The vampires of nineteenth-century melodrama.
Item
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Title
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The vampires of nineteenth-century melodrama.
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Identifier
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AAI9325152
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identifier
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9325152
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Creator
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Stuart, Roxana.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Daniel Gerould
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Date
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1993
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Theater | Cinema
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Abstract
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This study examines the thematic use of the vampire figure in French, English, and American melodrama from 1820 to 1897, and follows the development of the vampire theme in twentieth-century stage and film adaptations of Dracula, tracing their origins to the practices and conventions of nineteenth-century gothic melodrama.;The dissertation begins with a survey of early vampire literature broken into four categories: folklore, German Sturm und Drang, gothic novels, and English Romantic poetry; this section traces the origins of the vampire prototype.;Many important figures of nineteenth-century English and French theatre were involved with plays concerning vampires: Charles Nodier, Eugene Scribe, James Robinson Planche, Alexandre Dumas pere, Dion Boucicault, and Gilbert and Sullivan, as well as many of the leading actors, designers, and composers of the century. About forty plays are examined in this study; the principal works are melodramas, but the vampire theme was also treated in tragedy, opera, operetta, ballet, burlesque, farce, burletta, extravaganza, and satire. The plays are evenly distributed through the century, so that a study of each production in sequence provides a useful look at theatre practices, as well as social and psychological insight into the age, and into popular taste as reflected in the changing persona with which each period and culture endows the vampire. The approach is primarily from the viewpoint of literary criticism, but includes production history as well.;The conclusion compares the two major archetypes, Lord Ruthven and Count Dracula, and discusses the cycles of plays as they reveal changing tastes in mass entertainment, and reflect public reaction to historical events, and evolving patterns of sadism, misogyny, and xenophobia as the century drew to a close. As a literary and theatrical image, the vampire starts well and ends badly, evolving from the subliminal sexual symbolism of the Romantic poets, and descending to a cliche of popular commercial culture, becoming, through overuse and familiarity, almost a comic figure for this more knowing age.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
