Joyce Jenkins

Here I will expound upon how the vampire tale is undoubtedly a sub-genre

of the Gothic Genre. I will also attempt to tackle the tricky question of

whether the vampire tale falls within the subsection of the terror gothic or

the horror gothic. In order to emphasize my points and observations I will

refer to two scenes in the short story appropriately titled The Vampire, by

John Polidori.

In the Vampire several elements of the Gothic are readily discernible. More

so in this tale because it is so short, succinct and rather straightforward.

The protagonist, a young orphaned Englishman named Aubrey enters the

cosmopolitan scenes of London and crosses paths with Lord Ruthven, a ruthless

vampire, who despite his insipid, dead personality and pallor, excites a

certain sense of morbid wonderment in young Aubrey. Eventually Aubrey goes...