Emily Monette

Mrs. Redding
English 1101
4 march 2016
The Contrast between Vampires and Mermaids

These two essays explain logic and origin of the purpose of the monsters. The authors
tell the mythical fiction stories and relate them to our reality making us feel extremely intrigued.
Although Sky Alexanders Mermaids Attributes, Behavior, and Environs essay and J.
Gordon Meltons Sexuality and the Vampire essay both relate sexually and share mythical
views , the difference lies in the outlook of their appearance and behavior, which bears
examination because of the way we relate to them, and how the creatures intrigue us.
J. Gordon Meltons article Sexuality and the Vampire focuses on the individual
sexuality of a male vampire and how understanding the appeal of the vampires sexual nature. A
Vampire as seen today and years ago has a thirst for human blood, stays in the shadows, has pale
white skin, and is immortal. Gordons supports his writing by discovering the origin of the myth.
He talks about how the story Dracula started it all, but today it is hidden from literature about
what the meaning behind the vampire really means. The male vampire was believed to have
such an intense sexual drive that his sexual need alone was sufficient to bring him back from the
grave.(Gordon 204) This quote explains to readers how the appearance of the male vampire is
so attractive, that one touch irresistibly consumes the preys body. Like the vampire, a mermaid
uses a siren song to lure men in. Mermaids and Vampires are not so much different as they are
alike What these two creatures have in common is the ability to love. Gordons essay shows his

audience the evolution of the vampire era and how the sensation of the thrill came to be. From
Dracula, modern time, to the era of love, the vampire to Gordons point of view is dramatic
and relatable to his readers. Making us imagine the story created by each induvial author of the
story. Gordon relates his article by giving an example using the story Hotel Transylvania by
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. St. Germaine emerged not as monster but as a man with moral like
humans St. Germaine was portrayed to be intellect, and to have captivating sensuality. St.
Germaine could fall in love. Now the truth is I felt unaccountably toward the beautiful stranger.
I did feel, as she did, drawn towards her, but there was also something of repulsion. In this
ambiguous feeling, however, the sense of attraction immensely prevailed. She interested and won
me; she was so beautiful and so indescribably engaging. ( Le Fanu 205) This quote shows how
the vampire is so in love with human being proving that love goes beyond death. Like humans
Gordon explains how the evolution of the appearance of vampires evolved to be more like us.
The vampire became unhidden from the shadows and was known to be a beautiful majestic
creature. Like the vampire mermaids over time came to be less frightful creatures making them
capable of emotions making them more human and relatable. Their behavior was mysterious,
making its victims so interested in knowing more about the creature, while stories were told to
stay away from the siren of the mermaids or you would meet death. What I expected to learn
from reading this essay is why we were so sexually drawn to these creatures, Gordon brought
detail and evidence to his article so well that his point was clear and my questions were
answered.
Compared to J. Gordon Meltons essay Sky Alexanders essay Mermaids Attributes,
Behavior, and Environs focusses on the symbolism of mermaids, the good or evil and fortune or
misfortune. Alexander describes the mermaids to have a unique mythical appearance. Compared

to vampires mermaids are envisioned to have long fishy tails and human torsos. The origin of
the mermaid came to be by trade routes expanding and seaman journeyed far and wide, sharing
fish stories all over the world. Immigrants coming here and there made the mermaid story a
legend. The Mermaids Alexander describes were beautiful like the vampire but were not
immortal and did not have pale skin. Mermaids ate fish or other aquatic creatures and lived their
lives in water, and didnt have the thirst for human blood like the vampire. In Gordons essay the
vampire cannot see his reflection in the mirror while a mermaid is said devote a lot of time to
personal grooming. Mermaids, it seems, are as changeable as the seaserene one moment and
tumultuous the next. (Alexander 233) Alexanders writes the tale of evil and the good qualitys
a mermaid is believed to have. Mermaids are said to have mesmerizing singing that sailors who
hear it go wild with delight and jump from their boats into sea and drown. Like the vampire
mermaids have their way of luring their prey by a sexual sense the victim has when possessed
by their sexual powers. The odyssey is an example that he uses to support his writing. Odysseus
is warned about the sirens powers, but then finds himself to his ships mast and his sailors put
wax in their ears to avoid the enchantresses songs. The mermaids werent seen to be killing
monsters in the Caribbean, the people there believed the mermaids to be good fortune. Stories
were told how the mermaids had the ability to heal the sick. Alexanders purpose to writing his
essay was clear and understanding. I learned that stories were told about a good fortune people
believed to be mermaids to be when I thought they just were a symbol to scare the sailors.
Between both essays vampires and mermaids are both mythical creatures whom are a value to
us because they each have never ending imaginable stories that are written or still being written.
The mermaid and the vampire both are creatures that we humans find interesting. They
both relate to us but we make them a creature that we fear, but over the years made their stories a

little less frightful. Although Sky Alexanders Mermaids Attributes, Behavior, and Environs
essay and J. Gordon Meltons Sexuality and the Vampire essay both relate sexual and share
mythical ways, the difference lies in the outlook of their appearance and behavior, which bears
examination because they relate and make us feel deeper emotions that intrigue us. Gordon and
Alexander both talked about how these creatures evolved from being a monster to a creature that
is more relatable to our reality. The Little Mermaid and Twilight are my examples of their belief.
I agree with the both them. They are both creatures now capable of love. The greatest influence
in life is love I believe, and both authors shared examples to the audience to help them
understand the evolution of both creatures. Both essays relate sexual and share mythical ways,
the difference lies in the outlook of their appearance and behavior and both authors I feel did a
great job in portraying their each purpose. The vampire and mermaids share the same behavior
when it comes to their prey through sexual appeal, but the outlook we have seen for years is
changing on how we understand these mythical creatures, because they are becoming less
frightful creatures.

Work Cited
Monsters, Andrew J. Hoffman , San Diego Mesa College (ISBN 978-1-4576-9030-3)