It is an interesting fact that in recent decades, Vampires have become romanticized, quite why is a mystery. Likely it began with film where they were perceived to be sexy, when the truth is that they were never fully intended to be considered as such. In the greatest of Vampire tales, Dracula, the epynomous character is not presented in that light but rather as a monster.
I quite liked The Frankenstein Chronicles. I wish it had gotten more than just two seasons. I also thought Penny Dreadful did a good job with the Frankenstein monster.
I'll admit, I don't often find myself thinking about these types of characters but there is a deep fascination with these archetypical monsters that I think many people have, myself included. Interesting that you tied them to the deadly sins!
This is a solid breakdown of the ways these monsters represent five of the seven deadly sins. The vampire, werewolf, and Frankenstein's monster are the strongest of these comparisons, followed then by the mummy and lastly by the death knight. This isn't to say your reasonings for either are bad, more that there's some points or parallels that seem somewhat obvious to me which were missed.
In the case of the lich side of mummies, you overlooked the single most common depiction of a lich's greed: the wizard or sorcerer who thirsts so strongly for knowledge that he surrenders his mortality, and thereby his humanity, to pursue ever greater knowledge through eternity in a pitiful mockery of life. They directly represent those who's greed for greater knowledge drives them to give up anything and everything which makes them human, effectively turning them into a twist on the typical Faustian pact.
Where the death knight is concerned, there exists a choice of classic monster with its roots in Irish folklore that was overlooked - the dullahan. Or, as the creature is better known in North America, the Headless Horseman, as depicted in the classic story surrounding Ichabod Crane and the town of Sleepy Hollow. Whether we're looking at the Irish unseelie spirit or the American version, both are depicted in a similar fashion and represent the same things: a dark spirit which takes the form of a decapitated black horseman or coach driver, the spirit either aims to unleash its wrath on any who are unfortunate enough to find themselves in its path, or marks the coming of their impending doom. In either case, wrathfulness tends to follow in this spirit's wake. Given how hands on the monster is in some depictions, I think it can be argued that this spectral rider is an even better fit for the concept of wrath than death knights, which tend to have their roots reaching back to Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné more than they do any classic monsters.
I quite liked The Frankenstein Chronicles. I wish it had gotten more than just two seasons. I also thought Penny Dreadful did a good job with the Frankenstein monster.
Seeing the classic monsters as the seven deadly sins is a clever way of looking at it. That’s a cool horror story idea there in itself. Great essay!
I'll admit, I don't often find myself thinking about these types of characters but there is a deep fascination with these archetypical monsters that I think many people have, myself included. Interesting that you tied them to the deadly sins!
This is a solid breakdown of the ways these monsters represent five of the seven deadly sins. The vampire, werewolf, and Frankenstein's monster are the strongest of these comparisons, followed then by the mummy and lastly by the death knight. This isn't to say your reasonings for either are bad, more that there's some points or parallels that seem somewhat obvious to me which were missed.
In the case of the lich side of mummies, you overlooked the single most common depiction of a lich's greed: the wizard or sorcerer who thirsts so strongly for knowledge that he surrenders his mortality, and thereby his humanity, to pursue ever greater knowledge through eternity in a pitiful mockery of life. They directly represent those who's greed for greater knowledge drives them to give up anything and everything which makes them human, effectively turning them into a twist on the typical Faustian pact.
Where the death knight is concerned, there exists a choice of classic monster with its roots in Irish folklore that was overlooked - the dullahan. Or, as the creature is better known in North America, the Headless Horseman, as depicted in the classic story surrounding Ichabod Crane and the town of Sleepy Hollow. Whether we're looking at the Irish unseelie spirit or the American version, both are depicted in a similar fashion and represent the same things: a dark spirit which takes the form of a decapitated black horseman or coach driver, the spirit either aims to unleash its wrath on any who are unfortunate enough to find themselves in its path, or marks the coming of their impending doom. In either case, wrathfulness tends to follow in this spirit's wake. Given how hands on the monster is in some depictions, I think it can be argued that this spectral rider is an even better fit for the concept of wrath than death knights, which tend to have their roots reaching back to Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné more than they do any classic monsters.