Is the vampire we all know an energy vampire?
The vampire we all know is an archetype, he corresponds to the figure of the noble, educated, wealthy (or so it seems), and refined vampire who is dressed like a prince and possesses various powers such as the ability to transform into animals or hypnotize his victims. He is the charismatic and attractive vampire who seduces before feeding, who forms a bond with his victim before sucking him dry. This vampire is known as the “literary vampire” or “romantic vampire”. Before the literary vampire, the folkloric vampire of Eastern Europe could be described as a living dead, a “zombie” who attacked his neighbors and especially his own family.
The literary vampire originated on the same stormy night as the famous Frankenstein, the summer of 1816 in the infamous Villa Diodati. Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, and John W. Polidori, read horror stories while sheltering from the weather, set by the gloomy scenery of the villa, wine, and laudanum. That night they challenged each other to write stories as terrifying as those in the tales, so Polidori wrote “The Vampire”.
Lord Byron inspires Polidori's Vampire, and this is a recognized fact. In his work, he portrays the vampire as a character of the nobility who frequents the drawing rooms and surrounds himself with high society. This innovation in his vampire characterization served as inspiration for numerous later works, many authors of the time also wrote stories about vampires, with Bram Stocker's “Dracula” being the most popular. Later, the adaptations and versions of the literary vampire to the cinema would be innumerable.
Polidori was not a writer, but he aspired to become one in Byron's company, so he had accepted to be his physician, naively believing that he would be validating him. But Byron, at this time one of the greatest poets in England, never considered him an equal nor a friend, but rather a subordinate whom he constantly ridiculed and tormented. Thus, Polidori, resenting the rejection, wrote "The Vampire" as a sort of revenge. The Vampire becomes a satire on the public persona of Byron, whose bad reputation led to his exile from England.
Lord Byron's life before the creation of this story was that of a celebrity, acclaimed and deified because of his undeniable talent, quickly reaching the pinnacle of fame and then plummeting because of his scandalous social life. Lord Byron, from a noble family, represented the extravagant manners of the decadent aristocracy, was charming and good-looking, and had an admirable tongue, that is, a great ability to speak, a virtue that was, of course, only a reflection of his genius as a poet and writer.
In the novel “The Vampire”, Polidori deploys all his bitterness against Byron, and when he describes the vampire, he speaks of Byron as someone who; “possessed quirks and peculiarities that were appreciated by people beyond his social position or talent” he possessed a charisma capable of attracting others whether they were men or women. This magnetism eclipsed anyone he came across. The vampire or Byron, according to Polidori, was a monster who manipulated the people around him to involve them in all kinds of vices and perversion, these people then fell into a spiral of destruction that eventually led them to death or madness.
Byron himself claimed to be haunted by a terrible curse; to have ruined the lives of almost all his lovers, friends, and acquaintances, some because they had fallen into disgrace, others because they had ended up prematurely dead.
Polidori's fate was no different. He conceived the novel as a rebuke of Byron, and at the same time as a cry of despair, for in it, he announced his disgrace. Being associated with Byron, the novel caused a great stir and immediate success that turned against him. Polidori is accused of plagiarism (although Byron himself publicly denies his authorship) and there was little he could do about it, so the first editions bore Byron's name indelibly. This seals the tragedy of Polidori, who commits suicide at the age of 25, unaware of the success of his novel, in what seemed a form of escape from his gambling and drinking debts.
Polidori's vampire created the modern archetype of the vampire, but this monster drew inspiration from the perversity of a real person. The fact that the villain is a vampire is almost accidental. Polidori portrays a character who appears charming and interesting, but whose real intentions are to take advantage of others. This vampire establishes vampiric relationships before becoming a bloodsucker.
The vampire has been defined as one who feeds on the life energy of another to survive. Blood represents vital energy or life; metaphorically speaking, life is absorbed or drained. So, when we speak of the vampire, we think of a blood-sucking monster. But 'vampire' also refers to someone who drains others' energy with their behavior.
Lavey coined the term "psychic vampire" to define a person who lacks emotional or spiritual strength and drains the life energy of others to survive. The vampire does not live a life of its own, so it seeks to parasite or occupy the lives of its victims. The vampire is undead: a way of saying it is neither alive nor dead. It feeds on others because it is empty. It has nothing (good) to give, but it takes or drains the life energy represented by blood.
The term psychic (emotional or energy) vampire is not a clinical term or diagnosis, it is a concept used by psychologists and authors to describe the behaviors and attitudes that these people display towards others. Real vampires are certainly not monsters or the living dead, they are generally people who suffer from personality disorders, have unresolved trauma, or were victims of abuse or neglect and therefore tend to develop energy vampire attitudes.
Energy vampires can be easily identified according to Judith Orloff ‘Relationships are always an exchange of energy’ You recognize that you are in a vampire relationship because you only give and the other receives, there is no reciprocity. This applies to all known types of energy vampires, the best known being the narcissistic personality vampire, but they all have characteristics in common as listed below:
*The energy vampire is egocentric; redirects all attention to him/herself.
*He is charismatic and charming; he is more sympathetic, kinder, or more cheerful than others. Praises and compliments you.
*It is brilliant and witty; It seems to possess virtues and talents that others do not have.
*It is a seducer; it attracts people to the point of ‘hypnotizing’ them with their way of speaking or with their looks.
The energy vampire may appear as a victim to manipulate, or as someone of superior talent to impress. Energy vampires may believe that rules do not apply to them because they are special. They take advantage of others for their interests. They may feel entitled to do whatever they want, but their lack of empathy hurts those close to them, sometimes to the point of destroying their lives.
What seems to be common to the real vampire and the literary vampire is its charisma, its ability to instill love and affection, and its capacity to seduce. Somehow this makes them hard to kill, unlike other monsters. Arguably, its charisma is its most powerful weapon (apart from its fangs). But it is not only its ability to attract, but it also exploits the weakness of its victims by knowing how to recognize in them a tendency or a weakness. The vampire knows how to conquer (not only the sense of romantic love) and thus creates a bond that is difficult to break. The vampire becomes so dear and essential to the victim that it is painful to decide to abandon them, or metaphorically to ‘put a stake through their heart’.
But was Lord Byron an energy vampire? Reading his biography one can find clues that fit the description of an energy vampire. He is said to have been abused as a child, and this seems to have influenced his tumultuous sex life. His personality sketch abounds with details that reveal his vampiric charisma, some of his acquaintances agree that he was a dangerous person, but not all agree that Lord Byron was completely evil. No human being can be completely evil or fit the different prototypes of energy vampires, but it is safe to say that at least one person is known to fit the profile of an energy vampire.
The literary vampire only exists in novels and films as a metaphor for the real vampire that lives among us. It is the human being who discovers himself as the vampire who drains the life (or blood) of others to fill his emptiness. You have probably come across one of these vampires, maybe you are being drained by one right now, or maybe you are a real vampire yourself. Did you recognize the vampire in others or yourself?
Bibliography
- Polidori, J. (1819). The vampire, a tale. Global Grey ebooks.
- McCarthy, F. (2002). Byron: Life and Legend. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- McDonald, D.C. (1991). Poor Polidori. University of Toronto Press.
- Lavey. A. (1969). The Satanic Bible. William Morrow Paperbacks.
- Bernstein, A. J. (2001). Emotional vampires. Mc Graw-Hill.
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