Blood spirits : a Jungian approach to the vampire myth

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the vampire motif using the psychological framework of C. G. Jung, which suggests that the vampire is an expression of archetypal contents from the collective unconscious, and that vampire narratives are variations on the theme of Self. Having established the reasons why analytical psychology is a particularly suitable approach for investigating this kind of popular phenomenon, the examination of the vampire motif falls into three main areas. Dicounters with Shadow Vampires looks at vampires which display characteristics particularly associated with the shadow archetype. This section begins with an examination of the vampire in folklore, with particular attention to the Eastern European vampire, making a careful distinction between the vampire of folklote and the later vampire of Romantic literature. A modern example of this kind of vampire imagery is explored in the film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horrors (1922). Encounters With Animus Vampires is a three part investigation of the vampire as an expression of the contrasexual archetype. The first, Creation: Origins qf the Modern Pampire, concentrates on the male vampire created by the Romantics. The second, Evohilion: Dracula the Novel, is a Jungian reading of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. The third, Elaboration: Dracula the Movies, shows how the novel has been altered in the numerous film versions of that novel in a way which relates very closely to the prevailing culture of the time. Underworld Quests, is a two part examination of the quest'myth structures of more recent vampire films: The Lost Bgys and Near Dar (both from 1987) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). These are examples which particularly foreground this structure and where vampires, as contents from the unconscious, are read as heralding a new ofientation or possibility for the mortal hero.