Editing Varney the Vampire (section)

===Varney===
Though the earliest chapters give the standard motives of blood sustenance for Varney's actions toward the family, later ones suggest that Varney is motivated by monetary interests. The story is at times inconsistent and confusing, as if the author did not know whether to make Varney a literal [[vampire]] or simply a human who acts like one. Varney bears a strong resemblance to a portrait in Bannerworth Hall, and the implication throughout is that he is actually Marmaduke Bannerworth (or Sir Runnagate Bannerworth; the names are confused throughout the story), but that connection is never clarified. He is portrayed as loathing his condition, and at one point he turns Clara Crofton, a member of another family he terrorizes, into a vampire for revenge.

Over the course of the book, Varney is presented with increasing sympathy as a victim of circumstances. He tries to save himself, but is unable to do so. He ultimately commits suicide by throwing himself into [[Mount Vesuvius]], after having left a written account of his origin with a sympathetic priest.<ref name="Hellman"/> According to Varney, he was cursed with [[vampirism]] after he betrayed a [[royalist]] to [[Oliver Cromwell]], and subsequently killed his own son accidentally in a fit of anger.<ref name="Hellman"/> He "dies" and is revived several times in the course of his career. This afforded the author a variety of [[origin story|origin stories]]. In one of these, a [[medical student]] named Dr. Chillingworth applies [[galvanism]] to Varney's hanged corpse and revives him. This sub-plot parallels the earlier story of ''[[Frankenstein]]'' by [[Mary Shelley]] and film adaptations which introduce electricity as Dr. Frankenstein's means of creating the monster.