Lord Byron and Vampires

                The vampire myth has been part of human culture throughout recorded history. It has existed in different forms all over the world, predating ancient Egypt and continuing through to modern times. These legends have been incorporated into the lives of many humans and the main idea that comes from all of the stories remains similar to this, a creature that absorbs the life of another into itself through their blood. It is said that Lord Byron was one of the first authors to write about this creature, which has inspired the modern day vampire. During the Romantic period, a side-genre was produced and labeled gothic literature. It often explores the tormented condition of a creature between the extremes of faith and doubt, being and insignificance, love and hate- and suffering by an unknown guilt for some crime it cannot remember having committed. Such a description recalls the Byronic hero, a charming, seductive, privileged character with a devilish narcissism and desire to control. Coming from the Romantic roots was Dracula, which like many other characters, is directly linked with the Byronic hero.
                During the Romanticism era Lord Byron wrote a gothic novel that was extremely popular. This novel had many cursed heroes which had qualities that the devil would have, this appealed to many readers of the time, and continue to do so today. This particular gothic genre had distinct elements, among them the gothic villain, which the modern vampire characteristics are formed from. Byron through his works incorporated new characteristics to his villain that would eventually become known as the Byronic Hero.
                Byron’s poem “The Giaour” (1813) incorporates a character that has many vampire-like features. He has described the character to be handsome, passionate, bleak, cynical, dark, depressed, and mysterious. “The Giaour” contains similarities to stories like Dracula and other vampire literature. The poem centers on the hero’s love for a Muslim’s wife. Her husband throws her into the sea for her unfaithfulness, and the Giaour exacts his revenge. Before the Muslim dies, he places a curse of vampirism on the Giaour to make the Giaour suffer the loss of his love and the guilt of committing a murder.  These intertwining themes of love and guilt can be often found throughout the vampire legend, which was greatly inspired by Lord Byron.

The Adventures of Lord Byron

     Lord Byron was born 22 January 1788 in London and died 19 April 1824 in Missolonghi, Greece. He was among six of the most famous of English “Romantic” poets; in his time period Percy Shelly and John Keats were also revolutionizing Romanticism. His major works include Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-1818) and Don Juan (1819-1824).
     As a child, Lord Byron grew up with the name of George Noel Gordon. Having clubfoot, his mother, Catherine Gordon, took him to Aberdeen, Scotland, where they lived in temporary homes with a small income. George attended the local grammar school there. George inherited the title and estates of his “wicked” great-uncle at the age of ten. When George arrived at the estates located in England, he instantly fell in love with the spacious halls and the grounds of Newstead Abbey. While living there George was privately tutored in Nottingham and his foot was doctored by a quack named Lavender. John Hanson, Mrs. Byron’s attorney, rescued George from the harms of May Gray, his previous nurse, who was said to have made advances on him at only the age of nine, and also the tortures of Lavender and the uneven tempers of his mother. He took him to London where he received a brace for his foot, and in autumn of 1799 went to a school in Dulwich.
     In 1801 Byron went to Harrow, where his friendships with younger boys were said to have sparked his latter sexual ambivalence, which became more pronounced at Cambridge and letter in Greece. IN the summer of 1803, Byron came in contact with his distant cousin Mary Chaworth. When she became tired of George, he satisfied his grief by writing gloomy poetry and Mary became the symbol of idealized and unattainable love. When he achieved fame and became the darling of London society, Mary came to regret her rejection.
     After completing a term a Trinity College, Byron left school for a while and then returned in the summer of 1807 to the college he formed a close friendship with John Cam Hobhouse, who stirred his interest in Liberal Whiggism. In 1809 he took his seat in the House of Lords, published an anonymous satire, and embarked with Hobhouse on a grand tour. Byron returned from the grand tour to London on 14 July 1811, and his mother died August 1 before he could reach her at Newstead. At the beginning of March 1812, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage was published by John Murray and took the town by storm.
     September 1814, Byron proposed to Anne Isabella Milbanke. They were married on 2 January, 1815. Lady Byron gave birth to a daughter, Augusta Ada, on the 10 of December, and in January she left Byron with the child to visit her parents and had the intentions of never returning back home.
On 5 October, Byron and Hobhouse left for Italy. While on this journey, in the summer of 1818 Byron wrote Don Juan, one of his most famous poems. Byron sold Newstead Abbey and cleared most of his debts, but the money didn’t solve any of his problems. He sunk into depression and grew fat and looked a lot older than his years. He met 19 year old Teresa Guicciolo in April 1819, who was a married woman to a man almost three times her age. Teresa left her husband and stayed with Byron in Italy. After a few years had gone past and Byron on July 1823 embarked in the service and fell ill on 15 February, 1824 which left him very weak. Unfortunately he caught a violent cold that August and slipped into a coma and died April 19, 1824.

Lord Byron's Biography

Lord Byron was one of the most important figures of the Romantic Movement; a period when English Literature was full of virtuous heroes and themes of love and thriumph. Byron's work, active life, and physical beauty came to be considered the perfect image of the romantic poet-hero. He was born on January 22,1788 in London into a noble family and died on April 19,1824 in Missologhi, Greece. His father was captain "Mad Jack" Byron and his mother was Catherine Gordon. Byron was born with a birth defect known to be called clubfoot, it is a defect where he would walk using only the balls and toes of his feet, and he was highly sensitive about his deformity.To add on, Lord Byron discovered that he was attracted to both men and women in his early teens. His affection for both genders made him to live a seperate, secretive, and remote life in his youth. Lord Byron's childhood was full of play and adventures. Byron's names changed throughout his life, he was christened "George Gordon Byron" in London. Later on his father changed his own name to claim his wife's estate and took the surname "Gordon", but after this change Lord Byron called himself George Byron Gordon. His mother-in-law named Judith Noel died and in order for Byron to inherit half of her estate he had to changed his name once again, to Noel Byron. Even though Lord Byron was so popular throughout society, his bisexual relationships made him widely disliked.