Vlad The impaler...born evil or raised evil?

Question

His father, Vlad II Dracul, born around 1395, was an illegitimate son of Mircea the Elder, an important early Wallachian ruler. As a young man, he had joined the court of Sigismund of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, whose support for claiming the throne of Wallachia he eventually acquired. A sign of this support was the Order of the Dragon, The purpose of the Order was to protect Eastern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire from Islamic expansion as embodied in the campaigns of the Ottoman Empire.
Wishing to assert his status, Vlad II displayed the symbol of the Order, (a dragon) in all public appearances, Vlads legacy was dark and evil.
Could have Vlad the 3rd been an honorable prince if he chose; or did growing up with a dark history make him into a monster?

So is it true; can the enviroment you grow up in make you into the person you are today?

Answer 1

Raised evil. Nobody is truly born evil..unless you're Damian..and then it's another ball game ^_^.

I know well about good ole Vlad *the inspiration behind Dracula*. He would impale *hence the name* living people on spikes around his castle in the hopes that the screams of agony would ward off invading armies. And if memory serves, it was his younger brother Radu who turned traitor and turned Vlad over to his enemies. So I say he was raised evil...God knows he was about 2 fries and a Nugget short of a Happy Meal.

Answer 2

Do not quote me on this, but apparently Vlad III was given to the Turks by his father as a sort of peace offering to stop their many wars against Wallachia.

During his time with the Turks Vlad III witnessed many tortures being practised upon the prisoners of the Turks. Since Vlad III was only a young boy, this sort of environment could have influenced his later brutalities and violence, and eventually turned his legacy into that of Dracula.

For a kind of modern look at this, research Albert Bandura's experiments with a Bobo Doll, links below:

Answer 3

People are born with the potential to be evil all the time. It is just social science dweebs and humanity dweebs, blinded by their ideology, that think differently. The time he lived in was desperate. So, combined with his personality and the environment he lived in; his cruel behavior. Do you think that, say, Sister Teresa, thrust into the same environment as Vlad, would have acted the same? Of course not. We are variants and respond along a continuance of behavior. Think in a continuous manner.

Answer 4

Not only is there a matter of upbringing, I would go further and say that Vlad being evil at all is a matter of perspective, either personal if you were one of his enemies, or historical, in which we judge from a modern perspective that could not have applied at the time. And the vampire stories came much later.

Answer 5

I have never heard of Vlad the impaler!!
But I think the environment you grow up in does make the person you are today. But sometimes, when you meet people. They change you a little bit.

Answer 6

I under no circumstances had a wrestle in my existence with my mom. My father on the different hand, hated me for having a black newborn at the same time as i became youthful. humorous, i became the absolutely newborn that had to step as a lot because the plate and seem after the guy. i became so commemorated to had the exciting I did after he forgave me. He became rather a humorous guy!

Answer 7

No one is born evil.

Not even a Damien (that's my son's name!)

regardless how one is raised, at some point as an adult we choose to follow good or evil paths.

Then take responsibility.

Vlad justified his actions as "good for his people" although they were probably more self serving.