Andrew Brunatti
@andrewbrunatti.bsky.social
PhD in Politics & History. Art lover. Currently researching/writing on visual portrayals of Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822).
Looking at the use of the vampire metaphor in portrayals of Castlereagh may seem strange at first.
But exploring this metaphor more deeply—most importantly *why* it was applied—does actually illuminate just how much the larger forces of political myth-making have shaped the memory of Castlereagh.
But exploring this metaphor more deeply—most importantly *why* it was applied—does actually illuminate just how much the larger forces of political myth-making have shaped the memory of Castlereagh.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Looking at the use of the vampire metaphor in portrayals of Castlereagh may seem strange at first.
But exploring this metaphor more deeply—most importantly *why* it was applied—does actually illuminate just how much the larger forces of political myth-making have shaped the memory of Castlereagh.
But exploring this metaphor more deeply—most importantly *why* it was applied—does actually illuminate just how much the larger forces of political myth-making have shaped the memory of Castlereagh.
O'Byrne's vampiric veneer for Castlereagh in his 1829 novel was actually O'Byrne (a noted Irish nationalist) making a point about what he viewed as Britain's predatory policies of imperial realpolitik, both in Ireland and abroad.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
O'Byrne's vampiric veneer for Castlereagh in his 1829 novel was actually O'Byrne (a noted Irish nationalist) making a point about what he viewed as Britain's predatory policies of imperial realpolitik, both in Ireland and abroad.
O'Connell and Grattan's portrayals of Castlereagh as vampiric in the 1830s and 1840s were really both arguing that Britain, through the Act of Union, had betrayed Ireland's future (and particularly Irish catholics) for its own imperial power and security.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
O'Connell and Grattan's portrayals of Castlereagh as vampiric in the 1830s and 1840s were really both arguing that Britain, through the Act of Union, had betrayed Ireland's future (and particularly Irish catholics) for its own imperial power and security.
Hone's portrayal of a vampiric Castlereagh standing over the bodies of Britons at Peterloo was actually Hone arguing that the British establishment had betrayed and then preyed on its own citizens to maintain its own power in the face of calls for reform.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Hone's portrayal of a vampiric Castlereagh standing over the bodies of Britons at Peterloo was actually Hone arguing that the British establishment had betrayed and then preyed on its own citizens to maintain its own power in the face of calls for reform.
*(I should point out that in this context I'm using the term 'myth' neutrally. The extent to which the myth is accurate or not is less important than the fact that the myth was understood by many people in a body politic to have political value in itself).
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
*(I should point out that in this context I'm using the term 'myth' neutrally. The extent to which the myth is accurate or not is less important than the fact that the myth was understood by many people in a body politic to have political value in itself).
Their use of the vampire metaphor was certainly designed to perpetuate a bloody image of Castlereagh, but it doesn't stop there.
The Bloody Castlereagh image itself actually serves a broader purpose in *all* the sources that I examined: it strengthened the political myth of Perfidious Albion.*
The Bloody Castlereagh image itself actually serves a broader purpose in *all* the sources that I examined: it strengthened the political myth of Perfidious Albion.*
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Their use of the vampire metaphor was certainly designed to perpetuate a bloody image of Castlereagh, but it doesn't stop there.
The Bloody Castlereagh image itself actually serves a broader purpose in *all* the sources that I examined: it strengthened the political myth of Perfidious Albion.*
The Bloody Castlereagh image itself actually serves a broader purpose in *all* the sources that I examined: it strengthened the political myth of Perfidious Albion.*
These are just a sample of the sources that I explore in more detail in the full research article.
So what links them? Why did these authors, memoirists, speech-makers, satirists, etc. all use a vampire metaphor in their portrayals of Castlereagh?
So what links them? Why did these authors, memoirists, speech-makers, satirists, etc. all use a vampire metaphor in their portrayals of Castlereagh?
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
These are just a sample of the sources that I explore in more detail in the full research article.
So what links them? Why did these authors, memoirists, speech-makers, satirists, etc. all use a vampire metaphor in their portrayals of Castlereagh?
So what links them? Why did these authors, memoirists, speech-makers, satirists, etc. all use a vampire metaphor in their portrayals of Castlereagh?
Later in the novel, the vampire metaphor is made explicit when the hero, Garrett, recalls that "Jocelyn had called Castlereagh a vampire, and told her husband that he [Castlereagh] was preying on his youth and honesty."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Later in the novel, the vampire metaphor is made explicit when the hero, Garrett, recalls that "Jocelyn had called Castlereagh a vampire, and told her husband that he [Castlereagh] was preying on his youth and honesty."
"Wherever he went...the sickly smell of spilt blood was in the air" adding, "there was nothing human in him. He might have been one of the hierarchy of Lucifer who had taken on human shape but not human vitality, for the ruin of souls and nations."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
"Wherever he went...the sickly smell of spilt blood was in the air" adding, "there was nothing human in him. He might have been one of the hierarchy of Lucifer who had taken on human shape but not human vitality, for the ruin of souls and nations."
The vampire metaphor continued to be applied to Castlereagh in historical fiction well into the 20th Century. In Donn Byrne's 1929 novel 'The Power of the Dog,' set during the Napoleonic wars, the heroine Jocelyne first describes Castlereagh thus:
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
The vampire metaphor continued to be applied to Castlereagh in historical fiction well into the 20th Century. In Donn Byrne's 1929 novel 'The Power of the Dog,' set during the Napoleonic wars, the heroine Jocelyne first describes Castlereagh thus:
Later in the novel, a priest speaking to Castlereagh states that "I...would hold myself abhorred...could I co-operate with your nefarious policy and become the partisan of a Government whose life, like that of the vampire, is nurtured by blood drawn from the heart of my country."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Later in the novel, a priest speaking to Castlereagh states that "I...would hold myself abhorred...could I co-operate with your nefarious policy and become the partisan of a Government whose life, like that of the vampire, is nurtured by blood drawn from the heart of my country."
The use of the vampire metaphor continued into the late 19thC. In 1884, M.L. O'Byrne's novel 'Ill-Won Peerages' describes Ireland in 1798 as a country where "vampires of every degree, from Castlereagh to Reynolds the informer, that had seized upon the body were voraciously sucking its life-blood"
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
The use of the vampire metaphor continued into the late 19thC. In 1884, M.L. O'Byrne's novel 'Ill-Won Peerages' describes Ireland in 1798 as a country where "vampires of every degree, from Castlereagh to Reynolds the informer, that had seized upon the body were voraciously sucking its life-blood"
Grattan Jr is mirroring O'Connell’s earlier use of the vampire metaphor by implying that Castlereagh had corrupted the body politic, just as a vampire corrupts the body of its victim.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Grattan Jr is mirroring O'Connell’s earlier use of the vampire metaphor by implying that Castlereagh had corrupted the body politic, just as a vampire corrupts the body of its victim.
In 1846, Henry Grattan Jr., in the memoirs of his father's life at the time of the Irish Act of Union, described Castlereagh as "the political vampire who then ruled" using his "familiars" to "bribe the poor, to seduce the virtuous, and to entrap the unwary."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
In 1846, Henry Grattan Jr., in the memoirs of his father's life at the time of the Irish Act of Union, described Castlereagh as "the political vampire who then ruled" using his "familiars" to "bribe the poor, to seduce the virtuous, and to entrap the unwary."
O'Connell's use of the term 'bloodless vampire' seems to refer to Ireland, but the metaphor is aimed squarely at Castlereagh. In O'Connell's metaphor, Castlereagh (a male figure) preyed on Ireland (portrayed as female), draining the lifeblood and leaving Ireland not fully dead but not fully alive.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
O'Connell's use of the term 'bloodless vampire' seems to refer to Ireland, but the metaphor is aimed squarely at Castlereagh. In O'Connell's metaphor, Castlereagh (a male figure) preyed on Ireland (portrayed as female), draining the lifeblood and leaving Ireland not fully dead but not fully alive.
In an 1834 speech, Daniel O'Connell described Castlereagh's role in passing the Irish Act of Union: "Castlereagh had trampled on his country; he made her [Ireland's] living body a breathless corpse--a sort of bloodless vampire."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
In an 1834 speech, Daniel O'Connell described Castlereagh's role in passing the Irish Act of Union: "Castlereagh had trampled on his country; he made her [Ireland's] living body a breathless corpse--a sort of bloodless vampire."
Hone and Wooler both apply the vampire metaphor to press their view of the predatory nature of the ruling aristocracy. In Hone's case especially, the portrayal of Castlereagh as vampiric literally refers to the strength of the ministry being sustained by the blood of the common people in Manchester.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
Hone and Wooler both apply the vampire metaphor to press their view of the predatory nature of the ruling aristocracy. In Hone's case especially, the portrayal of Castlereagh as vampiric literally refers to the strength of the ministry being sustained by the blood of the common people in Manchester.
William Hone's 1820 pamphlet 'Despair, a Vision' responding to the Peterloo Massacre shows Castlereagh and Sidmouth (Home Secretary) standing in front of bodies, with the verse "The crowd dropped fast, but Derry and the Quack, [...] and they were Vampyres—they had scented well the corpses grim..."
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
William Hone's 1820 pamphlet 'Despair, a Vision' responding to the Peterloo Massacre shows Castlereagh and Sidmouth (Home Secretary) standing in front of bodies, with the verse "The crowd dropped fast, but Derry and the Quack, [...] and they were Vampyres—they had scented well the corpses grim..."
In 1820, Thomas Wooler created a satirical playbill for a play titled 'The Queen of Hearts against the King and his Knaves, in reference to the Queen Caroline Affair. Castlereagh was listed as playing 'Derry-Down Cold Blood' who was specified to be a vampire.
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
In 1820, Thomas Wooler created a satirical playbill for a play titled 'The Queen of Hearts against the King and his Knaves, in reference to the Queen Caroline Affair. Castlereagh was listed as playing 'Derry-Down Cold Blood' who was specified to be a vampire.
As I started to dig further, I noticed a vampiric metaphor (explicit or implicit) applied to Castlereagh spanning numerous sources (satires, pamphlets, speeches, newspaper or periodical serials, and novels) starting in 1820 and continuing well into the 20th Century.
Some examples:
Some examples:
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
As I started to dig further, I noticed a vampiric metaphor (explicit or implicit) applied to Castlereagh spanning numerous sources (satires, pamphlets, speeches, newspaper or periodical serials, and novels) starting in 1820 and continuing well into the 20th Century.
Some examples:
Some examples:
John William Polidori and his 1819 work ‘The Vampyre’, created the popular idea of the aristocratic vampire.
Researching portrayals of Castlereagh (both textual and visual) over the last few years, I first noticed that some 19th Century writers used a vampiric metaphor in portraying Castlereagh
Researching portrayals of Castlereagh (both textual and visual) over the last few years, I first noticed that some 19th Century writers used a vampiric metaphor in portraying Castlereagh
October 30, 2025 at 3:59 AM
John William Polidori and his 1819 work ‘The Vampyre’, created the popular idea of the aristocratic vampire.
Researching portrayals of Castlereagh (both textual and visual) over the last few years, I first noticed that some 19th Century writers used a vampiric metaphor in portraying Castlereagh
Researching portrayals of Castlereagh (both textual and visual) over the last few years, I first noticed that some 19th Century writers used a vampiric metaphor in portraying Castlereagh