Summary
One winter in London, an intriguing man known as Lord Ruthven begins to appear at the parties of the English noblemen. Ruthven is "more remarkable for his singularities, than his rank." He has a "deadly hue" and a "dead grey" gaze. He seems entirely absorbed in himself and is generally dismissive of others around him. He inspires awe in everyone he meets and is invited to many homes. He provokes attraction in many women, who unsuccessfully seek his attention.
At the same time as Ruthven arrives in London so does a man named Aubrey. Aubrey is a wealthy orphan with an only sister. He is romantic, handsome, vain, and impractical. He uses his wild, creative imagination far more than he uses his judgment. "He thought…that the dreams of poets were the realities of life."
When Aubrey arrives in London, many women flatter him. They do so because he is handsome and wealthy, but this leads Aubrey to develop false ideas about his talent and merit. Eventually, Aubrey understands that the romantic literature he loves has no basis in or resemblance to reality. He is about to let go of his dreams and take another path when he meets Lord Ruthven and becomes fascinated with him.
Aubrey is intrigued by how elusive Ruthven is, and how entirely absorbed in himself he appears to be. With his active imagination, Aubrey creates an extravagant idea of Ruthven in his head that takes the place of the real man in front of him. Aubrey learns that Ruthven plans to travel through Europe and he obtains the permission of his guardians to accompany him. Ruthven also grants Aubrey his approval, and the two leave England together.
As they travel, Aubrey learns more of Ruthven’s character. Ruthven is a great giver of charity. However, he bestows his charity only on people who are vicious, lustful, and extravagant. Ruthven rudely sends away the good, virtuous people who must beg due to their misfortunes. Moreover, Aubrey is shocked to find that anyone who receives Ruthven’s charity ends up cursed. Aubrey also learns that Ruthven is an avid gambler. Ruthven always gambles successfully, except when he plays against a cheater, in which case he loses.
In general, Ruthven leaves a trail of destruction behind him. In particular, wherever they travel he brings wealthy young people to their downfall. Aubrey longs to intervene and to convince his friend to change his ways. However, he never has an opportunity to speak openly with his companion.
The pair arrive in Rome, Italy, and separate for some time. As Ruthven frequents the home of an Italian countess, Aubrey receives letters from his sister and guardians. The guardians urge Aubrey to leave Ruthven, since his character is “dreadfully vicious.” They explain that all of the virtuous women Ruthven pursued have since fallen into vice.
Aubrey decides he will come up with an excuse to leave Ruthven. In the meantime, he enters the lord's social circles to learn more about him. Aubrey realizes that Ruthven is secretly pursuing the unmarried daughter of the Italian countess. He confronts Ruthven and asks if he plans to marry the woman. Ruthven merely laughs. Appalled, Aubrey leaves and writes a note to Ruthven informing him that they will no longer travel together. He also informs the countess of Ruthven’s intentions and reputation and manages to prevent their relationship from developing. Ruthven accepts Aubrey’s proposal to separate and Aubrey travels alone to Athens, Greece.
Analysis
Polidori uses rich, descriptive language and imagery to characterize the protagonist and antagonist in his novella. The author characterizes Ruthven as mysterious. He is self-absorbed and pays little attention to others. Yet other people are awed and fascinated by him and they seek his company and affection. Polidori foreshadows what the reader presumes to be Ruthven’s role as a vampire through the physical description of the character, whose face has a "deadly hue" that never warms or changes, and who has a "dead grey" gaze that falls lifelessly upon objects and people alike.
In Polidori’s characterization of Lord Ruthven, the author’s allusions to Lord Byron continue. Most prominently, the name Ruthven comes from a character based on Lord Byron in the 1816 novel Glenarvon, written by Lady Caroline Lamb, one of Byron’s former lovers.
Similarly, it is likely that Aubrey—a romantic, vain young man who "cultivated more his imagination than his judgment"—is based on Polidori himself. At first, Aubrey is enamored of Ruthven. But as the two travel together, Aubrey becomes disillusioned and appalled. Polidori’s diaries and other historical records indicate the same is true of the physician’s attitude toward Byron.
In The Vampyre, Aubrey discovers that wherever Ruthven goes, he brings "formerly affluent youth" to their downfall. However, Aubrey doesn’t seem to consider his own resemblance to the young, wealthy people whom Ruthven destroys.
Polidori deepens the reader’s impression of Ruthven’s mysterious, confusing behavior through his portrayal of the way in which the antagonist gives charity. Giving charity would seem to be an unambiguously good and virtuous action. However, Ruthven manages to corrupt even the giving of charity, since he donates only to those who are wicked. Meanwhile, he turns away anyone who is righteous or virtuous. Moreover, anyone who accepts his charity is cursed and falls into misery. Polidori thus characterizes Ruthven as destructive, cursed, and powerful.
In this way, the author explores the themes of virtue and vice. The world that Polidori depicts seems to be divided up between those who are virtuous and morally good and those who are vicious and morally corrupt. In particular, women are expected to be virtuous, innocent, and pure. The narrator of The Vampyre describes those who deviate from this norm as "female hunters of notoriety." Moreover, Polidori points to the way that society judges a woman’s individual actions as giving either a good or a bad name to all women.
Ruthven seems to have the power to change the balance of virtue and vice, or else to reveal that these qualities are not always what they at first seem to be. As mentioned above, his giving of charity seems to turn virtue into vice. And when it comes to women, he seeks out the most virtuous, but leaves them so corrupted that they don’t even mind "expos[ing] the whole deformity of their vices to the public gaze."
This exploration of vice, virtue, and morality takes place against the backdrop of the romantic era, an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that had its peak in Europe in the first half of the 1800s. The movement placed a great emphasis on individualism and on intense, individual emotions as the source of authentic experience. In this way, it paved the road for a breakdown of the Enlightenment ideals of universal reason and objective truth. In this context, the pursuit of virtue becomes a more personal, subjective affair rather than an imposed, universal standard. Polidori’s novella explores these ideas and their tensions through Ruthven’s character and actions.
