Please note that this is not a brilliant outline, and it would not receive an A grade.

It does,
however, show you proper outline format.

Huck Finn
Period 1

Hero or Demon?
Portrayals of Vampires through the Ages

I Introductory Paragraph
A. Attention Getter—Why are people so obsessed with vampires today that they
seem to be going crazy over any book or movie that has a vampire?
B. General discussion of topic—Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, “Paranormal
Romance” section
C. TS—Today’s fascination with vampires is not a new phenomenon: rather it is
merely the latest version of a centuries old projection of human needs and fears
that uses the vampire as a surrogate for expression.

II Body Paragraph
A. ts—Human fascination with vampires seems to have reached new and disturbing
levels.
B. 1. According to an online article,
2. “Found growling and hissing in a parking lot and wearing only boxer
shorts, the pierced and tattooed Bensley claimed he was a 500-year-old
vampire who needed to ‘feed,’ Galveston Police Capt. Jeff Heyse said”
(Hensel).
3. Discuss as disturbing example of current obsession
4. Breaking Dawn box office ('Breaking Dawn - Part 2' wins weekend box
office”).
C. Conclusion and transition: Contemporary United States culture definitely has a
strong and perhaps unhealthy interest in vampires, but is this fascination a new
thing?

III Body Paragraph

A. ts—Actually, people have been interested in vampires at least since 1800, when
Samuel Taylor Coleridge published his poem “Christabel,” and this interest has
continued steadily ever since, at least partly because of its sexual connotations.
B. 1. Coleridge writes of after Christabel’s first encounter with the vampire
Geraldine,
2. “So many thoughts moved to and fro, / That vain it were her lids to close. .
. And on her elbow did recline / to lood at the lady Geraldine” (240-244).
3. Shows Christabel’s instant fascination with Geraldine
C. 1. In fact,
2. “the equation of vampirism with sexuality is well established in the
criticism” (Roth 412).
3. brief discussion of how this still holds true
 D. Conclusion and transition: Apparently, humans have always been both attracted to
and frightened of vampires, and Dracula has always been a prime example of this
ambivalence.

IV Body Paragraph
A. ts—Bram Stoker’s Dracula set the precedent for people simultaneously being
both attracted to and terrified of vampire, attitudes that many men also seem to
harbor regarding women.
B. 1. Debra Roth argues,
2. much of [Dracula’s] great appeal derives from its hostility toward female
sexuality” (411).
3. discussion of how people fear what they want
C. 1. Interestingly,
2. “only relations with vampires are sexualized in this novel; indeed, a
deliberate attempt is made to make sexuality seem unthinkable in ‘normal
relations’ between the sexes” (Roth 412).
3. discussion of how some people find any type of sexuality bad
D. Conclusion and transition: The fact that some people and even cultures consider
any sort of sensual indulgence sinful also sets up some other interesting parallels
in the Twentieth Century.

V Body Paragraph
A. ts—Even vampire sexuality came under scrutiny in the late Twentieth Century
and became censured as the world moved into the Twenty-first Century.
B. 1. The AIDS epidemic had an unexpected consequence as
2. “when AIDS came onto the scene, even the fictional prospect of
uninhibited bloodsucking fell out of favor” (Neary).
3. examples of chaste vampire and girl couples and fatal consequences of
having sex with a vampire

VI Conclusion
A. Love and sex are complicated, no matter who is involved.
B. People like vampires, maybe because they symbolize what is forbidden
C. Final, general statement about vampires and modern society