Varney the Vampire: Difference between revisions

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| title = Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood
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| image = Varney the Vampire or the Feast of Blood.jpg
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| author =
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| genre = Gothic horror
| publication date = 1847
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{{quote|''"The figure turns half round, and the light falls upon its face. It is perfectly white -- perfectly bloodless. The eyes look like polished tin; the lips are drawn back, and the principal feature next to those dreadful eyes is the teeth -- the fearful looking teeth"''|From Chapter I}}
 
''[[Added Alliterative AppealAlliteration|Varney the Vampire]], or, The Feast of Blood'' by James Malcolm Rymer<ref>published anonymously and attributed by some scholars to Thomas Preskett Prest</ref> was one of the original vampire penny dreadfuls (c. 1845-47).
 
It's a [[Vampires Are Sex Gods|bodice-ripper]] with 220 chapters<ref>nearly 667,000 words (longer than [[War and Peace]]!)</ref> of riveting Victorian Gothic horror and one hell of an ending!
 
''Varney'' was an enormous influence on [[Vampire Fiction|later vampire literature]], such as ''[[Dracula (Literaturenovel)|Dracula]]'' (1897) by Bram Stoker. Many of today's standard vampire tropes originated with Varney: Varney has fangs, [[Vampire Bites Suck|leaves two puncture wounds on the necks of his victims]], has hypnotic powers, and has superhuman strength. Unlike later fictional vampires, he is able to go about in daylight and has no particular fear or loathing of crosses or garlic. He can eat and drink in human fashion as a form of disguise, but he points out that human food and drink do not agree with him. His vampirism seems to be a fit that comes on him when his vital energy begins to run low; he is [[Every Man|a regular person]] between feedings.
 
Varney is also the first example of the "sympathetic vampire," a vampire who hates his night job but is a slave to it nevertheless -- a theme which has become popular in modern vampire fiction. Varney's conflict eventually leads him to drastic action.
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The entire text of ''Varney the Vampire'' is available [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/PreVarn.html for free online].
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{{tropelist}}
=== Provides examples of: ===
* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: How Mrs. Bannerworth happened to choose ne'er-do-well Mr. Bannerworth as a husband.
* [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome]]: At the beginning of the novel, the Bannerworth family has three children -- Henry, Flora, and George -- but George is never mentioned again after Chapter 36.
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* [[Either or Title]]
* [[Fangs Are Evil]]: Varney was the first fictional vampire to have fangs.
* [[I Do Not Drink... Wine]]: The fact that Varney doesn't drink wine provides a clue early on that he is a vampire.
* [[Insane Admiral]]: Admiral Bell, while protective of his family and a generally decent guy, acts like a complete lunatic in most situations.
* [[Kill It Withwith Fire]]: Necessary to destroy a vampire.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: The rules of vampirism are quite different both from legend and modern vampire fiction. In particular, the idea that vampires can be healed by moonlight is almost never used in later works.
* [[Phantasy Spelling]]: "Vampire" is sometimes spelled "vampyre." Justified, as the word was a neologism to English at the time, and had no established spelling or pronunciation.
* [[Skepticism Failure]]: Chillingworth plays this role, both with regard to the vampire and the literal interpretation of the Bible
* [[Trope MakersMaker]]: It introduced most of the modern vampire concepts like hypnotic ability, super strength, puncture wounds from fang bites, and going crazy if a long time pass without feeding. Also a reluctant one. Stoker was inspired quite a bit by it.
* [[Writers Cannot Do Math]]: A sort of meta example: a bunch of chapters are misnumbered because the writer lost count.
* [[You Sexy Beast]]: Varney.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Vampire Fiction]]
[[Category:NineteenthLiterature Centuryof Literaturethe 19th century]]
[[Category:Trope Makers]]
[[Category:Varney The Vampire]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Varney The Vampire{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]