The Ripper

I’m just going to come out and admit it…I love the Vampire Diaries, and I love Stefan Salvatore. Ok breath, get it together, I’m ok.

So in lecture this week, we spoke about vampires and zombies and how they relate to Christianity. As stated in class, we view the vampire as a symbol of humanity seeking redemption. The attractiveness of some vampires is their struggle to feel human again, their struggle to be better than the stereotype of their species.  They stand between the liminal space of life and death but also in the space of good and evil, and we understand by watching or reading about them that the stakes are very high for them.

Back to The Vampire Diaries. In the first two seasons, Stefan Salvatore is the Vampire with a conscious. He doesn’t drink human blood (since his 1960’s binge where he was classified as “The Ripper), survives on the blood of animals, and tries uncontrollably hard to feel like he is human. His brother, Damon, is the classic Vampire, out to hunt, doesn’t care about who he kills, and tends to be wanted by the ladies for his sex appeal (which is what I got from reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula as the one of the characteristics of vampire). In the third season, Stefan has lost control and has become The Ripper again (although now he is trying to get back to being humanistic and not drink human blood for the love of his life, human, Elena).  Even though he had become “The Ripper”, he still felt bad for his actions. During his feedings he would blackout and end up ripping the heads of his victims off. When he came back to consciousness, he would place the head back on his victims, to make them seem human again.

Viewers of the show follow along with Stefan’s story in hopes that he will truly feel human again.

The following link shows Stefan who confesses to Elena that he is hungry for human blood, while trying to be sincere about his feelings towards Elena and the situation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKLgM_m4KAg