The myth behind vampirism, a definition essay

Written by : Anis Fakhira bt. Mohd. Khirzani and Siti Hajar Bt. Idris . 

Vampirism : The Myth behind it

   Vampires. We often perceive about this undead creature who feed on the blood of the living. Albeit the tales about vampires might have been recorded in many cultures through the prehistoric times, the term vampire was not widely used until the early 18^th century. Known by different names at the areas where vampire legends are numerous, such as Balkans and Eastern Europe (vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania), topics regarding vampires had become frequent, especially after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe. Due to this increasing level of vampire superstition in Europe, hysteria and cases resulted in corpses were being staked – even the innocent people were accused of vampirism. Then, people started to make a big fuss about vampire. Strong, mortal, can command the evils ; as Bram Stoker had written in his book, Dracula, we cannot argue more but to believe how great the vampires are. Nonetheless, this essay will give you further explanations regarding this creature, comprising the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses.

         A person who died violently, committed a suicide or was wrongly accused and killed, were told to have the power to avoid death by becoming a vampire. Various stories were told during that time about dead people ; they might come again and suck their friends blood or they will transform their family into vampires too. Of course, who would not be afraid of this haunting creature? Described to have a pair of red flaring eyes that will send shivers down humans’ veins, this creature somehow only have a slight different from the human. They might appear to look like human but they are not.

         This pallid face creature or sometimes known as the blood sucker, cannot live without blood. As blood is the elixir of life, it gives them energy, power and also replenishes their
body - blood is the key of mortality. Since the blood will only circulate in their body for a short time period, they do not suffer mental disorder or any other real humans’ diseases. The bloods that they drink only act as the oxygen supplier. Thus, it is impossible for them to die due to the infections. However, some might not know that vampire can be killed, which means their mortality can be ended. There are many ways that can lead towards their deaths such as burn them, remove their brain or just simply stab their heart by wood. Some said that they can be killed by using religious symbol but this method is not yet approved.

          As the intriguing stories about vampire were told from one generation towards other, we learned that they definitely have a lot of unnatural power. Not only peculiarly strong, vampirism also increases ones speed to superhuman levels, complete with surpassing grace of werewolves for vampires live beyond mortal time - they can travel from one place to another through a small amount of time, allowing them to move quicker than what the human eyes can notice.  They often appear to be much faster than they truly are; they can across a room in what seems like an eye-blink. In fact, the speed will keep increasing as they survive longer. Thus, tempering with time, the vampires can grow stronger.

           To have the ability to shape-shift into certain animal like bats, rats, cats, raven, and wolves, vampires definitely gain the power to control the animals like their puppets. Thus, it is possible for them to be able to call the animals; each vampire usually can call an animal only – one vampire could call bats and another could call wolves, for example. However, not all vampires have an animal to call. Hence, being able to call more than one animal is even rarer since it will be considered as a prime power, yet it is only effective for related animals such as leopards and lions or bats and rats. To call both snake and bear at the same time is impossible, hence. These animals will protect the vampires, act as servants and sometimes can kill the masters if they use the power for something improper and against the ability of the animals.

          Despite all the inhumanly great powers and strengths, vampires definitely have a long list of weaknesses too. Some accounts from the folklore indicated that vampires live in their graves during the day and rise during the night. It was quite a mystery back then before they finally figured out that it was all due to the sunlight. Vampire cannot endure the pulsing beams of the sunlight. To avoid the unrelenting rays, they only appear to be active at night; hunting and quenching the thirst for blood. Since vampirism turns people into a creature of evil, it is not an unusual occurrence that they restrain from sunlight:- sunlight represents good or in other way , it means that sunlight signifies God. Sure it is, even the vampires are afraid of the power of God.

         Other than the beaming rays of the sun, vampires are also vulnerable to the garlics. We often read from the myth, which vampire is an ancient metaphor for the horrible and unexplainable epidemic diseases (at that time). Then, how does this story of garlic circulate?  Infections like the plague and cholera that killed thousands of people coming without any visible cause, had caused the people to bring out the ‘garlic stories’- due to the benefit that the garlics provide; to kill germs. Another concept is, garlic is also a known insect repellent which reportedly works well against mosquitoes as vampirism can be seen as the symbolic of mosquito bites. While the origins of the myth cannot be confirmed, we can be sure that Dracula must have had a really bad breath. This would fit well with the vampire folklore and gothic fiction.

            Vampires have haunted our dreams for ages. Most are scared because of their appearance, dark, predatory, and some may even say, devilish. While others were wary of them because of their abilities, the idea of having overhyped supernatural abilities like flying, transforming and immortality boggles and fascinates the human mind because of their illogical nature. Only by placing these tempting and illogical thoughts to illusive creatures like the vampire can we find solace and peace to sleep at night. And if they do turn up to be true, we have quite a few ways to kill them, be it beheading them, staking and burn their hearts or stuffing the poor vampire’s mouth with garlic. Even though the origins to the myth of vampires can roughly be traced to the ancient time, the human mind will forever remain entwined with the idea of the immortal blood sucking creatures and constantly evolve the legend, adding more characteristics and abilities.