The Vampire Tale as a Sub-genre of the Gothic

The Vampire tale As a Sub-Genre of The Gothic

Here I will expound upon how the vampire tale is undoubtedly a sub-genre

of the Gothic Genre. I will also attempt to tackle the tricky question of

whether the vampire tale falls within the subsection of the terror gothic or

the horror gothic. In order to emphasize my points and observations I will

refer to two scenes in the short story appropriately titled The Vampire, by

John Polidori.

In the Vampire several elements of the Gothic are readily discernible. More

so in this tale because it is so short, succinct and rather straightforward.

The protagonist, a young orphaned Englishman named Aubrey enters the

cosmopolitan scenes of London and crosses paths with Lord Ruthven, a ruthless

vampire, who despite his insipid, dead personality and pallor, excites a

certain sense of morbid wonderment in young Aubrey. Eventually Aubrey goes off

to foreign lands with Lord Ruthven and while away his astute observations of a

strange lurking evil element are proved accurate when he receives a letter from

home. Aubrey falls in love with a Grecian girl who he tries to save from the

jaws (literally) of peril in the form of a vampire. Unfortunately e fails at

this attempt and his love dies. After this episode the protagonist sinks into a

delirious feverish state. He eventually heals from this trauma, but is rendered

more sedate and haunted by the host or at least visions of his departed lover.

He and lord Ruthven decide to set sail for new sights in Greece and are soon

attacked by banditti whereupon Lord Ruthven is shot. It is at this time that

the dramatic crux of the tale is hastened; Aubrey makes the fatal mist...

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tale, this is not a mere figment of the imagination, but is a really explaining

a number of occurrences of frightening propensities.

Another aspect that is similar to the elements of the terror Gothic, is the

way that there is no one for young Aubrey to turn to and he is helpless in a

country where I'm sure he doesn't even speak the language tremendously well. As

the author states in the above excerpt `and which all, apparently, conspired to

heighten that superstitious melancholy that had seized his mind. And at this

point there is a certain leaning towards the horror gothic in the sense that

everything-everything is conspiring against him. And in the end the whole cast

is ruined; the hero dies the sister dies all the lovely ladies are dead or

diseased with terrible reputations and the villain gets away scott-free.