Chapter 1—Dracula the Vampire:
Present-day America Dracula is a vampire—but this wasn’t always the case
Dracula was a historic figure and folklore – fought Turks; Vlad Tepes was a blood-thirsty 15th century Wallachain prince, territory that is now Romania
-He ruled 3 different times – he would rule and then be kicked out by the Turks, then come back
-He ended up in Hungary where he died in 1476 (born in 1431)
-He ruled Wallachia in 1448 and again from 1456-1462 and then for the last time in 1476
-Vlad (ruler) Tepes (the Impaler)
-He didn’t invent impaling as a torture method – something he learned from Turks
Late 19th century – Stoker (1897 published in London)
-Height of vampire genre
-Notes from historical Dracula
-Led to the vampire we know today
Perfect Machiavellian leader
-Effective – but cruel
-Justice – story about the purse with 900 lei in it – punishes crooks
Adamant about fighting the Turks – very involved in the Church
-Orthodox and Roman Catholic
Dracula went from Stoker’s novel (1897), and the stage (1924, 1927), and then to the screen…
Once Dracula “walked off the pages of the novel, onto the stage, and then to the screen,” it entered into Anglo-American folklore
This archetypal devil figure is “Dracula the Vampire” as reflected in America popular culture
Dracula vs. Santa Clause
-Both historic, fictional, and folklore
-Santa Clause -> St. Nicolas , Archbishop of Myra (brought by Dutch)
-S.C- Bearer of gifts, patron of children, and champion of innocence
-The mythicization of Dracula the Vampire has not progressed as far as that of Santa Clause because it just began at the beginning of this century
-Chart on page 328 – Vampire Lore
-Cultural diffusion brought from Europe to United States
-Polarity of good and evil
-Not a warring relationship – a relationship of opposite principles
-Vampire – folkloric devil, as opposed to godlike Santa Clause
-Traditional Christianity sees Good as all good and all powerful. Evil is tolerated by God. Yet, there’s another, older view where the power of evil is equal and opposite to the power of good.
-It’s within this context of this view that the origins of European vampirism is to be found
*Thanks Isabel Hopkins*
Present-day America Dracula is a vampire—but this wasn’t always the case
Dracula was a historic figure and folklore – fought Turks; Vlad Tepes was a blood-thirsty 15th century Wallachain prince, territory that is now Romania
-He ruled 3 different times – he would rule and then be kicked out by the Turks, then come back
-He ended up in Hungary where he died in 1476 (born in 1431)
-He ruled Wallachia in 1448 and again from 1456-1462 and then for the last time in 1476
-Vlad (ruler) Tepes (the Impaler)
-He didn’t invent impaling as a torture method – something he learned from Turks
Late 19th century – Stoker (1897 published in London)
-Height of vampire genre
-Notes from historical Dracula
-Led to the vampire we know today
Perfect Machiavellian leader
-Effective – but cruel
-Justice – story about the purse with 900 lei in it – punishes crooks
Adamant about fighting the Turks – very involved in the Church
-Orthodox and Roman Catholic
Dracula went from Stoker’s novel (1897), and the stage (1924, 1927), and then to the screen…
Once Dracula “walked off the pages of the novel, onto the stage, and then to the screen,” it entered into Anglo-American folklore
This archetypal devil figure is “Dracula the Vampire” as reflected in America popular culture
Dracula vs. Santa Clause
-Both historic, fictional, and folklore
-Santa Clause -> St. Nicolas , Archbishop of Myra (brought by Dutch)
-S.C- Bearer of gifts, patron of children, and champion of innocence
-The mythicization of Dracula the Vampire has not progressed as far as that of Santa Clause because it just began at the beginning of this century
-Chart on page 328 – Vampire Lore
-Cultural diffusion brought from Europe to United States
-Polarity of good and evil
-Not a warring relationship – a relationship of opposite principles
-Vampire – folkloric devil, as opposed to godlike Santa Clause
-Traditional Christianity sees Good as all good and all powerful. Evil is tolerated by God. Yet, there’s another, older view where the power of evil is equal and opposite to the power of good.
-It’s within this context of this view that the origins of European vampirism is to be found
*Thanks Isabel Hopkins*
