Interview with the Vampire

For this week I read Interview with the Vampire. The most interesting relationship I observed in this story is the relationship between Louis and Lestat. There are many things I want to address but the first is that this relationship is between two males. For the time this sort of intimate relationship between two people of the same sex was not as accepted as it is today. More importantly this relationship as portrayed throughout the narrative is done so with such a masterful attention to lifelike nuances that one might actually believe in the feelings being represented. From the night that Louis is turned by Lestat, during which he describes a certain euphoria found in intimacy, to their more bitter end we see a full range of emotions. One of the most important features I noticed is that although sometimes there current state is one of apathy we do see a certain bond that cannot be broken, which in the story is represented by the maker and made relationship, but which we do see in real relationships. At one point we even see Louis attempt to take the life of Lestat without remorse. Another extremely important relationship is between that of the two elder vampires and Claudia. They serve as a sort of parental unit, which one might notice still solidifies even more the sort of union between Louis and Lestat, and at the same time are the cause of her death. Louis suffers from this in a bizarre manner. He feels remorse for turning her but at the same time he is close enough to care about her because he turned her. After which we see to his horror Claudia showing an attitude of little care towards killing while he himself does so with regret, even though he won’t even kill humans. That is also something else to notice. Louis refuses to feed off humans, which is uncharacteristic for a vampire. Then again this book shows a very wide array of vampires from Louis the regretful, to Lestat the cruel and cunning, and even to the mindless corpses of Eastern Europe. What I find so interesting out of all of this is that the different types of vampires are not simply classified but defined by their actions and attitudes, making them completely fluid characters with as much if not more humanity than most humans themselves.

Frankenstein Review

Frankenstein is a story marked by it's intense obsession with death and its broken morals, morals that in fact reflect many of those exhibited in the real world. The genius scientist Frankenstein discovers the secret to delivering life unto an inanimate life form. In this way he deems himself a creator, one who can transcend the natural boundaries of human power. This theme of the artificially alive or the unnatural life is something seen often in Gothic stories. I believe what makes this story stand out is that this monster or unnatural life was not the cause of some unknown magic or ancient force such as with many vampire stories, but because of the efforts of a single man. In this way the ultimate power to break nature lies within our own minds and not in an unthinkable evil. Although this theme is dominant in the creation, the culmination of this feat leaves the creator vulnerable. This vulnerability is a very strong Gothic theme, the idea that the forces at play are not only very dangerous but cannot be stopped by any man. Indeed the monster is an unstoppable force when he so chooses and he does use this force to destroy lives.