Women in 21st century vampire literature are either considered Bellas, Sookies or Elenas—and even then, most female characters are not even vampires themselves, but a vampire’s girlfriend. However, readers can look back on a rich history of fanged ladies who haunted their victims before the high-school beauties were born into mainstream vampire literature.

Before male vampire domination placed women on the side lines, vampire ladies ruled both literature and folklore all over the world. Humans had an innate respect for all things female that were mysterious, and even sacred to them. Raphael Patai in The Hebrew Goddess observes that “The family was ruled by the mother, the people by queens, and the heavens by goddesses,” ¹ which means naturally, monsters were female too. The reasons for unusual occurrences throughout the world were often traced to a female fiend: the vampiress of folklore and legend. Various examples in Melton’s The Vampire Book show that vampires are used as a vessel to explain adverse events during childbirth and sudden or violent deaths. ² Because sudden deaths could befall anyone, the resulting vampire culprit could be male or female, be of any age, and belong to any social status. However, people would more commonly encounter pregnancies and birth complications and therefore it made perfect sense that there was more female vampire representation in folkloric reports.

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First of all, there was the danger that women would die giving birth, something that changed only recently, and mainly only in Western societies. Most folkloric cultures believed that women who died in childbirth could turn into vampires and that their restless spirits would haunt and endanger other women during their pregnancies. Additionally, when children died during birth, their mothers were rumored to turn into vampires out of grief. These creatures would then attack other women’s babies in their sleep, draining the children of blood and energy, causing them to slowly wither away; these two types are the more common vampiresses. These vampiresses are known as somewhat reactionary characters, taking revenge for the pain they’ve experienced throughout life. Later iterations of the character focus on the woman’s beauty as the main feature of being a vampire, enabling her to attract young men in hopes of drinking their blood.

People feared the far more active character of the succubus in general and the figure of Lilith in particular. The succubus is a creature that attacked men as well as children. She is a divine being (as opposed to a human who turned into a vampiress) and she is the very embodiment of male supremacy at risk. Lilith is commonly known as a figure from Hebrew legends. Lilith origins begin in the Bible through the lack of her presence. There is a discrepancy in the creation myth. Genesis I: 27 states;

however, Genesis II: 18 and 22 says that

Because there were contradictions in Lilith’s creation myth, different theories regarding her origin were created to try and explain to those who took the Bible literally. ⁴ One theory states that Adam was initially perfect, just like God—who himself is aphysical and combines male and female gender features. Therefore, Adam must have possessed male and female characteristics to be perfectly balanced and faultless like God. Later, God turned Adam into the first human by separating the male from the female part and Eve was created.

Another theory asserts Lilith’s existence as being the first wife to Adam. As his helper in Eden, she was formed , like Adam, out of dust. While Adam considered her one of the beasts and therefore inferior, Lilith considered herself as an equal to him and therefore demanded rights that Adam was not willing to give. A quote from Graves/Patai’s Hebrew Myth supports that view of equality:

Adam and Lilith never found peace together; for when he wished to lie with her, she took offence at the recumbent posture he demanded. “Why must I lie beneath you?” she asked. “I also was made from dust, and am therefore your equal.” Because Adam tried to compel her obedience by force, Lilith, in rage, uttered the magic name of God, rose into the air and left him. ⁵

The Alphabet of Ben Sira tell us that Lilith fled the Garden of Eden, refusing to return even at the threat of her children dying by the hundreds every day. Lilith becomes the mother of succubus/incubus creatures. Some writings speak of Lilith herself becoming a succubus.

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Lilith’s existence introduces new characteristics to the succubus creature. The succubus attacks at night and leaves the victim exhausted but is not associated with blood. Lilith, however, is described as a succubus-like creature that sucks specifically young men’s blood during the attack, giving us one of the earliest combinations of vampirism and expression of sexuality. Men attacked by Lilith lose both semen and blood, leaving them twice as exhausted. Lilith, as a promiscuous female archetype, is dangerous to others in more than one respect. She seduces men to sin and drains them of their life energy. She takes revenge on men while they are asleep, when the subconscious dominates their dreams—deep down in their subconscious lives a secret yearning for a passionate woman.

All of the above made Lilith a key figure for Jewish feminists in the Twentieth century, with a feminist magazine aimed at Jewish women stating, “When we struggle for equality of woman and man and see Lilith as the personification of that struggle, we are part of this tradition of returning to the source.” ⁶ Lilith is not just an independent woman or just a male fantasy, but instead is an intentional monstrous vampire. Now the question lies of what remains of the monstrous, beautiful, uncompromising vampiress of folklore in 21st century fiction?

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In Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles we find not only Lestat and Louis, but also the women in their lives: Akasha, Gabrielle and Claudia. They are the personified three aspects of the primal goddess: Claudia as the demonic child is the virgin, Gabrielle as the cold mother is just that, and Akasha, as mother of all vampires, is the witch. All three characters are women of a new millennium in vampirism. All three are strong women that rule their own worlds. The social restrictions of the eras these women were born in do not apply to them; descriptions, such as daughter, mother or queen, don’t define any of them. For Claudia, vampirism enforces an eternal victim role upon her. No matter how experienced and strong-willed she becomes, she will always look like a child and be treated as such by others. She doesn’t even have a voice of her own, as the reader only sees her through Louis and Lestat’s eyes. ⁷ Claudia, however, never pictures herself as a victim—only humans can be victims to her. She doesn’t remember being human and vampirism is her very nature, she never questions it and uncompromisingly demands her place in the world. Claudia shows her vampire ancestry in her choice of victims, as she prefers to drain women and children. Claudia is also known a seductress, but she doesn’t hunt human men but instead accepts only vampires as equals, and therefore works her charms on Louis, who is hopelessly devoted to her. Yet Louis, similar to traditional patriarchal figures, can’t accept this independent woman he has no control over, fearing her uncompromising nature. Claudia is not allowed to change the world to suit her needs. She is not allowed to live.

Claudia shows her power twice: once in killing Lestat and then by making Madeline her new companion to replace Louis. Despite her child physical form, she is perfectly capable of killing an adult male vampire and does so without remorse. Madeleine, the dollmaker, helps Claudia in creating surroundings to match her size. Yet, the precise moment when Claudia’s world changes shape to fit her, when she is at her most content, adult male vampires condemn her to burn in the sun, proving that the world dominated by a vampiress cannot exist.

Gabrielle, Lestat’s human mother, is essentially a grown-up version of Claudia. Not only are their looks similarly described, but they also share the natural attitude towards vampirism. While all the male vampires in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles long for their human pasts, women are liberated by vampirism. They shed their human lives the moment they are turned. Gabrielle is as independent and uncompromising as Claudia, killing her human victims methodically without remorse. Yet, Gabrielle is allowed to live. The reason for Gabrielle’s survival is simple: she doesn’t interfere with worldly affairs. She chooses to live in the eternal surroundings of nature where humans do not venture. Thus, she is no threat. The price of her eternal independence is giving up a significant role within human society. Her self-willed isolation allows her control over her own life, but she is not allowed to change the world.

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Changing the world is exactly what the character Akasha attempts to do. Akasha is, like Lilith, the mother of demons that plague humanity. The Vampire Queen is the most uncompromising feminist, using her deadly power to kill men on a massive scale to create a world built and exclusively run by women, which is a world she has been waiting thousands of years to create and see flourish. Keeping only few men to ensure future generations, she envisions a less violent society as a result of the men being gone.

The vampiress is divinely monstrous: having outgrown even the need for blood, she is truly immortal and not even sunlight can burn her. Humanity wouldn’t stand a chance against her rule. Yet, the vampires fear her and will not let her rise and rule again. It takes several ancient vampires, some barely younger than Akasha, but together they succeed in destroying her. The only feminist feature of their victory is that Akasha is destroyed by another vampiress.

Despite all her power, Akasha’s weakness lies in herself; she claims a male consort for herself. She needs Lestat. Although he is unable to influence her directly, it is this very weakness that brings her own destruction, allowing her destroyers—other female vampires protecting their human families—to catch her by surprise. Like Lilith of legend, Akasha is a threat to the human children of a vampiress who found fulfilment in motherhood. It is the mother, not the vampiress, that opposes the divine rule. The almighty Queen of Heaven is stopped by the Victorian angel of the house, ⁸ literally living forever to care for her children. The limitlessly fantastic world is reined in by the limitations of family and we never learn what Akasha’s feminist utopia would look like. Once again, women and vampires who would change the world are not allowed to survive in it.

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The concept of family that is the destruction of Akasha is even more prominent in vampire series’ such as the Vampire Diaries, Twilight and True Blood. It’s safe to say that Anne Rice started a trend for modern vampire literature in humanizing vampires. They are part of human society; different but not so very unlike their human neighbors. As more vampire literature produced by women arises, the narrators of these stories are more commonly women, and significantly all narrators are human at the beginning of their stories. However, although protagonists are transformed into vampires as the story progresses and each of them are bitten at some point, they are far from being claimed as victims.

Elena, Bella, and Sookie are modern age super women in vampire narratives. They are far removed from their vampiric ancestry and rather than being a threat to children, as Lilith was, they are in fact über-mothers, protecting their human and vampire families alike. They are all independent women who can apparently fulfill all traditional roles and expectations of being a woman at the same time too. They have jobs, attend school, take care of families, date vampire boyfriends, sort out vampire vendettas and, despite all that, they look beautiful, are pleasant people, perfect hostesses, and can cook.

The world that would so easily be destroyed by male vampire battles is kept safe by these women. At the same time, they are strong heroines who get what they want. However, a contrary example is in the Twilight series where Bella agrees to marry Edward before having sex, but even that agreement becomes a tool for Bella in achieving her goal of becoming a vampire herself.

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Edward is an old-fashioned patriarch and tries everything to prevent Bella’s becoming a vampire, while the change is most natural for Bella; far more so than getting married or having children initially. The vampire motif used in this narrative is clearly used to suggest a sexually aggressive woman as in traditional Gothic novels. ⁹ As soon as Bella’s wish for sexuality is fulfilled, there is no stopping her transformation into a vampire. The human girl was the virgin victim but the sexual woman is automatically a vampire.

Family, rather than being the instrument of oppression, becomes the sphere these women control. They keep order within the family unit and protect it against external threats. They don’t need to venture outside for adventures and they don’t need to isolate themselves to control their lives. Their families not only provide them with purpose, but they also give them control too. On the surface, the heroines appear reactionary characters, as other reincarnations of the Victorian angel of the house. ¹⁰ It is true that these female vampires do not affect global matters, nor do they ever attempt to, and that is rather disappointing.

Yet, the new vampiress is uncompromising in her own way. She is finally a woman who doesn’t have to choose between family and independence. She can do both and do both well. Elena, Bella and Sookie fight relentlessly to defend their loved ones and still don’t allow their vampire boyfriends to pay the bill. They are sexual women that are still good mothers. They are not limitless fantastical creatures; then again they lead near human lives that seem to require superhuman skill to maintain.

The following question is then raised: Is there a world-changing, earth-shattering vampire queen in today’s literature? No. But has today’s literature produced a strong, independent heroine women can be proud of? Yes.

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Endnotes

1. ^{[Return to Article]} VPatai, Raphael, The Hebrew Goddess. Wayne State University Press, 1990, p. 24.
2. ^{[Return to Article]} Melton, J. Gordon, The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Visible Ink Press, 1999.
3. ^{[Return to Article]}
4. ^{[Return to Article]} Patai, p. 26.
5. ^{[Return to Article]} Graves, Robert, and Raphael Patai. Hebrew Myths. Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1964, p. 65-69.
6. ^{[Return to Article]} Cantor-Zuckoff, Aviva, "The Lilith Question." Lilith Magazine, 1976. Accessed Online
7. ^{[Return to Article]} Auerbach, Nina, Our Vampires, Ourselves. University of Chicago Press,1995, p. 154-155.
8. ^{[Return to Article]} Auerbach, Nina. Woman and the Demon: The Life of a Victorian Myth. Harvard University Press, 1982.
9. ^{[Return to Article]} Koenen, Anne. iVisions of Doom, Plots of Power. Vervuert, 1999, p. 233.
10. ^{[Return to Article]} Auerbach, 1982.