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Anna91

Anna91

Poland

September 12, 2011

Vampire - when you hear this particular word what comes to your mind? Of course you would think of a dead (well not entirely) person who walks by night, haunts for people to feed on their blood. But have you ever thought how the image of vampire has transformed since Ancient times?

In Ancient Greece there was a myth about a woman named Lamia, woman that fed on the living energy of humans. These kinds of mythical entities can be found in many different cultures all over the world. To put simply - where there are people there are vampires.

The creatures [vampires] were described in old folk stories as people who were dead but somehow still alive and their only wish was to kill and drink human blood. Everyone could become a vampire provided they committed suicide, were a witch or a warlock, evil by nature or died from a vampire's bite. To prevent a dead body from becoming a vampire, people cut off its heads and put it between its feet so that it would not be able to rise from the grave. Another way was to turn the body face down in the coffin, so that if a newborn vampire would like to rise it would only dig itself deeper into the ground.

For people in Middle Ages, and a short period after it the figure of the vampire was repulsive. They were imagined as reddish creatures [because of the blood] with an unhealthy complexion, blood on the lips. Some people believed that to become a vampire one must have two hearts. After death, the human heart and the human soul vanished from the body and left behind a devilish heart and impure soul. That is way one of the ways of killing a vampire was to pierce the second heart with a wooden stake [so good known nowadays]. There was also one very odd way. If somebody wanted to keep one of the undead in the grave one could scatter a handful of poppy or some other seed next to the grave. Apparently, when the vampire woke up to his new demonic life, it felt compelled to count all those seeds. This process kept the creature occupied till morning when it died in the sunlight or retreated into the grave again. People also hang garlic next to the windows and door and remembered not to invite strangers to their homes.

But with the passing of time the image of the vampire changed [and it sure will]. One of the best known vampires in the world is Bram Stoker's Dracula. From the moment Dracula started to exist, vampire is no longer perceived as reddish, repulsive monster but a mysterious stranger. He lives in an old castle in Transylvania. He possesses many characteristics of folkloric vampires but unlike them he is not a brainless, blood-lusting creature, but an intelligent immortal. Still he is a murderer who has to kill to satisfy his blood lust. Since then, one can also notice that a vampire can change shape and has no reflection. But one detail has been discarded - vampire can sleep only in soil from motherland.

A hundred years after Dracula a new kind of vampire was brought into existence. In the "Interview with the Vampire" [1976] by Anne Rice, the vampires are a mixture of sexuality, sensuality and darkness. It is a tale of a mortal that is given a choice between life and death. What we can learn from this tale is that it is no longer enough to be bitten by a vampire but you need to drink a vampire's blood. Rice's vampires are still demonic creatures who can't survive without blood, but they seem to be upgraded version of human beings. They are immortal, intelligent, have acute senses, they are not afraid of garlic and crucifixes anymore. They are incredibly seductive and deadly good-looking.

But a real vampire-boom has been launched by Stephanie Meyers' "Twilight". When Rice's vampires were only seductive, Edward Cullen has become obsession of teenagers [not only] all over the world. He is drop dead gorgeous, and sunlight cannot kill him anymore [isn't that fantastic...]. Twilight's vampires have a lust for blood, but however it is not so intensive, and they can live happily [mostly] among unaware people.

Since the vampires were in fashion, books were transformed into TV series. 'The Vampire Diaries' is a very popular show about two sexy vampire brother - The Salvatores who fight for human girl. They can walk in sunlight as well, but they have to wear special spelled rings, which protects them from burning and true death. While The Salvatore brothers live still secretly, in another show "True Blood" [also based on book] vampires decided to reveal themselves to the world. Synthetic blood was invented by Japanese, so people don't have to worry about bloodsuckers. Of course some vamps aren't fond of true blood, so murders are still present.

Image of vampire has changed through decades. They used to be disgusting, brainless creatures in the past but nowadays people dream of becoming a vampire. To be vampire today, means to be sexy, to has acute senses, be extra strong and fast, and simply to be immortal.

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