Elizabeth Báthory in popular culture


The influence of Countess Elizabeth Báthory in popular culture has been notable from the 18th century to the present day. Since her death, various myths and legends surrounding her story have preserved her as a prominent figure in folklore, literature, music, film, games and toys.

In folklore and literature

The case of Countess Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories and fairy tales. 18th and 19th century writers liberally added or omitted elements of the narrative. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. Frequently, the cruel countess would discover the secret of blood bathing when she slapped a female servant in rage, splashing parts of her own skin with blood. Upon removal of the blood, that portion of skin would seem younger and more beautiful than before.
This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar László Turóczi's Tragica Historia, the first written account of the Báthory case.
When quoting him in his 1742 history book, Matthias Bel was sceptical about this particular detail, he nevertheless helped the legend to spread. Subsequent writers of history and fiction alike often identified vanity as the sole motivation for Báthory's crimes.
Modern historians Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally have concluded that the theory Báthory murdered on account of her vanity sprang up from contemporary prejudices about gender roles. Women were not believed to be capable of violence for its own sake. At the beginning of the 19th century, the vanity motif was first questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a far more plausible motive for Báthory's crimes. In 1817, the witness accounts were published for the first time, demonstrating that the bloodbaths or blood seeker for vanity aspect of Báthory's crimes were legend rather than fact.
The legend nonetheless persisted in the popular imagination. Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing female vanity, while other versions aimed to entertain or thrill their audience. Some versions of the story incorporated even more elaborate torture chamber fantasies than recorded history could provide, such as the use of an iron maiden, which were not based on the evidence from Báthory's trial. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose name inspired the term masochism, was inspired by the Báthory legend to write his 1874 novella Ewige Jugend
Bathory also appears as the main antagonist in the novel Dracula the Un-dead, a sequel to Bram Stoker's classic novel by his great grand-nephew Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. In the book, she is cousin to Count Dracula and was the motive behind his decision to move to London in the original novel, as she was murdering women under the guise of Jack the Ripper and he swore to stop her.
The historical novel The Countess by Rebecca Johns tells a first-person fictionalized account of Báthory's life from her prison cell at Csejthe Castle. In the book, she tells her son, Pál, the story of her life, explaining her behavior toward her servants as punishment for their disloyalty.
In the final 2 books of the , Báthory is featured as the primary antagonist. In this series she is portrayed as a villain focused on revenge and taking over a sort of purgatory for exceptional women known as Transition.

Vampire myth

The emergence of the bloodbath or blood seeker for vanity myth coincided with the vampire scares that haunted Europe in the early 18th century, reaching even into educated and scientific circles, but the strong connection between the bloodbath or blood seeker myth and the vampiric myth was not made until the 1970s. The first connections were made to promote works of fiction by linking them to the already commercially successful Dracula story. Thus, a 1970 movie based on Báthory and the bloodbath or blood seeker for vanity myth was titled Countess Dracula.
Some Báthory biographers, McNally in particular, have tried to establish the bloodbath myth and the historical Elizabeth Báthory as a source of influence for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, pointing to similarities in settings and motifs and the fact that Stoker might have read about her. This theory is strongly disputed by author Elizabeth Miller.
Meanwhile, Báthory has become an influence for modern vampire literature and vampire films. The story, while retaining the essential facts, receives an imaginative interpretation in the horror novelist Syra Bond's Cold Blood.

Literature

There have been numerous films about, referring to, or containing characters based on Countess Elizabeth Báthory:
The bloodbath myth served as a major component of some games:
Báthory is featured in McFarlane Toys' 6 Faces of Madness series, a collection of action figures which also includes Jack the Ripper,
Rasputin and Vlad the Impaler. Báthory is depicted bathing in blood while the heads of some of her victims are impaled in a candelabrum. Bathory was also made as a doll in the Living Dead Dolls series.
The card game Evil Baby Orphanage includes Lady Báthory as a character; she is shown in a bathtub with pink water.
In the board game The Harbingers, which is part of the Atmosfear series of interactive video board games, Elizabeth Bathory was one of the six playable harbingers in the game, portrayed as a vampiress. Prior to that, she had her own added expansion set to the first Atmosfear game; Nightmare.

Music

Songs about Elizabeth Báthory include:
Bands' named after Elizabeth Báthory include: