Byron and Polidori John Polidori's Essay

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Giaour is cursed to be a vampire as punishment, while Ruthven seems to revel in the power and the role this gives him. He also describes women as adulteresses and worse and treats them as fodder for his needs on every level. Aubrey notes this and does not like it, but he also does not manage to escape from the man or his way of life. In the end, his own sister is destroyed by this man, just as was Ianthe and countless others.

Of course, Giaour also indulges in illicit sex with Leila, certainly illicit in the Muslim social order, though it would be in Europe as well. Leila's relationship with Hassan would also be seen as illicit in Europe, though, which is why Byron makes the point of noting that this sort of arrangement was more common in the past than it is in his own time. In addition, there is the same hint of homosexual bonding between Giaour and Hassan through Leila, the woman both men want, and Polidori could have taken this from the poem as well. Polidori actually uses the pattern more than once, for Aubrey manages to protect a girl in Rome when Ruthven is after her, at which time he leaves for a time. The two men in this way seem to be engaged in a dance, with the women objects of their desire and alternately protected or ravished, depending on who is stronger.

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The sister becomes the object of Ruthven's desire, and the brother wants to protect her but cannot. This final triangle results in the death of both Aubrey and his sister, while the vampire continues living and corrupting others. Where Giaour is cursed with having to live on and make other suffer, Ruthven shows no desire to stop and seems rather than revel in making others suffer, as if that were his right. Again, he seems more like Hassan in this regard than Giaour.

As noted, the pattern set by Polidori for Ruthven would become the norm for the vampire in fiction after this time, with Dracula being a major example. Dracula has the same appearance as Ruthven and the same aristocratic bearing, and he also corrupts others and does not see himself as suffering from a curse. He is also involved in the same sort of triangle as Ruthven.

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