Vampires: A Symbol of Lust

Of all the monsters of fiction, vampires are the only ones that deal with fornication. Beofre Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, only female vampires were believed to be especially beautiful. This book furthered the belief of the Victorians that fornicating with a vampire was essentially dangerous. The Count Dracula was based on a man who’s attributes, such as strength and sexuallyity, were exaggerated.

In the novel Dracula, if a woman fornicates with the Count, she turns into a seductive and horrific baby killer. Although Dracula was handsome and attractive, women had to have enough self-control to not give into desires. Giving into desires would be a fatal mistake. This suggests that during the time period this book was written, sex was an evil act. When a woman fornicates with a normal man, she risks pregnancy and social shame. If she fornicates with a vampire, she risks actual death.

In the book How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, it simply puts “A nasy old man, attractive but evil, violates young women, leaves his mark on them, steals their innocence-and coincidentally their usefulness to young men…” This quote relates most to the character Lucy Westerna. Before she was attacked by a vampire, she was an attractive woman who was proposed to by three different men. After she was used, she immediately started becoming ill, and soon after became a helpless follower in the vampires sin.

Along with Lucy Westerna, three other victims of the Count existed in this book. Coincidentally, all thre of these women were attractive before fornicating with the Count. Also, they all became vampires who tried to feast on Jonathon Harker while he was in Castle Dracula, trying to sell the dreadful place to the Count. The desires work both ways. Jonathon Harker wasn’t interested in fornicating with the Count (thank god), he was interested in the money he was going to make by selling the castle. Although he was warned by the local peasants that the place was evil, he could not control himself and did as he wished.

Today, vampires still have these traits, but played up even more. In most recent novels about vampires, the vampire still symbolizes lust, therefore giving the novel a hidden meaning behind the literal words of the story.