The Vampyre Essay Questions

Why is The Vampyre credited with inventing the modern vampire?

Prior to the publication of John William Polidori's The Vampyre, vampires were for the most part the subjects of European folk tales. While such tales varied, they shared some common features. Vampires were creatures who returned from the dead, often to revisit their hometowns or loved ones to cause trouble or even kill people. Such vampires generally had a dark, ruddy, and bloated appearance. They wore a burial shroud and often had blood seeping from their noses and mouths.

The vampires of modern tales are very different, and Polidori's novella is credited with introducing many of the characteristics that distinguish the modern vampire. First and foremost, Polidori portrays the vampire as a suave and elegant aristocrat. The vampire is extremely pale but is also regarded as handsome. He or she moves freely and undetected among society's upper classes. Polidori also introduced the characterization of the vampire as a highly seductive being with a strong sexual magnetism. These and other characteristics continue to be important elements of vampire stories today.

What elements of Gothic fiction are present in Polidori's The Vampyre?

The Vampyre includes several elements of Gothic fiction. Firstly, the novella includes an important element of mystery and obscurity. Ruthven is a dark and dangerous figure. There are many strong indications that he is a vampire. At the same time, the novella introduces a notable degree of mystery, ambiguity, and the unknown into this aspect of the plot.

Another Gothic element of The Vampyre is the way in which the story combines the themes of romance, death, and horror. For example, it is arguably Aubrey's falling in love with Ianthe that leads to the girl's tragic death, presumably at the hands of a vampire. In the case of Miss Aubrey, Ruthven must gain her affection and marry her in order to make her his victim.

The Vampyre also employs several popular Gothic tropes. These include the narrative of the villainous, predatory male, in this case Ruthven, who preys on virginal young women, in this case Ianthe and Miss Aubrey.

How can we read Polidori's The Vampyre as an allegory for the relationship between Polidori and Lord Byron?

Many critics and historians have noted that Lord Ruthven is a Byronic character, based on the romantic poet Lord Byron. Both the real Byron and the fictional Ruthven are seen as attractive, magnetic, eccentric, and powerful by those around them. Just like Ruthven, Byron was known for his many non-traditional romantic and sexual affairs. Moreover, some described Byron as capable of draining the vital essence of those around them. In Polidori's story, this trait is exaggerated into a literally vampiric quality.

Similarly, the reader may draw important parallels between the character of Aubrey and the author Polidori. Much like Aubrey, Polidori was described by contemporaries as a "handsome" and "arrogant" man with an active, romantic imagination. Moreover, the relationship between Aubrey and Ruthven follows a similar arc as the relationship between Polidori and Ruthven. Polidori was fascinated by Ruthven and jumped on the opportunity to travel through Europe with him. But the relationship, and Polidori's idealized image of Byron, quickly soured. Eventually, Byron dismissed Polidori, who ended his life at the age of twenty-five.

How does Polidori explore the themes of virtue and vice in The Vampyre?

Polidori explores the themes of virtue and vice by establishing the social setting of the novella as well as through Ruthven's exploits. Polidori depicts a society that expects women to be virtuous, innocent, and pure. The narrator characterizes those who deviate from this norm as notorious hunters who ruin the reputations of all women on account of their vices.

Ruthven seems to take particular pleasure in seducing virtuous, innocent women. If the women he seduces aren't killed, they end up ridden with vices. In this way, one of Ruthven's key powers is to turn virtue into vice, destroying the innocent, pure, and affluent and leaving wickedness and impoverishment in its place.

Why does Aubrey find the possibility of a romantic relationship with Ianthe at once highly attractive and also ridiculous?

Aubrey is attracted to Ianthe precisely because she is so different from the other women he has met among England's wealthy classes. Aubrey feels the women he has met at London's fancy balls and stifling parties are fake. They pretend to be virtuous but it's just a show they put on. In contrast, Ianthe is truly virtuous, innocent, and pure. She has not been corrupted by the faulty values of the urban upper classes. Paradoxically, it is precisely the same qualities that draw Aubrey to Ianthe which lead him to ridicule the possibility of their marriage, since society would look down on a wealthy, educated Englishmen wedding an uneducated Greek girl.