Fear Then and Now: The Vampire as a Reflection of Society

<p>Over the expanse of centuries, human society has created <em>monsters </em>in order to give a physical form to their abstract fears. Society has gone from speaking of them in oral traditions to watching them on a screen in more recent decades, but the written works of these monstrosities have occurred in the multitudes across multiple eras. The globalized monster I have chosen to focus on here is the <em>vampire</em>. Said vampires are witnessed as changing over time to adjust to the awakening or loss of certain human fears, distresses, and perceived threats—whether that be war, religion, race, etc. While the basic pillars of their image remain similar to their predecessors, the vampires of now have greatly evolved outside of the monster’s stereotyped performance and role in human society. What this work aims to accomplish is a comparison between different eras of the vampire literary lineage and how these vampires represent the fears—or sometimes the unspoken desires—of that human generation. Within this paper I will be examining six vampire novels, three of the past and three of more current times. For each novel, I will showcase how that book’s formation of the vampire character mirrors particular devices of fear within that space. I want to draw a comparison to reveal the evolution of not only the vampire monster but fear itself.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year

2021

Author dc:creator

• Phelps, Mackenzie

Contributors dc:contributor

• Justine Van Meter
• Ian Barnard
• Lynda Hall

• vampires
• fear
• society
• popular culture
• Other English Language and Literature

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_theses/40

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.chapman.edu:english_theses-1042