Challenging Male Authority

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 345 - Challenging Male Authority

Well, I had planned for the previous episode to be the last one where I dealt with Carmilla - but I soon found out that the work was easy to get into, but hard to get out of.  So what follows is another - and hopefully the last - episode regarding Carmilla.

You see, ”Carmilla" focuses more on psychological terror and emotional entanglement rather than physical violence, creating a more nuanced and unsettling atmosphere that can really stick with you.

As mentioned in the previous episode, the novella is notable for its portrayal of same-sex desire, with Carmilla expressing romantic and sexual interest in her female victims. This queer subtext was groundbreaking for its time.

Carmilla also exhibits some unique traits compared to other literary vampires. She can move about during daylight hours, though she has nocturnal habits.  And unlike some vampires who prey indiscriminately, Carmilla becomes emotionally involved with a select few of her victims, adding depth to her character. The novella incorporates classic Gothic fiction elements, including a supernatural figure, a dark castle setting, and an ominous atmosphere.

Thank you for experiencing Celebrate Poe.

Transcript

Welcome to Celebrate Poe - Episode 346 - Challenging Male Authority

Well, I had planned for the previous episode to be the last one where I dealt with Carmilla - but I soon found out that the work was easy to get into, but hard to get out of.  So what follows is another - and hopefully the last - episode regarding Carmilla.

You see, ”Carmilla" focuses more on psychological terror and emotional entanglement rather than physical violence, creating a more nuanced and unsettling atmosphere that can really stick with you.

As mentioned in the previous episode, the novella is notable for its portrayal of same-sex desire, with Carmilla expressing romantic and sexual interest in her female victims. This queer subtext was groundbreaking for its time.

Carmilla definitely also exhibits some unique traits compared to other literary vampires. She can move about during daylight hours, though she has nocturnal habits.  And unlike some vampires who prey indiscriminately, Carmilla becomes emotionally involved with a select few of her victims, adding depth to her character. The novella incorporates classic Gothic fiction elements, including a supernatural figure, a dark castle setting, and an ominous atmosphere.

Perhaps Carmilla is most unique - especially among vampire stories - in that it challenges Victorian gender roles by portraying female characters as equal or superior to men, in contrast to the typical depiction of women as dependent on male protection.

Carmilla's portrayal of a lesbian vampire has had a significant and lasting influence on modern vampire literature, particularly in its representation of female and queer characters As one of the earliest works to feature a female vampire with explicit same-sex desires, Carmilla paved the way for more diverse and complex vampire characters in literature.

The novella challenged Victorian gender norms by presenting assertive female characters, influencing later works to explore themes of female empowerment and autonomy within vampire narratives.  And Carmilla's exploration of same-sex desire has made it a touchstone for queer representation in vampire fiction, inspiring numerous adaptations and reinterpretations that focus on LGBTQ+ themes.

The story's focus on emotional entanglement and psychological horror has influenced modern vampire literature to delve deeper into the complex relationships between vampires and their victims - relationships that will really come into play when this podcast examines Poe’s vampiric stories.

By the way - vampiric is spelled VAMPIRIC - at first, I was unsure of how to pronounce the word  - but just remember PEER in the middle - in other words, Vam PEER ic.

But getting back to Carmilla - the title character’s portrayal as a complex character with emotions and desires has contributed to the trend of humanizing vampires in contemporary literature, moving away from purely monstrous depictions.

And numerous modern adaptations often view Carmilla as a symbol of female liberation and rebellion against patriarchal norms, inspiring works that explore themes of female agency and sexuality.

Carmilla's impact extends beyond literature, influencing various media including films, TV series, and even web series, cementing the lesbian vampire as a recognizable archetype in popular culture.

While initially viewed as a threat to societal norms, modern interpretations often portray Carmilla and similar characters as attractive, if dangerous, sapphic icons, reflecting changing attitudes towards queer representation.

Carmilla's legacy continues to shape vampire literature, encouraging more diverse, complex, and nuanced portrayals of female and queer characters within the genre.

It is important to remember that Carmilla's portrayal in Sheridan Le Fanu's  novella significantly challenges traditional gender roles in vampire stories, particularly for its time. Unlike many vampire tales of the era, "Carmilla" features both a female narrator (Laura) and a female vampire (Carmilla), subverting the typical male-dominated narratives.

Carmilla possesses and expresses sexual desire, particularly towards other women, which was groundbreaking for its day. This portrayal challenges the Victorian ideal of passive, asexual femininity.

Carmilla is depicted as an assertive, manipulative character who actively pursues her victims, inverting the usual dynamic of male vampires preying on passive female victims.

The novella focuses on the emotional and psychological aspects of the vampire-victim relationship, moving beyond simple physical threat to explore deeper, more nuanced interactions between women.

Carmilla represents a form of female empowerment, offering Laura an alternative to the patriarchal society that defines women solely as daughters, wives, and mothers.

The male characters in the story are often portrayed as powerless or ineffective in the face of Carmilla's influence, undermining traditional notions of male protectorship and control.

And by depicting same-sex desire, Le Fanu challenges traditional assumptions and explores taboo subjects, pushing boundaries in Victorian literature.

Carmilla's character has become an enduring symbol of female empowerment and queer representation in vampire literature, inspiring numerous adaptations and reinterpretations that continue to challenge gender norms.

By presenting a complex, sexually autonomous female vampire, Le Fanu's "Carmilla" laid the groundwork for more diverse and nuanced portrayals of gender and sexuality in vampire fiction, challenging the norms of its time and influencing the genre for generations to come.

Now I believe it can be argued that the entire Gothic genre plays a crucial role in Carmilla's challenge to traditional gender roles, providing a framework that allows for the exploration of taboo subjects. 

You see, Gothic fiction often addresses forbidden attractions, allowing Carmilla to explore same-sex desire in a time when it was heavily taboo.

And the genre's focus on psychological horror enables a nuanced examination of the characters' inner conflicts and desires, particularly Laura's ambivalence towards Carmilla.

The story inverts the usual dynamic of male vampires preying on passive female victims, eventually presenting Carmilla as an assertive and manipulative character.  And unlike other Gothic works that maintain clear gender distinctions, Carmilla exists in a space where gender roles are blurry at best.

From a seeming practical standpoint, the use of isolated settings facilitates the exploration of unconventional relationships. The story's remote castle setting creates a space removed from societal norms, allowing for the development of Laura and Carmilla's relationship. The isolated setting serves as a means to explore themes of feminine captivity and autonomy.

And by utilizing and subverting Gothic conventions, Carmilla creates a narrative space that challenges traditional gender roles, exploring female empowerment, sexual agency, and queer themes in ways that were revolutionary for its time.

One especially interesting aspect of Carmilla is how it employs several Gothic elements to contribute to its subversion of gender norms:

For example, The remote castle setting creates a space removed from societal norms, allowing for the development of Laura and Carmilla's unconventional relationship. This isolation facilitates the exploration of taboo themes and challenges to traditional gender roles.

Carmilla, as a female vampire, represents a powerful and threatening female figure. Her supernatural nature allows her to possess traits typically associated with male characters in Gothic fiction, such as strength, dominance, and sexual agency. The novella focuses on the emotional and psychological aspects of the vampire-victim relationship, moving beyond simple physical threat. This approach allows for a more nuanced exploration of female desires and relationships.

The Gothic genre's penchant for ambiguity allows Le Fanu to explore themes of same-sex desire and female empowerment without explicitly stating them, challenging heteronormative assumptions of the time.

And the Gothic mode inherently deals with transgressive subjects, providing a framework for Carmilla to explore forbidden attractions and challenge societal norms surrounding female sexuality.

These Gothic elements work together to create a narrative that challenges traditional Victorian ideals of womanhood, exploring themes of female sexuality, autonomy, and power in ways that were revolutionary for its time.

Now Laura and Carmilla represent contrasting gender roles in Le Fanu's novella, highlighting the tension between traditional Victorian femininity and a more transgressive female identity:
 
Carmilla exists outside male control, representing a form of female empowerment and autonomy.  And as a vampire, Carmilla embodies both threat and allure, challenging societal norms surrounding female sexuality and power.

The contrast between Laura and Carmilla serves to highlight the novella's exploration of female sexuality and autonomy within the constraints of Victorian society. While Laura initially resists Carmilla's influence, her eventual ambivalence towards their relationship suggests a complex negotiation of gender roles and desires.

Carmilla's portrayal as a vampire challenges Victorian ideals of femininity in several significant ways. Carmilla embodies female sexual desire and aggressiveness, which were considered non-existent or taboo in Victorian society. As a vampire, she symbolizes what was not supposed to exist: women with sexual passion. This representation directly contradicts the Victorian ideal of women as sexually innocent and passive.

The vampire Carmilla possesses a level of independence and power that defies Victorian gender norms. She acts without male authority, making her own decisions and pursuing her own desires. This autonomy stands in stark contrast to the ideal of the submissive "Angel in the House" that Victorian society promoted for women.

Carmilla's character also subverts traditional power dynamics between men and women. Her ability to seduce and dominate challenges the expected male authority in Victorian relationships. This portrayal of female dominance was particularly threatening to Victorian patriarchal structures.

And the author uses the vampire figure to explore and expose female passions that were often suppressed or ignored in Victorian society. Carmilla's overt sexuality and her romantic interest in Laura bring to light aspects of female desire that were considered taboo, especially same-sex attraction.

As a vampire, Carmilla represents a complete rejection of societal expectations for women. She is not bound by the moral, social, or sexual constraints that Victorian society imposed on women. This portrayal challenges the notion that women must conform to rigid societal roles to have value.

There is no question that there were often anxieties surrounding any mention or kind of sex during the Victorian era - this is especially true of the relationship between Laura and Carmilla.  In fact, Laura's relationship with Carmilla  reflects several Victorian anxieties, particularly those surrounding female sexuality, social norms, and the perceived threats to established patriarchal structures.  For example, Laura experiences a mix of attraction and repulsion towards Carmilla, indicating her struggle with forbidden desires.  Laura's father's initial acceptance of Carmilla highlights the naivety of male guardians in recognizing potential "threats" to their wards.
Carmilla's character can be interpreted as a symbol of female autonomy, which was often demonized and conflated with the "contamination" of lesbianism. The vampire's influence on Laura represents the fear of women gaining knowledge and experience outside of societal norms. And Carmilla's intrusion into Laura's sheltered life evokes "the horror inherent in the Victorian dream of domestic coziness".

I would like to conclude this episode with two passages from Carmilla - first one from the beginning of the novel that describes an encounter with Laura and Carmilla:

In silence, slowly we walked down to the drawbridge, where the beautiful landscape opened before us.

“And so you were thinking of the night I came here?” she almost whispered.

“Are you glad I came?”

“Delighted, dear Carmilla,” I answered.

“And you asked for my picture to hang in your room,” she murmured with a sigh, as she drew her arm closer about my waist, and let her pretty head sink upon my shoulder. “How romantic you are, Carmilla,” I said. “Whenever you tell me your story, it will be made up chiefly of some one great romance.”

She kissed me silently.

“I am sure, Carmilla, you have been in love; that there is, at this moment, an affair of the heart going on.”

“I have been in love with no one, and never shall,” she whispered, “unless it should be with you.”

How beautiful she looked in the moonlight!

Shy and strange was the look with which she quickly hid her face in my neck and hair, with tumultuous sighs, that seemed almost to sob, and pressed in mine a hand that trembled.

Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. “Darling, darling,” she murmured, “I live in you; and you would die for me, I love you so.”

And finally, an account of Laura in her bedroom.

I got into my bed and fell asleep. A light was burning in my room. This was an old habit, of very early date, and which nothing could have tempted me to dispense with.

Thus fortified I might take my rest in peace. But dreams come through stone walls, light up dark rooms, or darken light ones, and their persons make their exits and their entrances as they please, and laugh at locksmiths.

I had a dream that night that was the beginning of a very strange agony.

I cannot call it a nightmare, for I was quite conscious of being asleep.

But I was equally conscious of being in my room, and lying in bed, precisely as I actually was. I saw, or fancied I saw, the room and its furniture just as I had seen it last, except that it was very dark, and I saw something moving round the foot of the bed, which at first I could not accurately distinguish. But I soon saw that it was a sooty-black animal that resembled a monstrous cat. It appeared to me about four or five feet long for it measured fully the length of the hearthrug as it passed over it; and it continued to-ing and fro-ing with the lithe, sinister restlessness of a beast in a cage. I could not cry out, although as you may suppose, I was terrified. Its pace was growing faster, and the room rapidly darker and darker, and at length so dark that I could no longer see anything of it but its eyes. I felt it spring lightly on the bed. The two broad eyes approached my face, and suddenly I felt a stinging pain as if two large needles darted, an inch or two apart, deep into my breast. I waked with a scream. The room was lighted by the candle that burnt there all through the night, and I saw a female figure standing at the foot of the bed, a little at the right side. It was in a dark loose dress, and its hair was down and covered its shoulders. A block of stone could not have been more still. There was not the slightest stir of respiration. As I stared at it, the figure appeared to have changed its place, and was now nearer the door; then, close to it, the door opened, and it passed out.

I was now relieved, and able to breathe and move. My first thought was that Carmilla had been playing me a trick, and that I had forgotten to secure my door. I hastened to it, and found it locked as usual on the inside. I was afraid to open it—I was horrified. I sprang into my bed and covered my head up in the bedclothes, and lay there more dead than alive till morning.

Join Celebrate Poe for episode 346. The Origins of Vampires

Sources include: Carmilla and Other Tales of Torment: An Annotated Edition by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.