Response to Blog 1

    In Polidori's The Vampyre, Aubrey and the other characters that come into contact with Lord Ruthven become fascinated and/or enamored with him for a variety of reasons. Women find him beautiful, commanding features not only of great physical beauty, but also his wealth, social status as an aristocrat, and mysterious ways Ruthven has a cool demeanor about him; he is rather self-absorbed and does not care about anyone but himself. There is a certain vanity about him and because Ruthven is based on Lord Byron it is only natural that Ruthven is a womanizer. However, he only seeks women of "virtue." This is connected to Byron's sexual bravado and also his own brooding, aloof, predatory nature. It is said that Byron kept a lock of pubic hair of every women he slept with; whether this is true or not, it reveals his regard of women as things of beauty, but things to be conquered and cataloged. Ruthven chooses his victims because of their beauty, naivete, and youth; they are easy prey which makes them all the more sensuous in the hunt. As is noted, the biting of the neck and blood-draining is a metaphor for sex and more specifically rape. It is metaphorical for sex because it is a highly intimate act that the vampire engages in; the mystical associations of blood and its absolute figurative powers create a bond between the vampire and his/her prey. But also, the transference of blood from the vein suggests intimacy because the neck is an erogenous area and the bite is a more violent version of a kiss and can even play into animalistic fetishes some people have. However, this implication goes much farther in the case of vampires, and particularly in the case of Lord Ruthven, as a metaphor for rape. Because Ruthven is predatory, his subjects are young, naive, weak girls who are virginal. He uses his beauty and powers of manipulation to seduce these girls and often does this gradually. Virgins were highly sought because their virginal status was symbolic for purity. Thus, a pure girl would elicit pure blood. He is both a rapist and a murderer because the victim is manipulated into trusting Ruthven, the neck wound is non-consentual, and certainly their death was non-consentual. I think what this says about the characters is that they are not really at fault for their demises; there are people like Ruthven/Byron who use their exquisite charms and sexuality to seduce people, make them trust them, then exploit them for their gratification, tossing them away after their have their fill of them. This is metaphorically dealt with in the case of the vampire and can be compared to anyone in present-day that exhibit these characteristic. Ruthven/Byron would be considered clinical psychopaths: narcissistic, manipulative, deceptive, morally ambiguous, violent tendencies.

    In the case of Aubrey, however, we find that at first he is merely curious about Lord Ruthven, but later becomes fascinated with him. This is suggestive of a homoerotic/sexual attraction towards Ruthven possibly based on Polidori's own attraction towards Byron. If the preface to Carmilla is correct, then Aubrey is based on Polidori and the story was a reaction of jealousy towards Byron's insatiable sexual conquest. I have never heard of Byron engaging in homoerotic/sexual behaviours, so perhaps Polidori created this story to warn people about the deceptive nature of Byron without overtly pinpointing him after traveling with him and having his affections spurned by Byron. Love spited is a powerful thing. Aubrey also becomes obsessed with Ruthven to the point of a mental breakdown, further emphasizing the homoerotic attachment, but also promoting the theme that Ruthven (Byron) is a dangerous man who doesn't even have to hurt Aubrey to kill him. Perhaps this is saying that love and sex themselves are dangerous, but the repercussions of unrequited love can make one wither and die. I think what this also says about Aubrey is that, even though he is a man, he is much like the female prey of Ruthven. He is young, fairly naive (it takes him a while to realize what kind of monster Ruthven is), handsome (beautiful), and fairly weak. He is weak because he refuses to act upon his conviction to kill Ruthven once he knows what kind of monster he is. He says he thought about using his own hand to rid the world of Ruthven, but in his cowardice and weakness ends up letting Ruthven live and continue to ravage young girls. He knows it's the right thing to do, but he can't muster the strength to confront him. In our society, but more so in older times, this would make him effeminate, emasculated in a way. He doesn't have the courage of a man, so therefore he is more like a woman. This suggests the patriarchal dichotomy between man and woman in Victorian times and is further enhanced by Ruthven's overpowering of girls. Though this may also be a stretch, Aubrey having homoerotic tendencies would be also regarded as effeminate not only in Victorian times, but also in ancient Greece where anyone who assumed the submissive role during sex was considered effeminate (you could still be homosexual/bisexual, but you had to be the penetrator, not the penetratee). Since English culture revered ancient Greek culture, it is unsurprising that homosexuals were regarded as effeminate.