I'm trying to put 18-19th century literary vampires into categories, like tragic/tormented, romantic, vengeful, mindless/zombies, seductive, cunning, pure evil/sadistic, obsessive. And sorted into gender and places of origin (mainly German, French, English (incl Irish writers)) to see if there is a pattern for each. Might not find any, but I do want to categorize each vampire regardless.
Might even do one for their lovers and/or targets, too, some are benevolent, some malicious and punished, some terrified and unwilling, some ignorant but willing, one is Jonathan Harker (terrified and unwilling and then fully knowing and willing)
Do you think such a task would be interesting? From the vampires you do know about, have you noticed things like if the tragic/tormented ones outweigh the pure evil ones and so on?
It sounds interesting and handy for the classic vampire lovers out here!
In my experience, the most sympathetic tragic bloodsuckers in that era amount to those in Dracula (Mina and Jonathan as nearly-turned, Lucy and the Dracula crew as euthanized), "Clarimonde" (herself), Carmilla (also herself, though mileage can vary depending on how earnest you think her feelings for Laura really were), and every example in, "The Family of the Vourdalak" (due to the premise that vourdalak vampires are forced to prey exclusively on loved ones). But more often than not, vampire lit of the period had them being evil. And very often being a hot undead lady going after an aghast young man.
Though there are obvious exceptions--the original seductive male vamp and serial killer, Lord Ruthven, of "The Vampyre," and more wicked matronly figures like "Good Lady Ducayne" and "Mrs. Amworth,"--I've run across a surplus of examples where the setup amounts to 'Hot Evil Vampire Babe Seeks Stalwart Youth to Prey On.' Because while the phenomenon hadn't exploded as it would in 20th and 21st century vampire stories, using the undead as desire-based pressure release valves in literature was a good cover for scratching certain non-Victorian-principles-approved itches. As long as the vampire = evil, the vampire could also = seductive. Basically the narrative shorthand for 'oh no I sure hope this powerful bloodsucking dom demon doesn't put me in a trance to drink and/or fuck me into also being an immortal evil sexy bloodsucker ha ha' <- said every guy* behind the typewriter.
*With the exception of "Good Lady Ducayne," written by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, you'll notice all of the aforementioned stories are written by men. You will also notice that "Good Lady Ducayne" is also the only story in which the vampire figure is an old crone and not a voluptuous tempter archetype. I'm sure this means nothing.
