The evolution of the moral conscience in the vampire figure

Abstract

The vampire figure is one of the oldest and most insidious figures in Gothic Literature. In recent years it has made abundant appearances in film, television and other media. The vampire figure has proven to be an extraordinary flexible motif, serving as an icon for a broad range of philosophical, social, cultural and political attitudes, among both authors and filmmakers. In an attempt to trace the evolution of the moral conscience in the vampire figure, I will be examining how the vampire offers a prehistory of moral conscience by figuring both political oppression and resistances to this oppression, in particular through the oppositional stance to the reign of Capitalism. I will then focus on the rise of Vegetarianism from the eighteenth century into the early twentieth century and its effects on the ethics of consumption and the moralization of food, in relation to social class hierarchies. The next step will be to shed light on the classic vampire figures in films such as Nosferatu and Dracula by bringing into focus the vampire as a figure of consumption. This focus will provide a contrast with the vampire in modern films such as Blade and Interview with the Vampire, which address the question of moral conscience and the reason behind its sudden mutation throughout the 1990s. Finally, I will focus on the fluctuating moral conscience displayed by the vampire figure in the twenty-first century in films such as The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I, thus shedding light on its distinctive qualities which are incarnated in the major shift from the previously displayed moral conscience into a desire to join the human race with all its consumption habits, which would lead to questioning the actual existence of moral conscience in the vampire figure, and what state has it reached in very recent years. My thesis will investigate the development of moral conscience in the vampire figure and map how it goes through a series of changes: from a figure of fierce revolt against Capitalism, to a symbol of extreme moral c