Vampire's Best Friends
When Michael Bennett was a boy, he used to dream of traveling. London, Paris, Dubai -- anywhere he could conceivably go and however he could conceivably get there. Now, looking out over the towers of Notre-Dame Cathedral in the half-light cast by the low of the city, he wondered what it might have been like to never see it the way he was now -- to stand as a human and gaze up at the towering windows and wonder what it might be like to look out as he was now, his vision stretching for miles and every detail crisp. A vampire's eyes were powerful things, and seeing Paris awash in the dull glow of midnight and electric lights revealed to more small intricacies of life than a thousand books on the city ever could have.

The cell phone clipped to his hip began to chirp the first…...

Even the pagan concept of a goddess resembles Buffy's character, wherein the pagan concept of a goddess is based on the assumption that the goddess exists to protect humankind from the threat of mortality -- that is, the goddess exists for the purpose of ensuring humanity that they live a long and fulfilling life on earth. The pagan goddess, then, is the protector of the earth, humanity, and everything it represents. Like the pagan goddess, Buffy's role as protector of humankind from vampire slayers and other evil creatures makes her an appropriate icon for today's popular culture of so-called saviors of humanity.

These similarities of Buffy as a vampire slayer elevates her status to one similar to Virgin Mary's, the Hindu goddesses', and pagan goddess' stature in their respective religious societies. However, despite these similarities, there are also remarkable differences between Buffy and these religious icons, and these differences make up…...

Essay Topic Examples
1. The Evolution of the Vampire Mythos:
This essay would explore the historical and cultural evolution of vampire legends from their earliest iterations in folklore to their present-day representations in media and literature. It would analyze the factors that have led to the transformation of the vampire archetype and its continued popularity.

2. Vampires as a Reflection of Societal Fears:
This topic looks at how vampires have been used as metaphors for various societal fears and anxieties throughout history, such as disease, sexuality, and the outsider. The essay would examine different periods and how the portrayal of vampires corresponded with the contemporary issues of those times.

3. Gender and Sexuality in Vampire Fiction:
Delving into gender dynamics and the portrayal of sexuality, this essay would discuss how vampire fiction often subverts traditional gender roles and explores sexuality in a unique way, offering a lens through which to view societal norms and the fluidity…...

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Primary Sources

Calmet, Augustin. The Phantom World: Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c. (Translated by Rev. Henry Christmas, 1850) [Original Title: Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c.]

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Archibald Constable and Company, 1897.

Polidori, John William. The Vampyre: A Tale. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1819.

Rymer, James Malcolm. Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood. E. Lloyd, 1847.

Byron, George Gordon. The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale. John Murray, 1813.

Lestat
The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice's series of contemporary novels, contained fascinating tales of love and death using the gory and overtly sexual vampire mythology as a literary backdrop. The vampire aesthetic of immortality, bloodlust and gothic art provide a romantic backdrop to Rice's thrilling work and character development. Throughout these novels, the vampire character, Lestat de Lioncourt, was often the focus of the violently romantic stories of these superhuman creatures that prey upon humans and drink blood to survive. Lestat, or "The Brat Prince" as he is often named, is a bisexual, immortal being, known as a fan of art and music provided the context of these stories. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the Lestat character, and his varying levels of authority and power described in the two novels Interview with a Vampire, and Queen of the Damned.

Interview With A Vampire, Rice's first novel, introduced…...

" After effectively damning her to a life as a vampire, Ibrahim, himself abused by the man who made him one of the undead, tries to 'make good' on his promise to himself to help Lina: "Despite the many shortcoming of Ibrahim's moral probity, he had known from the start that he would live his life as a vampire much the same way he had lived his life as a normal human -- trying to be good, even if he failed miserably most of the time." This is, Taylor suggests, not unlike that of a terrorist who rationalizes his conversion of another man (or woman) to the cause, that he is at least trying, and saving the new convert from a worse fate.
Taylor's extended metaphor of Islamic terrorism and fundamentalism and vampirism, of one life as an outsider in real life with life as an outsider in a science fiction…...

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Works Cited

Ahmad, M.A. "Islam and Science Fiction: Islam SciFi Interview of Pamela Taylor."October

13 th, 2010.

Taylor, Patricia. "50 Fatwas of the Virtuous Vampire." November 1, 2010.

Movie: Interview with a Vampire
Before the modern infatuation with vampire, werewolves, and other supernatural things, stories that dealt with the supernatural were often relegated not only to the fantasy genre, but also considered beneath consideration. However, the genre shifted with Anne Rice's 1976 publication of Interview with the Vampire, a novel that told the sweeping story of an vampire Louis, his life as a human being, his transformation into a vampire, and his troubled relationships with his sire, Lestat, and their child, Claudia. The novel, which is often considered the second most influential vampire novel after Bram Stoker's Dracula, did much to change the modern image of the vampire. Rather than being viewed as monstrous and evil, Anne Rice's portrayal of Louis characterized him as a victim who did not understand his immortality when he received it, and, as a result, simultaneously feared and embraced death. The book developed…...

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Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. "Interview with the Vampire." RogerEbert.com. N.p. 11 Nov. 1994. Web. 24

Feb. 2014.

Interview with the Vampire. Dir. Neil Jordan. Perf. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Christian Slater, and Kirsten Dunst. Geffen Pictures, 1994. Film.

Maslin, Janet. "Interview with the Vampire (1994)." The New York Times. N.p. 11 Nov.

Recognizing that the film's title functions on both of these levels is important because it reveals how Alfredson deploys common vampire tropes in novel ways which serve to elevate the emotional content of the film, so that the "rules" surrounding vampires become metaphors for the emotional development both characters undergo. Thus, following Hakan's death, Eli goes to Oscar and he invites her into his room at the same moment that she implicitly invites him into her life, revealing to him the first explicit hints that she is something other than a twelve-year-old girl. From this point on, the two work to protect and comfort each other while providing each other with the confidence and companionship they need in order to be happy. Oscar confronts his bullies, and after a period of initial unhappiness, Eli gains a friend who accepts her as a vampire.

Though Eli initially has far more agency and…...

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Works Cited

Anderson, John. "A Boy and His Ghoulfriend: Beyond the Genre." Washington Post 07 Nov

2008, n. pag. Print. .

Ebert, Roger. "Let the Right One In." Roger Ebert. Sun Times, 12 Nov 2008. Web. 7 Dec 2011.

Gothic Fiction
Dracula is a far more traditional Gothic novel in the classic sense than the four books of the Twilight series, in which Bella Swan and her vampire lover Edward Cullen never even fully consummate their relationship until they are married in the third book Eclipse, and Bella does not finally get her wish to become a vampire until the fourth and final book Breaking Dawn. Far from being Edward's victim, or used as a pawn and discarded, she is eager to leave her dull, empty middle class life behind and become part of the Cullen vampire family. When she nearly dies giving birth to their half-vampire daughter, Edward finally does 'turn' her to save her life, and to paraphrase the title of the old song, we can only hope that she is satisfied. Bella in fact is a very traditional and conservative character, including her religion and even her…...

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References

Branch, L. 2010. "Carlisle's Cross: Locating the Past in Secular Gothic" in A.M. Clarke and M. Osburn (eds). The Twilight Mystique: Critical Essays on the Novels and Films. McFarland & Company Publishers: 60-79.

Byron, G. 2008. "As One Dead': Romeo and Juliet in the Twilight" in J. Drakakis and D. Townshend (eds) Gothic Shakespeares. Routledge: 167-86.

Meyer, S. 2005. Twilight. Little, Brown and Company.

Meyer, S. 2006. New Moon. Little, Brown and Company.

Though he has vowed to destroy as many vampires as he can and to protect humankind, he is faced with the paradox of destroying part of his identity while trying to save the other. Blade possesses many qualities of a hero, particularly the qualities imbued by his vampiric semi-transformation and his ability and resolve to be courageous for the betterment of humanity. Mythological heroes, much like Blade, often had a close, but conflicted, relationship with their supernatural adversaries and benefactors. Though Blade possesses characteristics of a classical hero, he is also a Byronic hero, as well as an antihero. Like the Byronic hero, Blade comes from a troubled past, is emotionally conflicted, intelligent, and mysterious, but is also considered an outcast. Because Blade is not human, nor is he demon, he struggles to find his place in the world and is forced to live on the fringe of both…...

The main character is a vampire who is in love with a human bitten by a werewolf, whom she should, according to the laws of war, have wished to destroy. The human/vampire/werewolf Michael contains all elements of society within his being, and exemplifies the difficulty of making divisions between creatures. If hybrid creatures can exist, how can there be war between two beings that can create a new individual like Michael? Michael poses this argument; much like a multiracial child's life might act as a living, breathing argument against intolerance.
Also, the love that the vampire woman Selene feels for Michael shows that love cannot be imprisoned in categories of class and race, but rather war punishes people based upon such arbitrary distinctions in a futile fashion. Thus, one of the primary lessons of the film is the difficulty, even within war, you can never know who truly is on…...

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Works Cited

Underworld." Directed by Len Wiseman. 2006

Dracula
The novel "Dracula" was written by Irish author Bram Stoker in 1897. Set in nineteenth-century Victorian England and other countries of the same time, this novel is told in an epistolary format through a collection of letters, diary entries etc. The main characters include Count Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Dr. Van Helsing. Count Dracula is the antagonist character of the novel, and is a vampire. The group of men and women led by Dr. Van Helsing are the main protagonist characters. The novel talks about Count Dracula's endeavor to relocate from Transylvania to England, and his demise. The story begins with an English lawyer, Jonathan Harker, visiting Dracula's castle to assist him with some real estate issues. During his stay in the castle, Harker discovers that the Count is a vampire and barely escapes with his life. Then the narrative turns into a…...

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References:

Parsons, G. (1989). Religion in victorian britain. (Vol. 4)

Stoker, B. (1897). Dracula. United Kingdom: Archibald Constable and Company.

Wood, P. (2004). Science and dissent in England, 1688-1945 (science, technology and culture,

oman Loves her Father, Every oman Loves a Fascist:
The Politics and Poetics of Despair in Plath's "Daddy"

Sylvia Plath is one of the most famous poets to emerge in the late 20th century. Partially due to the success of her autobiographical novel The Bell Jar, which details her partial recovery from suicidal depression, Plath's poetry has been frequently analyzed through the lens of her clinical mental problems. "Dying is An Art," the critic George Steiner titles of his essay on Plath, referring not only to a line from her poem "Lady Lazarus" but the critical elision of the poet's personal suicidal depression with the source of her confessional poetic gift. For instance, Plath's masterpiece, "Daddy," is a dramatic monologue in the voice of a German woman whose father was a Nazi. Yet despite the 'assumed' nature of "Daddy's" voice and the apparent divergence of poet from the speaker, the poem…...

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Works Cited

Plath, Sylvia. "Daddy." From The Norton Introduction to Literature Edited by Jerome

Beaty, et. al. Eighth Edition.

Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. Harper & Row, 1971.

Howe, Irving. "The Plath Celebration: a Partial Dissent." From The Norton Introduction to Literature Edited by Jerome Beaty, et. al. Eighth Edition.

The four-book-and-film franchise about teen vampire love comes with a built-in audience hungry for merchandise -- exclusively available at Hot Topic" (ockwood 2009).
Families that might cut back on expensive vacations are unwilling to deny their teens a few extra dollars to buy a t-shirt with the logo of their favorite heartthrob on it. Teens tend to be very fashion-conscious and want to keep up with the latest brands and images like their friends. Parents think little of cutting out going out to eat but do not want their teens to be social pariahs at this critical, special time in their young lives. Particularly during the holiday season, families are determined to make the memory of the year 'special' for their children. It could also be argued that it is more difficult for families with teens to cut back on buying clothing and other items because teens are outgrowing their…...

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References

Brown, A. (2012). Retail stores in worst slump since 2008 recession. Forbes.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/07/16/four-year-slump-in-retail-sales-signal-worried-u-s-consumer/ 

Rockwood, K. (2009). How Hot Topic's culture-heavy strategy helped it sizzle during the downturn. Fast Company. Retrieved:

 http://www.smartbutton.com/2011/02/how-hot-topics-culture-heavy-strategy-helped-it-sizzle-during-the-downturn

Giaour is cursed to be a vampire as punishment, while Ruthven seems to revel in the power and the role this gives him. He also describes women as adulteresses and worse and treats them as fodder for his needs on every level. Aubrey notes this and does not like it, but he also does not manage to escape from the man or his way of life. In the end, his own sister is destroyed by this man, just as was Ianthe and countless others.
Of course, Giaour also indulges in illicit sex with Leila, certainly illicit in the Muslim social order, though it would be in Europe as well. Leila's relationship with Hassan would also be seen as illicit in Europe, though, which is why Byron makes the point of noting that this sort of arrangement was more common in the past than it is in his own time. In…...

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Works Cited

Byron, Lord. "The Giaour." In Three Oriental Tales, Alan Richardson (ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.

Polidori, John. "Vampyre." In Three Gothic Novels, E.F. Bleiler (ed.). New York: Dover, 1966.

Lucy and Mina
In Victorian England, when Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, the vampire was used as a symbol for, among other things, society's sexual taboos, including overt female sexuality. Nowhere is this idea better explored than in the characters of friends Lucy estenra and Mina Murray. In Stoker's book, Lucy is symbol of the improper female, the one who is coquettish and flirtatious and sparks sexual interest in the male. Mina is her opposite. She is the ideal Victorian woman whose function is to be chaste and supportive of her future husband. Mina's attraction to men is always one of potential wife or mother. These ideas were somewhat diluted in the 1931 film version to make a horror story with less moral and more thrill, although the flirtatious girl still dies and her less sexual counterpart still survives. In the novel, the line between good and evil tends to be unclear.…...

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Works Cited

Dracula. Dir. Tod Browning. Perf. Bela Legosi. Universal, 1931. DVD.

Stoker, Brahm. Dracula. New York: HarperCollins, 2000. Print.

1. The Evolution of Vampire Lore: From Ancient Legends to Modern Pop Culture
2. The Psychological and Societal Implications of Vampire Fiction
3. Vampires as Symbols of Power and Desire in Literature and Film
4. The Role of Gender and Sexuality in Vampire Mythology
5. Vampires in Folklore and Mythology Around the World
6. The Use of Vampires as Metaphors for Various Social Issues
7. Vampire Hunters and Heroism in Vampire Fiction
8. The Romanticization of Vampires in Popular Culture
9. Vampires and Immortality: Exploring Themes of Mortality in Vampire Fiction
10. The Influence of Vampires on Gothic Literature and Horror Genre.
11. The portrayal of vampires in different cultures....

Vampires: History, Legend, and Literature

1. The Origins of Vampire Myths: Exploring the Ancient Roots of Bloodsuckers

Investigate the origins of vampire lore in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome.
Discuss the historical events and beliefs that may have influenced the development of vampire myths.
Analyze the role of fear, superstition, and the unknown in shaping vampire legends.

2. Vampire Legends: A Global Perspective on Bloodthirsty Creatures

Compare and contrast vampire lore from different cultures around the world.
Examine the similarities and differences in beliefs about vampire appearance, abilities, and vulnerabilities.
Discuss the cultural significance of vampire stories and their impact on local....

1. Vampires in literature have evolved from being depicted as solely evil creatures to more complex characters with human-like emotions and vulnerabilities.

2. The evolution of vampires in literature can be seen through the shift from portraying them as malevolent monsters to romantic and alluring figures that captivate readers.

3. Throughout the centuries, vampires have transitioned from being symbols of fear and death to symbols of desire and sexuality in literature.

4. The portrayal of vampires in literature has evolved to reflect societal anxieties and desires, with modern vampire characters often embodying themes of alienation and longing for immortality.

5.....

1. Vampires have evolved from monstrous and repulsive creatures into charismatic and alluring figures, a shift that reflects society's changing attitudes towards outsiders and the Other.

2. The vampire has served as a potent literary symbol, embodying both our deepest fears and our secret desires, an enduring figure that mirrors humanity's complex relationship with mortality and the supernatural.

3. From the bloodthirsty monsters of folklore to the romantic anti-heroes of modern fiction, vampires have evolved in literature to reflect the anxieties and aspirations of their respective eras.

4. The vampire's transformation from a symbol of evil to an object of fascination reveals the....