The Vampyre

The Vampyre by John Polidori is an inaugural tale in vampire fiction. The story was published in 1819 in the middle of classic gothic fiction’s heyday. The story is preoccupied with classic gothic themes: The battle of Good Versus Evil; the relationship between Power and Corruption; and Women’s Sexuality and Social Roles.

The tale is a chronicle of the dramatic relationship between Ruthven and his young companion, Aubrey. From Aubrey’s naïve viewpoint, that relationship is characterized by slowly mounting horror as hints and portents that punctuate the narrative coalesce to confirm that his newfound friend is, in fact, a supernatural monster. The story relies heavily on foreshadowing to build tension around the revelation of Ruthven’s true nature.

Gothic fiction often plays with appearances in the struggle of Good Versus Evil. The revelers of high society misinterpret Ruthven’s resistance to the attempted seductions of adulteresses as a sign of “his apparent hatred of vice” (29). Ruthven’s preoccupation with “those females who form the boast of their sex from their domestic virtues, as among those who sully it by their vices” (29) hints at his evil aim of transgressing Women’s Sexuality and Social Roles of Polidori’s time.