The novella Carmilla is much more complicated in its message and connection to queerness within the horror genre. On the surface there is a kind of innocence in the relationship that Laura and Carmilla share. It doesn’t seem to go much beyond light physical intimacy, but the scenes are described in a romantic way by the Laura, such as when she states of Carmilla, “And when she had spoken such rhapsody, she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently glow upon my cheek” (LeFanu). The relationship is a double-edged sword in that while it does seem sweet and romantic, Laura is essentially used by Carmilla, and Carmilla takes the role of a predator of women.
In the novella, it is set up that not only …show more content…
While the significance of queer characters and queer themes isn’t as prominent in a physical sense in this novel as it is within the two vampire novels discussed, there is a definite use of queerness in the tale. Henry M. Alley explains, “what Hallward says of his artistic but sensual bonding with his protégé reads as an archetype of unadulterated gay love” (3). While there is a clear sense of queer character as monster in the two vampire novels, The Picture of Dorian Gray is more complex in that the novel deals with a sort of love triangle, where two opposing forces seek to seduce and attain the attention of a young …show more content…
Both Carmilla and The Picture of Dorian Gray end with the death of the queer protagonist. The sense is that queer love, whether it is real or valid, cannot win. In Let The Right One In, on the other hand, the ending is open to a happy ending for its two queer characters. They manage to escape their oppressive community and venture off together, something that would not have been possible in the two earlier novels. As Amy Leal explains it, “Le Fanu could not, however, have acceptably ended his story any other way than by suppressing the lesbian vampire who defiled male authority” (48). Leal also expresses the danger that would have followed Le Fanu had he written in a way that supported homosexuality in an age where it was likely for him to face imprisonment for such sentiments (48-49). This notion of the queer monster being doomed to face death by creation in the time period that Carmilla and The Picture of Dorian Gray were released, and even long after, is a common theme. In Nikki Sullivan’s work she explains this as “[the] notion of the homosexual as doomed to a life of torment, suffering, loneliness, and so on, was not confined to so-called medical tracts during this period. From around the 1930’s on an increasing number of novels and films appeared in which the homosexual was constructed as a sad and twisted creature whose perverse desires would inevitably lead to their
In the novella, it is set up that not only …show more content…
While the significance of queer characters and queer themes isn’t as prominent in a physical sense in this novel as it is within the two vampire novels discussed, there is a definite use of queerness in the tale. Henry M. Alley explains, “what Hallward says of his artistic but sensual bonding with his protégé reads as an archetype of unadulterated gay love” (3). While there is a clear sense of queer character as monster in the two vampire novels, The Picture of Dorian Gray is more complex in that the novel deals with a sort of love triangle, where two opposing forces seek to seduce and attain the attention of a young …show more content…
Both Carmilla and The Picture of Dorian Gray end with the death of the queer protagonist. The sense is that queer love, whether it is real or valid, cannot win. In Let The Right One In, on the other hand, the ending is open to a happy ending for its two queer characters. They manage to escape their oppressive community and venture off together, something that would not have been possible in the two earlier novels. As Amy Leal explains it, “Le Fanu could not, however, have acceptably ended his story any other way than by suppressing the lesbian vampire who defiled male authority” (48). Leal also expresses the danger that would have followed Le Fanu had he written in a way that supported homosexuality in an age where it was likely for him to face imprisonment for such sentiments (48-49). This notion of the queer monster being doomed to face death by creation in the time period that Carmilla and The Picture of Dorian Gray were released, and even long after, is a common theme. In Nikki Sullivan’s work she explains this as “[the] notion of the homosexual as doomed to a life of torment, suffering, loneliness, and so on, was not confined to so-called medical tracts during this period. From around the 1930’s on an increasing number of novels and films appeared in which the homosexual was constructed as a sad and twisted creature whose perverse desires would inevitably lead to their