"Carmilla," J. Sheridan LeFanu
11/01/04Suspension of Disbelief Imperialism Aristocrats The Vampire's Victims Femme Fatale Phallic Mother Traditional Vampire Folklore The Lesbian Vampire Undermining the Family Unit Succubae Pagan Imagery Websites of Interest
Suspension of Disbelief: This story appears in a collection entitled In A Glass Darkly, which is supposed to be the collected papers of Dr. Hesselius, some sort of metaphysician rather like Van Helsing. The presence of this sort of character allows readers to suspend disbelief. Scully and Muldar are a more contemporary example of this type of character. Their use of "scientific" methods to document the paranormal, combined with their affiliation with the FBI, gives the story a sort of authority and thus, credibility.
Imperialism: For LeFanu, the supernatural tends to ultimately be about a dispute over real estate. Laura and her father are really imperialists--her father, an Englishman gone abroad to make his fortune, is retired from the Austrian service, and purchased a feudal estate from beggared nobles. He does not hold the estate by any "divine" right. The old aristocracy threatens to destroy the newer civilization supposedly based on individual merit rather than on birth. These elements are also found in magical realisim.
All too often, the Other is some conquered people whose justified anger is seen as monstrous (and not justified) through the lens of horror. Carmilla's family and General Spielsdorf's family are haunted by the owners of the estate they've purchased as well as the ancestor of the old noble family they've married into. Carmilla's mother was descended from the Karensteins, as was the general's wife.
Aristocrats: Carmilla possess all the worst characteristics of the aristocrat. She's lazy--often not getting up until well past noon, and can barely walk a few feet without getting tired. She's irreligious--Laura has never seen Carmilla say her prayers She has no sense of noblesse oblige--she feels no pity for the dead peasant girl and is so outraged by the peddler's accidental insult that she would cheerfully see him beaten to death and burned for his slight. In these regard, she is similar to Lord Ruthven in "The Vampyre." However, unlike Lord Ruthven, Carmilla's victims, at least in the present time during which the novella is set, are members of the middle class who are related to her, or peasants, who serve as snacks.
The Vampire's Victims: It can be said that Carmilla's middle class victims participate in their victimization to some degree in that they invite the vampire into their homes. In Laura's case, Carmilla is invited in out of a sense of hospitality and good will. Furthermore, Carmilla's class background and sex makes her seem harmless. A male peasant wouldn't enjoy the same level of hospitality from his "betters." However, these victims differ from the victims of Lord Ruthven in "The Vampyre." Lord Ruthven's victims are already bent on ruining themselves in some fashion, and he merely provides them the opportunity to do so more efficiently. He doesn't masquerade as a wholesome individual as Carmilla does. Instead, he's quite clearly "poisonous"--he even has a cadaverous look about him, yet still, his victims flock to him. In this regard he is similar to Anne Rice's Lestat, who as a rock star, has fans offer their blood to him.
Femme Fatale: But for all these bad characteristics she's alluring. Her preternatural beauty is supposed to be a sign of superior breeding. Laura's father and and General Spielsdorf readily take her into their homes in spite of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the sudden need to do so. Carmilla is also a femme fatale. She's the type of woman that other women wish to be like, at least regarding physical appearance. She uses her femininity as her most powerful weapon. It has the power to admit her to people's homes without arousing suspicion, and to put them off their guard when she moves in for the kill.
Phallic Mother: Carmilla is a phallic mother. The phallic mother does not conform to her socially proscribed role, but dares to assert herself. Norman Bates' mother is a type of phallic mother. Her love is smothering and deadly. Carmilla comes to the motherless Laura, first when she was six, and later when she's a young adult. She has the potential to teach Laura the things her governesses and father cannot because her class background is similar to Laura's and she's female. She could teach Laura things her mother should've taught her. But instead, she tries to kill Laura by wearing down her resistance. She's rather too affectionate with Laura, even given the standards of the time, and says some strange things about her intentions. "I live in your warm life, and you shall die--die, sweetly die--into mine." She wants to re-incorporate Laura into her body.
The phallic mother is an invention of the post-Oedipal imagination. We loathe that which we love and revere too much because this love makes us vulnerable. Mother is to be feared because she has had so much power over us when we were young, and she was around when we discovered that were not part of her body, but separate elves vulnerable to pain, suffering and want.
Traditional Vampire Folklore Vampires are suicides who come back for their families first. Countess Karenstein became a vampire after her early death (due to suicide?) and for the past 150 years has preyed on her descendants. Descendants die lingering deaths, while peasants serve as quick snacks. The vampire in this story is much like the banshee, an Irish spirit who (according to the more recent version) attached itself to noble families and warned them of the impending death of families. Carmilla's nocturnal habits and white grave clothes are those of the vampire, and she is the harbinger of death to those she visits. The vampire floats in blood and doesn't just drink it to live beyond the grave. She is uncommonly strong for someone who usually complains of languor.
The Lesbian Vampire: The lesbian vampire tale is a major subgenre of vampire literature, and indeed, most female vampires are either lesbian, or bisexual. The lesbian vampire is a vamp, a literal femme fatale, a lipstick lesbian, a woman who would be attractive to most heterosexual men or by "normal" patriarchal standards of beauty.
Stoker's Dracula has a big nose and bad breath, yet he has three wives and is able to get close enough to Lucy to enlist her in the ranks of the undead. The lesbian vampire, however, is not physically repulsive. Instead, she's the epitome of all that's beautiful and charming in a woman. And she's usually not so much lesbian as she is bisexual, but her preference for female victims means that she's generally defined by the more pejorative of the two terms describing human sexual experience within a patriarchal culture. At any rate, she likes both women and men, and both sexes likewise find her irresistible.
The relationship between Carmilla and Laura transcends the levels of intimacy deemed acceptable between two heterosexual women, even in the 19th century. In the 19th century, female friends would routinely hold hands, share beds, and express their love for one another, all without fear of being labeled deviant. It wasn't until the 20th century, thorough the lens of Freudian psychology, that such female intimacy was viewed with suspicion. However, Carmilla demands such a level of intimacy from Laura that she wonders if her new friend is really a young man disguised as a woman in order to better woo her.
Undermining the Family Unit: The female vampire's bisexuality makes her a greater threat to the traditional family unit, and ultimately, of society, than her male counterpart. Her sexual desire is so all encompassing that it cannot be controlled, and much of Western civilization's ideas about women are predicated on the idea that they are sexually insatiable and therefore dangerous. Remember that this same civilization is predicated on the idea that sexual desire in general is dangerous. Her alluring form makes it easier for her to insinuate herself into the family and destroy it from within. Instead of blooming with health as a new bride and perhaps as an expectant mother, Laura becomes emaciated. The only child of her father won't be reproducing, and therefore will not carry on his genes. Furthermore, perhaps her mother's inability to produce anything more than a girl child before dying in child bed is indicative of her own lack of moral fiber. In many cultures, a woman's value as a wife and mother are set according to her ability to produce a male heir.
Succubae: Carmilla is a sort of succubae, a female demon who comes to victims in the night, removing their vital essences through a sort of sexual penetration.
Pagan Imagery: Carmilla herself is actually three people, the daughter, the mother, and the ancient servant (sometimes a woman, sometimes a man) with a malign countenance. She's also a very powerful, if negative, embodiment of the three aspects of the goddess: the virgin (or self contained woman), the mother and the crone. As the virgin, she is concerned for no one but herself. As the mother, she attempts to devour Laura. As the crone, she is the bringer of death. This duplicates the triple aspect of the ancient goddess in her incarnations of virgin, mother, and crone. This structure also reflects the basic feminine sense of self as described by Nancy Chodorow in The Reproduction of Mothering. This multiple woman is plural, circular, and connected like the typical feminine sense of self Chodorow describes rather than linear and separate like the typical masculine sense of self. Carmilla is a shape shifter and can sometimes assume many forms at once. When she first arrives at Laura's house, she, her mother, and a malicious old woman are all seen in the coach. The three faces of the goddess--virgin, mother, crone
At the end of the story, Laura is not completely free of Carmilla. She still thinks about her.
A Comparison of Lillith to Dracula, Carmilla and "Christabel"
Traditional, Beautiful, Sexual Vampires in Carmilla and Dracula's Daughter