VAMPIRE SOCIAL FEAR - Essay Example

The concept of the existence of vampires was further glorified by eminent classic and contemporary literature authors that have created frenzy amongst the masses regarding the existence of these creatures. (Belanger, 2005, p. 49) As mentioned earlier, on a literary front the idea of vampires have fascinated, amazed and scared people throughout the ages. The belief in the existence of demons and spirits has been a prime aspect of all faiths and are often deemed to be the forerunners of the creation and concept of vampires; a dead blood-sucking nocturnal being that is largely associated with evil and the damned.

Roman, Greek and Mesopotamian cultures all had a common notion regarding the existence of vampires but the concept itself gained more shape in Eastern Europe, where the legends narrated that vampires were revenants of sinner, suicide victims, people involved in witchcraft and corpses under the possession of malicious spirits or people who died of vampire bites. There were countless speculation regarding the appearance of vampires and before human physical features were used to typify Vampires, they were vastly believed to bestial creatures, which were damned for the rest of eternity and their existence was only meant to plague the living.

The Description of the appearance of vampires is illustrated immaculately by the following quote from Sacred Hunger authored by Michelle Belanger, a self-proclaimed Psychic-vampire, who has published several books on this entire concept and has demonstrated the contrasts between the media portrayal and folkloric image of vampires, she states, “The vampire has come a long way since its beginnings in folklores… Though, monstrosity in their hungers there is an ineffable something that inspires their so-called ‘Victims’ to willingly open their veins.

Yet in stark contrast, the vampires we encounter in the tales of Eastern Europe are little more than corpses. These foul and bestial monsters terrorize whole villages, filing their victims with horror and disgust.”(Belanger, 2005, p. 14) Therefore, from the aforementioned quote it is abundantly clear that there is a huge schism between the perception of vampires in contemporary and the portrayal of folklores. Belanger has defined the true meaning of vampirism and the prevalence of this belief in gothic sub-cultures.

It has become more of an identity for people and the term ‘vampirism’ itself is not used to signify bestial behavior or monstrosity, and is now given similar connotations as people who are left-handed; the latter due to the widespread belief that left-handed people are evil. The aforementioned analogy describes that vampirism is no longer emblematic of a blood-thirsty creature but all those people who are in pursuit of vital energy. However, this is still a subjective approach to the subject and having mentioned the prose will focus its attention back to the area under discussion that is whether or not the social fear derived from these creatures is in anyway valid and the amount of insight provided by literature and conception of fictional characters to demonstrate this aspect.

Therefore, the substance of the following prose will juxtapose the folkloric illustration of these creatures and how authors have portrayed the image of these creatures. In order to gain greater amount of insight in to the subject, the prose will