Vampire

Leaving all the assignments aside, I watched the movie Twilight today. When the heroine, Bella, opened the book about the Cullen family’s history, these words “cold-skinned”, “speed”, “undead”, “immortal drank” rushed to her mind. Finally, the truth was open wide to her. Edward, a member of the Cullen family, turned out to be a vampire. Although the movie challenges the traditional interpretations on bloodsucker and unexpectedly tells us a love story between a girl and a vampire, it arouses my interest in the culture of vampire.

Vampire is a famous monster in the western world but it was in an embarrassing situation, because it is not a god, nor a devil, nor a man, it seems like a group which have been deserted by the God.

The opinions about the origin of vampire are widely varied. Here are the two main views:
1. Cain, he was cursed by the God for killing his brother;
2. Judas, he betrayed Jesus to the enemies and committed suicide due to his feeling of deep regret. It is said that God did not allow him to die and punished him with forever loneliness. That is why the vampire is always keeping secret and being lonely.

Vampire has its typical characteristics and abilities. According to the movies and information from literary sources, I have made a summary of the following points:
1. Vampires do not have shadow. It is because they are considered to be bodies without souls or spirits.
2. Vampires have fangs, which are used to drink blood. In ordinary circumstance, they will not bare their fangs.
3. Vampires can transform to not only bats but hares, mice or even frog. Wherever a vampire goes, it will be surrounded by the vampire bats. Indeed, vampire bats were only integrated into vampire folklore when they were discovered on the South African mainland in the 16th century.
4. Graveyard and coffins are the haunt of vampires. Vampires are generally considered to be fear of the light, so during daylight, they will hide themselves in the coffins or graves and become a corpse.
Vampire usually has its own castle and they are aristocrats themselves, and they are in black formal dress with pale skin, bright red lips, amazing speed and strength.

Recently I read a piece of news that Italian archaeologist found a female skeleton whose mouth is filled with a brick in Venice Tumulus. After a further research, it is concluded that the skeleton is a fascinating and horrifying “Vampire” corpse. What is more, the true worth of this discovery is demonstrated when the skeleton show a picture in the middle Ages. In 1576 when she was buried, the Black Plague ravaged Italy. During the 16th century, it was popularly believed that vampire was the route of infection. As a result, “vampire” suspect’s corpses would be filled with bricks and something inedible into their mouth to avoid them to rebirth. This discovery is a strong evidence to defend the report above.

One of my classmates chipped me about studying such lousy and disgusting things, but I do not care. On the contrary, I think this reflects a social problem. Most disadvantageous group is still subjected to discrimination. In fact, according to the scientific research, vampire is just an inherited disease and the patients suffer more than what we can imagine. However, the way we human treated them is dreadfully savage. Compare to vampires, sometimes human nature is crueler.