Monthly Magazine. Polidori was forced to write a letter to the editor to have his authorship recognised, pointedly explaining that while the words were his, Byron did “put in the groundwork” for the story. Despite being written by someone who was not established as a writer, The Vampyre would become a huge success - both for being written about Byron, a celebrity at the time, and for being a great example of Gothic prose.
Flash forward to the last fifty years, decades and decades after Polidori’s and Stoker’s works, the image of vampires has evolved and increased its connoted sensuality. From Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1976) to Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight (2005), the fear factor has receded into the background. What now captivates audiences most is the notion of dark romance. Although vampires have retained most of their traditional abilities, their psychology has evolved. In these narratives, they often wrestle with the morality of feeding on humans, even as their very nature drives them to crave blood. Ultimately, this transformation reflects a shift in the public’s literary taste, from depicting vampires as villains to reimagining them as anti-heroes. Audiences today find it difficult to try to relate to an ontologically evil being. Instead, they are drawn to characters struggling with temptation, torn between choosing to do good and giving in to pleasure.
Whether lurking in Transylvania or brooding in Forks, vampires have transformed from terrifying monsters into conflicted anti-heroes. In doing so, they continue to mirror our internal struggles: as societies evolve, so do morals, and consequently, even their cultural representations. As iconic figures in English literature, they will keep drawing us to the darkest parts of our nature… even when they sparkle.