The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend by Barbara Brodman & James E. Doan

Author:Barbara Brodman & James E. Doan [Brodman, Barbara & Doan, James E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
Published: 2013-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

9

Vampiresse: Embodiment of Sensuality and Erotic Horror in Carl Th. Dreyer’s Vampyr and Mario Bava’s The Mask of Satan

Angela Tumini

Fata Morgana

A blue-eyed phantom far before

Is laughing, leaping toward the sun;

Like lead I chase it evermore,

I pant and run. . . .

I laugh, it is so brisk and gay;

It is so far before, I weep:

I hope I shall lie down some day,

Lie down and sleep.

–Christina Rossetti

A Demon is Born

Historically, vampire lore has reflected the values and social structures of the culture in which it has existed, and it is because of their resilient, elemental nature that the legend of the vampire continues to be explored. Many of the myths started from explaining forms of insanity, diseases, and reasons for death; moreover, along with the morbidly humorous side, many people were buried alive who were believed to be dead and that would also add to the myth. While there is no unique universal definition of vampire lore, virtually in all contexts across every society there are scores of beautiful female vampires roaming the countryside and dark alleys of cities; indeed, the oldest vampire figures were females. Ancestors of the female vampire are to be found in the image of the succubi, for example, who were thought to be demons who seduced and preyed on sleeping males. These “ladies of the night” allegedly drew energy from men in order to sustain themselves and would continue to drain their energy, through sex, until their death. Moreover, Lilith, Adam’s first wife, made infanticide her raison d’être while being also personified as a licentious demon:

while God then formed Lilith, the first woman, just as He had formed Adam, except that He used filth and sediment instead of pure dust. From Adam’s union with this demoness, and with another like her named Naamah, Tubal Cain’s sister, sprang Asmodeus and innumerable demons that still plague mankind. Many generations later, Lilith and Namath came to Solomon’s judgment seat, disguised as harlots of Jerusalem.1

The infamous Lilith/female association with infanticide is another element of a narrative that supported the development of patriarchal hegemony as a textual means of control that spared no form of social-cultural components. For example, frequently, this morally ambivalent status of women motivated the nakedness in the depiction of goddesses such as Diana and Aphrodite, or even Medusa whose serpent-haired image calls to mind the exposed female sexual organ. The latter has been interpreted as an indication of female sexual liberation from social constraints while reflecting the castration anxiety that was affirmed by Sigmund Freud:

The hair upon Medusa’s head is frequently represented in works of art in the form of snakes, and these once again are derived from the castration complex. It is a remarkable fact that, however frightening they may be in themselves, they nevertheless serve actually as a mitigation of the horror, for they replace the penis, the absence of which is the cause of the horror. This is a confirmation of the technical rule according to which a multiplication of penis symbols signifies castration.2

Christian iconography

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