" And the people - ah, the people-
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone
And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone -
They are neither man nor woman -
They are neither brute nor human -
They are Ghouls..."
The Bells, by Edgar Allen Poe
Unlike the romantic vision of Dracula who is glamorous, beautiful and alluring, Orlock is hideous. He sleeps in soil infected with the black death and is a harbinger of disease. His very presence is noxious and his is followed by rats. He is bald, ugly, hunched, spider like in appearance. He repulses, his appearance causes his victims to freeze with fright. It is remarkably different to the alluring, sexual presence of the modern Count but it is a deeply rooted description of the early vampire.
Nosferatu or Nosferat is a Romanian species of vampire associated with both the incubus and succubus. He is said to be the illegitimate child of parents who are illegitimate. Shortly after burial, it awakens and takes part in blood sucking orgies of a savage nature with the living. Male Nosferatu's are able to impregnate women and its children are born covered with hair, destined to become either vampires or witches (moroii). It has a particular dislike of married couples, rendering the man impotent and the bride barren.
It's interesting that the Nosferatu is born out of wedlock, therefore outside religious norms, cursed from the moment he was born. Foucault's Archeology of Madness describes how society treated the 'insane', through exclusion or asylums. 'Sins' were locked up or kept out of site/sight. Orphaned children were sent to workhouses, unmarried pregnant women were sent to convents if they were lucky or the asylum if they weren't. You were punished for being poor, homeless and heaven forbid, mad. Madness is still a societal taboo but since the recession of the church we seem to treat 'sinners' more humanely.
I can't imagine what it must have been like for a child born out of wedlock in eastern Europe, harsh to say the least. You were cursed and cursed others by your presence, and a child of such a cursed one was a witch or vampire; naturally. Maybe you were forced to wear a bell around your neck like a leper, to keep the 'clean' wary of your presence should you taint their spotless souls.
Batty, bats, bats in the belfry are all used to describe madness. Someone who lives the hermit life, who discourages visitors, who lives outside societal norms would probably be describes as 'batty'. This vampire is telling you to go, to leave him alone, to approach at your peril. He does not welcome society.
Its reminiscent somewhat of a diseased soul, which I doubt this vampire has. He lost his soul long ago, but a person with crippling shyness, who sees themselves as ugly. They see themselves as a nosferatu. Unclean, unable to live within society. They feel inwardly ugly and keep away from others, other purer souls. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a psychiatric illness where the person only sees what they think they are in the mirror, the actual reality is far removed from that illusion. People who see themselves as ugly on the inside, often project this on their outside until they feel too disgusting to leave the house. Sometimes society itself sees you as unfit and projects its own fears onto you, it takes it upon itself to lock you up or make your life a misery.
You become a ghoul, neither dead nor alive. By making you not quite human, others feel they can treat you like an animal, as diseased, aan abomination. A very clear example of this is the dehumanisation of the Jews during Hitler's purges. Look at the dehuminisation of Othello or Kafka's Metamorphosis. Yet: "No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction." For Whom the Bell Tolls ~ Donne.