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H. Rider Haggard’s She and the Birth of the Sympathetic Vampire
By
Lauren Fleck-Steff
Senior Thesis
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
Endicott College
School of Arts and Sciences
May, 2010
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I - Abstract
“H. Rider Haggard’s She and the Birth of the Sympathetic Vampire”
Lauren Fleck-Steff
Over the years, vampires have taken countless forms in myth, literature, and film.
It is the argument of this paper that two very different vampire-types exist in popular
culture today. The first of these vampire-types is an evil, seductive monster that is
directly influenced by the vampires of folklore and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The second
vampire-type, on the other hand, is a sympathetic, human-like being that descended from
H. Rider Haggard’s novel She. It is this second vampire-type that is the focus of this
paper.
Through a step-by-step comparison of several tales of sympathetic vampires, this
paper will identify the ways sympathetic vampires have traditionally been characterized.
Having established these characteristics, this paper will then trace the history of the
sympathetic vampire back to the Victorian era by identifying similarities between tales of
modern sympathetic vampires and H. Rider Haggard’s novel She. After arguing that the
immortal character in She served as inspiration for the sympathetic vampires of today,
this paper will conclude with an analysis of certain factors at work in modern society and
the Victorian world that contributed to the popularity of sympathetic immortals in these
two time periods.
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Table of Contents
I - Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
II - Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
III - The Evolution of Vampires in Popular Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
IV - The Characterization of Ayesha in Haggard’s She . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
V - Comparison of She and Curtis’ Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
VI - Comparison of She and Coppola’s Dracula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
VII - Comparison of She and Rice’s The Queen of the Damned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
VIII - Explanations for the Rising Popularity of Sympathetic Vampires . . . . . . . . 29
IX - Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
X - Works Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
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II - Introduction
Vampires have been popular subjects of myth, literature, and film for thousands
of years. Throughout their long history, vampires have been characterized very
differently -- as anything from grotesque demons to handsome princes. Even today,
people’s understanding of what makes a vampire is constantly changing. But though at
first glance there may seem to be no rhyme or reason to the way vampires have been
depicted throughout history, an analysis of the evolution of vampires in popular culture
over the years reveals a distinct pattern in the way these creatures have been
characterized.
For most of history, vampires closely resembled the sort of creature readers would
encounter in the pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula: a cruel, villainous, and wholly
unlikable demon. However, in the 1960s the vampire from traditional folklore and myths
underwent a sudden and remarkable change. Seemingly without reason, a new type of
vampire developed. These vampires suddenly became sympathetic and surprisingly
human, and their tales were no longer horror stories, but romances. Though the
traditional evil vampire of myth remains a staple in modern film and literature, the
sympathetic vampire that first emerged in the 1960s has rapidly gained popularity over
the last few decades.
In the following pages, this paper will trace the evolution of vampires over the
years as they transformed from evil monsters to romantic and sympathetic lovers. But
the purpose of this paper is not simply to give an account of the history of vampires.
Instead, by identifying patterns in the way sympathetic vampires have been characterized,
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this paper will identify the origins of the sympathetic vampire and explain the rising
popularity of this vampire-type in recent decades.