greyisbetterthangray
I'm gonna need to do another read-through of Carmilla soon, because I've been thinking recently about the role of men in that book. Specifically men as subjugators of women. This is not gonna be a very indepth post so I'm gonna write my thoughts out as bullet points.
- Laura and Carmilla are foils. They are both young aristocratic women, but Laura is still trapped by a patriarchal society but Carmilla has "freed" herself from it (more on that later)
- Laura is one of the most unreliable narrators I have ever read in a book because she has no fucking idea what's going on. It isn't until the very end of the book that she learns the truth and when she tells us (the reader it) she does it in a very emotionally distant way (making me think it's still hard for her to think about)
- But her naivety is central to the narrative because the reason that she is so naive is that she's sheltered. And it's not just because she lives in a big ass castle, but because her father shelters her from the world.
- When he starts to figure shit out, he doesn't tell her anything. He's keeping her secluded because he knows best and his daughter doesn't need to know anything. This is a very paternalistic idea.
- Laura is trapped because the men in her life are dictating every aspect from her choices to what she knows even when her life is in danger.
- And then there's Carmilla. I said she's "free," but I lied cause she isn't.
- She does not enjoy vampirism.
- She kills and manipulates but she doesn't seem to enjoy it and she's constantly justifying herself to Laura even when Laura doesn't realize it
- She talks a lot about the cruelty of love and love not being necessarily a good thing. The way she talks about love is a passionaye hunger that consumes.
- And I do think there's an implication of a cycle of violence in Carmilla's backstory.
- She talks about her first ball and the "cruel love" that nearly killed her; that probably did actually kill her.
- I do think it's likely she's referring to possibly an act of rape. I honestly didn't connect that line witb that until several readings and a retelling, but now that I'm aware of that interpretation it's hard to see it as anything else.
- Which adds another layer to the violence Carmilla commits upon Laura.
- There is the interpretation of Carmilla's behavior towards Laura being a metaphor for rape; I've never been entirely for that interpretation and I'm still not.
- But I am considering the possibility of Carmilla metaphorical reenacting the violence commited against her.
- She's an extremely feminine character but her passion for Laura is described in masculine terms and she does "penetrate" Laura with her fangs
- But of course I think to connect rhat act to the masculine is to entirely ignore that Carmilla biting Laura on the breasts is very clearly meant to allude to the feminine and breastfeeding
- There's lots of mommy shit going on in this novel asdfghjkl
- Especially with Laura and Carmilla both being matrilineally related. They're from a "dead" family; a family that is considered dead because no man carries the name but the family line still exists in Laura.
- And then there's Laura's completely dead and absent mother. So oof. Lots of mommy subtext going on here about the suppress feminine.
- Anyway I'm getting off topic where was i
- Oh right, anyway, with Carmilla suffering a "cruel love" that turned her into a vampire and then she enacts a sort of cruel and selfish love on Laura.
- I mean, I think most of us agree that Carmilla was attempting to turn Laura into a vampire.
- And like the men in Laura's life, Carmilla lies to her. She manipulates and hides from her and she's deciding her future for her without her consent.
- Carmilla is continuing the cycle of male/patriarchial violence.
- (Which strangely makes Carmilla from Netflix's Castlevania a somewhat accurate adaptation of the character asdfghjkl)
- And neither Carmilla nor Laura get happy endings at the end of the story.
So, not sure what my point was. I just wanted to ramble about violence and the depiction of the patriarchy in this book.
