Vampire- Carmilla

The mythical term ‘vampire’ is prevalent in Le Fanu’s Carmilla as it is hinted throughout the
novel that the antagonist Carmilla is portrayed as secretive and manipulative, an ideal
vampire’s characteristics during the Victorian period. This is because she is disguised as a
human throughout the beginning of the novel, when introduced as an abandoned girl by her
mother who was described as a “fine looking woman for her time of life… and looked rather
pale”.1The secrecy of hiding her identity however becomes suspicious to Laura as Carmilla
refuses to speak about herself - “she would not tell me the name of her family, nor their name
of their estate”2, readers may suggest this is in order to not get caught and abolished leading
to a brutal death. However, readers immediately recognise hints of vampire characteristics
such as the paleness of her mother which is also seen in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. Meyer
portrays this by representing the vampires to look paler compared to humans which has
become the norm of how vampires are desired to look. Though they are disguised, it creates
tension between human nature as they are ought to fit into society in order to prevent
revealing their true selves. This initially shows the secrecy of fantastical creatures which is
symbolic in both Twilight and Carmilla. Though ‘the vampire is the ultimate embodiment of
transgression’3, in Twilight it is contrasted as it dominates the values of love between human
and vampires, protecting mankind from threat. Whereas, this statement is valid for comparing
to Carmilla, who imposes a threat to Laura, keeping her in amidst of danger despite seducing
her. This emphasises the embodiment of manipulation as the seducing method of erotically
biting Laura, represents the ideological role of a femme fatale, luring their pray to eventually
kill.

Despite the secrecy of a vampire, the manipulation tactic is merely associated with sexuality.
Carmilla in this sense, demonstrates a ‘simplistic equation between the vampire and the
unconscious or repressed desires.4 Laura is subjectively lured into falling in love with her,
which makes her unconscious mind remember her forever towards the end of the novel. This
ultimately emphasises the power vampires hold in that Victorian period as they make the
victim’s ego possible by jeopardizing it.5 This sense of seduction is used when Carmilla states

1
J. Sheridan Le Fanu, ‘Carmilla’ (Wildside Press, 2000) p.19
2
Le Fanu, ‘Carmilla’ (Wildside Press, 2000) p.32
3
Auerbach, Nina, ‘Our vampires, Ourselves’ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995)
4
Dejan Kuzmanovic, ‘Vampire seduction and the Vicissitudes of Masculine Identity in Bram Stoker’s Dracula’,
Victorian Literature and Culture (2009) p.411-425
5
Kuzmanovic, 2009 p.412
“I have been in love with no one… unless it should be with you”.6 Readers can see that Laura
has been entrapped in the romance between her and Carmilla. However, the motive behind
Carmilla’s desires are suspicious as we may assume she genuinely does love Laura, but her
desire to kill is overpowered. This represents the Victorian era’s attitudes towards sexuality.
Critic Ernest Jones supports this by stating how ‘in the unconscious mind, blood is commonly
and equivalent for semen’7. This is supported through Carmilla’s desires to kill as not only is
she seducing, but also being seduced by Laura in the process- an action of intercourse.
Carmilla cannot think of anything more pleasurable than the desire to kill, which is also
prevalent in Twilight as Edward Cullen’s vampire instincts of biting Bella are shown in the
beginning of the novel. Vampires have the desire to feed on their prey, but emotions and
sexuality play a big part in how they act. This is just like Carmilla, he is unable to kill Bella
as he has fallen in love with her. Though Carmilla initially shows hints of both emotions, she
shows no remorse when attacking Bertha and Laura within the novel, escaping reluctantly in
order to not get caught. It reveals her true intentions and isn’t afraid of putting others in
danger, leading to her demise in the end.

The Magic Toyshop- Female Gothic

The theme female gothic is used within Carter’s Toyshop to emphasise the domestic
entrapment Melanie encounters during her time with her uncle and aunt. At the beginning of
the novel, readers can see the young and spontaneous personality of Melanie, encouraged to
become an adult as she has learnt the aspirations of becoming a woman. However, the reality
of becoming a woman comes with many difficulties which Melanie also faces throughout her
interferences with manhood, leading to her entrapment. This is prevalent to a reading of the
female gothic as ‘the female gothic more typically represents a female protagonist attempting
to escape from a confining interior’.8 Carter, uses this female protagonist to represent the
troubles of growing up too quickly and the power male authority figures hold towards women
in the 1960’s. The beginning of Melanie’s entrapment started when she tried on her mother’s
wedding dress, before both her parents died in their plane crash. Her willingness to try on the
dress, informs the readers that she wanted to pretend she was married and beautiful, just like
her ideal dream. Punter and Byron states this by saying how ‘the protagonist is reintegrated

6
Le Fanu, 2000 p.45
7
The Gothic p.269
8
The Gothic, p.278
into a community and acquires a new identity and a new life through marriage’.9 This is
relevant as Melanie is forced to leave her childhood identity behind as she moves in with her
uncle and aunt, acquiring an adult identity to take responsibility for her younger siblings. This
immediately imparts her from her fear of being left as a child, married to her new family.
However, the wedding dress symbolises Melanie’s fear that it would “provoke a miscarriage
and she would remain forever stranded in childhood”.10 This is contradictory to readers as her
childhood got left behind, as soon as she moved in with uncle Phillip, who uses her to his
advantage. It’s also ironic how during her time with her uncle and aunt, she wishes she was
also a child again. This is through the declarative- “she held her breath with wonder and
delight. She was seven years old again”.11 Initially this determines how much she misses her
childhood and had freedom to do what she liked compared to her life now.

Though Melanie acquires womanhood, she rebels against the patriarchal order constantly
shifting her ideal roles of being a woman. This is as she gets criticized for wearing trousers-
“Trousers. One of your Uncle Phillip’s ways. He can’t abide a woman in trousers”.12 This
immediately emphasises her lack of freedom as a woman and as an individual in society, as
stated she is ‘confined to a great house or castle. Under the authority of a powerful male
figure’.13 From this, Carter acknowledges the shift of Melanie’s maturity as she is now bound
to live beside Finn, her brother where they share an incestual relationship throughout the
novel facing many difficulties. Though Melanie is victimised by the readers, she represents
the ideology that relationships come with many problems, as Juliet did in Romeo and Juliet-
“Juliet had been married and dead of love at fourteen”14. Melanie takes inspiration from this
earlier in the novel hence why she is so eager to transition to womanhood, having the fear of
being alone. However, Carter uses the theme of sexual harassment towards the end of the
novel, to indicate the disadvantages that come with being a woman and having a mature
appearance. For instance, when Finn is forced to sleep with Melanie by Uncle Phillip to
rehearse a rape in the puppet show. This emphasises that the female gothic is ‘considered to
be particularly transgressive: violence, especially sexual violence’ is used to inform the
superiority of mankind.15 Thus, Melanie is reluctant to change the expectation of how women

9
The Gothic, p.279
10
Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop (London: Virago Press, 2018) p.22
11
Carter, p.94
12
Carter, p.69
13
The Gothic, p.279
14
Carter, p.10
15
Female Gothic, p.278
are ought to behave in society towards the end of the novel, breaking past the patriarchal
expectations.

Bibliography
Carter, Angela, The Magic Toyshop (London: Virago Press, 2018).
Kuzmanovic, Dejan, ‘Vampire seduction and the Vicissitudes of Masculine Identity in Bram
Stoker’s Dracula’, Victorian Literature and Culture (2009) p.411-425.
Le Fanu, Sheridan. J, Carmilla (Maryland: Wildside Press, 2000).
Nina, Auerbach, Our vampires, Ourselves (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995)
Punter, David & Byron, Glennis, The Gothic (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2004).