Vampires in Literature Through the Ages

by Lysa Rodriguez

As Halloween approaches, our favorite ghosts and ghouls come out to play. Of the monsters that remain a staple of the horror genre, one of the most intriguing are vampires. 

Similar to werewolves, vampires originated from mythology of some kind. The concept of an undead creature that posed a threat to the living originated from Eastern Europe, though the idea is thought to go back to the dark ages and was used as a way to scare puritans. There are multiple iterations within mythology that have some of the staple concepts of a “vampire”, with even the Mayans having a god that was a blood-drinker. 

Over time, however, vampires in literature have undergone a fascinating transformation. No longer just terrifying monsters, modern vampires possess a hypnotic beauty that draws us in, making it impossible to look away—even as we remain aware of their potential for cruelty. 

Let’s sink our teeth into some literature that paved the way for the evolution of our favorite creatures of the night. 

Thalaba the Destroyer

The epic poem Thalaba the Destroyer by Robert Southey (1801) is widely considered to be the first appearance of vampires in English literature. 

Our protagonist is Thalaba, who’s own recently deceased wife has risen as a vampire with the sole intent to torment him. While the vampirism aspect of the story is only a small part of the larger epic, it continues a tradition in storytelling at the time that vampires were somehow related to their victims. 

The Vampyre

A short story, The Vampyre by John William Polidori (1819), was presented during the same story contest where Mary Shelley produced Frankenstein. The Vampyre, like Thalaba the Destroyer, is considered the origin of the "romantic" vampire genre. 

At the time, it was a cultural phenomenon, inspiring unauthorized sequels and even stage plays. Lord Ruthven, characterized as suave and charming, was the main vampire. The story played on his more “unappealing” flights of fancy and entertainment, with the main character Aubrey trying to avoid him while also being wary and cautious of him. 

It is here that we start to see the shift in public perception. In the past, people perceived vampires as more akin to zombies. They would crawl from their graves to feast on the blood and flesh of the living, but they were no more than mere peasants. People at the time found vampires rich, affluent, and suave and aspired to marry them.

Dracula

The general public at the time had fully accepted and enjoyed vampires in literature and media by the time Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) appeared. The novel itself was a series of letters that slowly unraveled the story; this was also in part because Stoker drew from pre-existing tropes as the backbone of his story. The most significant shift lies in the fact that the horror actually follows the protagonist home. One note is that the character Count Dracula himself isn’t very attractive, though throughout the book there are a few other vampires that are described as very beautiful and attractive. 

Stoker introduced a series of concepts and abilities for vampires, which have undergone numerous modern interpretations. For example, they cannot be allowed in a place unless invited, they don’t cast a shadow, garlic and sunlight keep them at bay, they don’t have a reflection, and they can hypnotize and control their victims.

Many interpretations of this story will occur, with characters like Van Helsing receiving their own spin-offs and individual stories. The story of Dracula is also what inspired the black-and-white short film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. 

Rehabilitating Revenants

It wasn’t until the early twentieth century that a new sub-genre of vampire media was emerging: the tragic vampire. 

At this time, there is a significant shift from the perception of vampires as monsters to those with sympathetic and tragic qualities who can seek redemption. The Power of Myth by Bill Moyer (1998) discusses the topic of heaven and how it is a desired goal of mankind. It also discusses the idea that for a vampire to achieve a place in heaven it must become a hero. 

It is from The Power of Myth that we see the growing rise of heroic vampires. Concepts of vampires themselves being vampire hunters, vampires trying to find other ways of satiating their need for blood, etc. 

The article “Rehabilitating Revenants, or Sympathetic Vampires in Recent Fiction” by Joan Gordon (2011), offers the angle that vampires are sympathetic creatures. That while they are aware of the fact that they themselves are monsters, they’re forced to be selfish because it means they themselves will die. That their existence is torturous to themselves as well as their victims.

Modern writers have begun to use vampires not solely to be the monster and antagonist, but also the protagonist and even the love interest. There is this exploration of the concept of a sympathetic vampire and what character traits they can have that can be developed over the course of the book. 

This also includes the new development in qualities of a vampire, shifting some of the previous traits to fit the modern viewpoint. For example what being in sunlight does to the vampire, whether or not garlic attracts them, if they can only be sustained on human blood, etc. 

Twilight

With the sympathetic vampire becoming more popular in literature and mainstream media we have the mid 2000’s surge of vampires as love interests. As a middle schooler turned high schooler during this time, it started to become a joke in popular media about how many romantic vampire novels were being churned out during this time. 

While it wasn’t the first, but has grown to be a staple within the genre, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (2005) became a phenomenon. It wasn’t perfect, but the book did become an inspiration for other stories of a similar ilk. Because of Twilight there were a collection of vampire romance books, as well as love triangles regarding vampires and werewolves. 

Concepts such as “vegetarian vampires”, showing that vampires can be sustained on any kind of blood, some vampires can go out into the sun, and the idea that vampires can eat human food but it makes them sick, all came from this era of the modern vampire phenomenon. 

As someone who grew up during this time, I can say from my own experience, a lot of people found vampiric love interests alluring for a myriad of varying reasons. This ranges from the idea that love can change even a monster, being drawn to something/someone dangerous, or just the basic wish for something fantastical to break the mundane. 

While it’s slightly off-topic, this is also around the time that werewolves started to receive their own evolution in media and literature. It’s interesting that books like Twilight had such an impact on a few genres, not just vampires. 

Love Never Dies

Vampires have undergone a very unique and interesting evolution. There is no one singular turning point, as even though some of the stories mentioned above were a stepping stone of their evolution in literature, this doesn’t account for the vast collection of movies, tv shows, video games, and other pieces of media that contributed to vampires and their perception. 

The gothic horror genre as a whole has evolved from its roots, not just in how horror is portrayed or what can be defined as horror, but also how one can view its creatures. Vampires had evolved from monsters of the night, walking plagues, and haunted by the horror of their own existence, to sympathetic beings that still try to cling to their humanity despite the fact that they are frozen in time. 

 Lysa received her BFA in writing from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), with a minor in creative writing. Currently her focus is on editing, but she started her career with the dream to write books that inspire others to create the same way books inspired her. She's a big nerd of the gothic and horror genres—loving horror movies and anything occult. She's been compared to the best creature, the whale shark, because she just goes with the flow and always has a goofy smile.