Carmilla Character Analysis

The source material used for “never quite sane in the night.” was the 1872 gothic novella “Carmilla”, a first person narrative from the perspective of Laura, the target and victim of a vampire. Taking inspiration from the semi-monologue style in which it was written, I created an episodic account of specific significant and reflective moments from throughout the lifetime of Carmilla, the novella’s love interest and antagonist.
The time setting used to make the accounts accurate to the canonical timeframe allowed me to use much more complex vocabulary than a more modern piece would grant, and also to show the development of said language across the centuries (to a certain degree), demonstrating how the complexity changes as the years increase. I also used this development to, in a way, parallel Carmilla’s character development, with both the language she uses changing to fit her circumstances, for instance; using violent imagery such as “blistering hunger rip[ping] down [her] gullet” in the aftermath of her violent murder and vampiric transformation, and her newfound bloodlust being accompanied by scents “pulsing” around her. I did this to cause the reader to feel a sort of

affinity with the character, to be able to empathise, in turn making her later declarations and insinuations more impactful upon the reader’s emotions.
As, in the stimulus text, Carmilla moves between girls, presumably around the country, possibly beyond (all we know is that her “home lay[s] in the direction of the west” and that she has previously preyed on General Speilsdorf’s niece, Bertha Rheinfeldt, in another area of Austria), I interpreted this as a theme of inconsistency in her life, of having no constant presence that was of any comfort. This thought inspired the idea of stars being quite significant to Carmilla and so, in the last account, I used this significant element to describe another important factor in her life, an unnamed girl who she is implied to have fallen in love with. I used imagery such as “shot through the heart with starlight” to impress upon the reader this girl’s purity, and the “divine” light in which Carmilla sees her. I later accentuate this by aligning the coffin she is trapped in as punishment with a “blackened void”, intended to represent the presence of a black hole, an all-consuming celestial body whose gravity prevents anything escaping, including light. This metaphorical “void” or black hole, can also allude to the earlier mentioned “Mama”, implied to be the one who turned Carmilla into a vampire. Combining this imagery with the earlier description of the woman (“Pale skin, black eyes, haunting- nay, enthralling- beauty”, “[an] imperious glance behind her … silence[d] them”) is intended to give the woman an eerie, powerful air, distinctly unnatural with implications of great power, or- due to her implicit control of the beings behind her- the ability to wield and control great power.
A pervading theme in the source text is that of female power, with the few males in the story acting generally submissively, subject to the wishes of the female characters.

Indeed, both Laura’s father and General Speilsdorf seem incapable of refusing the desires of their daughter or niece, and the request to house the injured Carmilla. I continued on this theme in a somewhat less significant way, what with the necessity of “Mama” being in control of Carmilla, however, the presence of Carmilla’s love, with her “dogged determination” and how she “fought… [for] the justice she knew [the previous countless victims] deserved”, despite later being stopped by “Mama”, she is implied to have made a distinct impact on Mama’s operations if it was significant enough for Carmilla to be banished as a

result.