The Vampire, a Mythical Monster for Eternity

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is a new approach from an interdisciplinary standpoint to the long lasting phenomena of the vampires. Consequently, I have drawn on from multiple sources in history, folklore, literary studies and anthropology. As monsters, they have been analysed in the light of their symbolic meaning. Previous studies place them in realms of mythical thinking and belonging to a liminal state of the nature-culture classification. As undead, their specificity is to trespass sides, a matter of fear for the living. Although we want to consider our civilization as rational and free from superstition, undead keep coming back through different narrative media. I will try to address that question by emphasising the liminality of death and the allure of immortality. The chosen case of research is Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) and the film adaptation directed by Francis Ford Coppola (1992). By comparing the changes in the characters and the plot I have tried to frame them as different versions along the history of a myth. Any social order need to set boundaries but, being humans, we are tempted to trespass at least through fiction.