Carmilla

more. It tends to aim more for realism for the purpose of being able to go further into detail and provide more solid sensory details in an effort to provide a strong suspension of disbelief. In Carmilla, there are moments when the reader may notice that there’s a lack of…

Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella Carmilla, published in 1872 is a vampire story that exemplifies elements of female sexuality and of Gothic vampirism. Vampire fiction in English literature often embodies the fears of a society. The Victorian Era was not as accepting of female sexuality or, even more fearsome, homosexuality. It was common for vampire stories during this era to reflect upon these fears in society. The story of Carmilla was seen as a definitive tale that portrayed the unthinkable,…

Domestic Abuse -Carmilla Domestic abuse is not necessarily termed as domestic violence. This is because domestic abuses in relationships occur in cases where one person in an intimate marriage or relationship attempts to control and dominate the other person for one purpose only; that is to gain and maintain complete control over them. Those in control use the mechanisms of inflicting fear, shame, guilt, or even intimidation to wear down their victims and keep them in their dominance. This…

In J. Sheridan Le Fanu's novella Carmilla, there is a continuum of transgressive ideas. These ideas are primarily conveyed through the character of Carmilla. Her companion, Laura, however, is exemplary of the classic idea of the fallen woman. Arguably, Carmilla could be viewed as the classic vampire: bloodthirsty and evil. While this may be true in some regard, Carmilla is a complex and polyvalent character who is fueled by more than just her lust for blood. She, in many ways, is the true…

“Where are we going Carmilla? It’s so cold out and we don’t even know where to start.” “Well if there is anything I’ve learned in the years of criminal justice classes’ I’ve taken. It’s that most victims never end up more than five miles out of their living area.” “Can you like, steal a car or something. So we don’t have to walk five miles out of the way?” “Out of the way? You realize that finding Laura and everyone else could be ‘out of the way’ in fucking Switzerland?” “I-I didn’t mean...” “No…

travelled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, “You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever”. Carmilla’s romantic onslaught of Laura so confuses her as she has no awareness of homosexuality that she wonders if Carmilla may be a boy in disguise? “What if a boyish lover had found his way into the house, and sought to prosecute his suit in masquerade”. Though Laura is unaware of lesbianism, she certainly knows when someone is trying to woo her…

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla displays the theme of attraction versus repulsion throughout the novella, but particularly emphasizes these contradicting ideas in the passage on page 44-45. This passage depicts Laura’s sickness as she begins to turn into a vampire. While the idea of Laura becoming a creature that thrives off blood should be repulsive, her intrigue at the thought of death creates a more impactful scene. Within the first few sentences of the passage we hear of Laura’s ill…

Le Fanu’s story of Carmilla has been adapted as a web series, in which the setting is modern day society at a college campus. Laura remains the narrator of the thirty-six-episode season, where she records all of the events from her dorm room as part of her journalism class. The web series stays loyal to Carmilla reprising the role of the female vampire in the story, while also implying other female romantic relationships. In the short story Le Fanu’s choice of using a female vampire oppose to a…

society’s hopes and desires. Despite the fact that Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) were written twenty five years apart, the vampires in these works of literature represent the same ultimate fear of infiltration, but differ in the kind of subtle desires they projected – Carmilla was fixated on the hidden area of…

feed upon the blood of the living to gain immortality. Vampires in literature became popular in the mid to late nineteenth century. Some of these early novels on vampires include; Bam Stoker’s Dracula, Polidori’s The Vampyre and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla. In the twentieth century with the invention of the video camera vampire films have become a mains take in our culture. One of the very first movies ever created was a film called Nosferatu which was an unauthorized adaptation of the novel…