Elizabeth Bathory

The infamous Elizabeth Báthory is a well known character all around the world. The real aristocrat woman however was hidden until the end of the 20th century. The legend, which had and still has an own life in the European culture, was born in the 18th century. This short book summarise the reasons of the investigation against her. Gives a clear sense why dropped the case the Hungarian court in her time.

Almost everyone has heard the legend of cruel Elisabeth Báthory who bathed in the blood of young virgins to preserve eternal youth. The countess is also known as one of the bloodiest women in Europe. She is registered on the world list of Guinness records as the biggest serial killer of all time. However, there is a doubt whether she committed all crimes attributed to her. Thus, the article presents two alternative biographies of the Hungarian aristocrat: one that derives from legends, and the other that is based on historical facts recently determined by contemporary researchers of the topic.

Audre Lorde, in her essay "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power," describes the erotic as an intrinsically female source of power that "has often been misnamed by men and used against women” and moreover that the erotic becomes “confused, the trivial, the psychotic...". Inspired by and departing from Lorde's essay, I will explore the tenuous relationship between madness and eroticism through the case study of the Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory.
Bathory, a 16th century Hungarian noblewoman, killed and bathed in the blood of 600 virgin girls. In examining Bathory's sense of the erotic one comes to note that she is only able to "feel" a connection to her self in her acts of sexual perversion, torture and murder. I argue that Bathory's desensitization to "normal" life experiences fuel her pursuit of the female power of the erotic as an example that supports the patriarchal view of the danger of the female erotic as female power.
In fully embracing her desires Bathory feeds her sense of megalomaniacy thereby engaging in a sense of power of the erotic which is not curtailed by the normative socio-cultural roles. Does Bathory's megalomaniacy cause a distortion of the personal erotic that leads to a distortion of the self into pornography and obscenity as evidenced in her actions? Does the lack of feeling for the other and the more desperate desire for power make her acts of violence more obscene?

The legend of the Countess Erzsebet Bathory presents a unique case in which the fictional elements of vampire and witch folklore combine with true historical facts to create the quasi-mythical figure of the Bloody Countess. Alejandra Pizarnik wrote the short story “La condesa sangrienta” (“The Bloody Countess”) based on the historical figure of the Countess Erzsebet Bathory as compiled in the socio-historical text “The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory” by Valentine Penrose.
Working with the aforementioned texts and the film “Eternal” (Canada, 2004) I propose to examine how the “monstrous” character of the Bloody Countess is a product not only of her murdering over 600 virgins but also of her various sexual perversions and psychopathic madness. The weaving and inter-weaving of history, fiction and popular culture will be key to examining how the “monstrous” characterization of Bathory is linked predominantly to her sexual deviance: her suspected lesbianism, her marital infidelities and an overall deviation from the proscribed role for women in her society and culture.

Niemal każdy słyszał legendę o okrutnej Elżbiecie Batory, która kąpała się we krwi młodych dziewic, by zachować wieczną młodość. Hrabina zapisała się na trwałe w historii jako jedna z najkrwawszych kobiet Europy. Została też wpisana na światową listę rekordów Guinnessa jako największa seryjna morderczyni wszechczasów. Jednak czy aby na pewno dopuściła się wszystkich zarzucanych jej czynów? W artykule przedstawione zostaną dwie wersje historii życia węgierskiej arystokratki: jedna, wywodząca się z legend, oraz druga, oparta na faktach, do których udało się dotrzeć współczesnym badaczom tematu.