Final Project (Essay Part)

Morgan Thoma

Colleen Booker

English 263

May 14, 2010

Carmilla

Throughout this semester, we have explored many aspects of the Irish tradition and of the Irish novel. We have learned about a few well-known Irish authors and what the country of Ireland has really been through. From Celtic Tigers to vampires, the world of Irish literature is packed full of excitement and wit but also has elements of disaster and misery. But nonetheless I found it interesting and enjoyable to explore, and have realized that I have a strong passion for the novel in general and am planning on pursuing it further in my education journey. The novels that I particularly took interest to included Breakfast on Pluto, A Portrait of The Artist, and especially Carmilla.

I decided to do a creative take on Carmilla because the story itself stood out to me. The way it was written and the character of Laura also stood out too. Personally, I could relate to Laura wanting to have a friend so badly that she could relate to but just not having any luck finding any. What I could not relate to was the reason for her lack of friends being desertion of her country. That whole element from the story was really strong, and helped create an even bigger spectrum of possible themes in the novel. It also helped add a sense of isolation not only to the setting of the novel but to the dire circumstance of not being able to escape things, i.e. Carmilla. There is also a theme of desire in this novel—after all it is somewhat of a love story. Laura finds herself to possess something she thinks is love for Carmilla, but it may just be because she is filling the void of her absent mother. Carmilla, on the other hand, claims to love Laura, and makes uncomfortable gestures towards her with which she is unsure of the meaning. The reader finds out quickly though, that the real thing Carmilla is after is Laura’s blood. However, the theme of homosexuality is still evident throughout the novel, no matter what the real reason for the lust is.

In Irish literature, homosexuality plays a big role in some of the main themes seen in novels written by Irish authors. It has been seen in Carmilla, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Breakfast on Pluto, and even The Gathering. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, homosexuality is evident through the character of Basil, and how he becomes “infatuated” with Dorian and his looks. The author, Oscar Wilde, also took a liking to men, and his homosexuality was often questioned, especially since he was imprisoned for having relations with men. In Breakfast on Pluto, Pussy grows up dressing like the opposite sex and has a desire to be a woman. She engages in sexual activities with both men and women, her confusion most likely being fueled with the loss of her mother and the sick notions that fill her head about what she believes happened to her mother from whom she believes is her father. This novel is perhaps the most “rich” in homosexuality, but it doesn’t take over as the main theme of the novel. The Gathering can be seen as having homosexual affairs in it as well, though in a more unfortunate way than the previous novels. The theme of homosexuality is not very prominent, but it is introduced. Liam suffers from memories of being inappropriately handled by Lambert Nugent, which lead him to taking away his own life. And finally, in Carmilla, the relationship between Laura and Carmilla is considered by many who read the novel to be homosexual. It may be a controversial theme to some, but nonetheless is it interesting, alerting, and real.

Though the Irish novels that we read in class had the same theme of homosexuality, they also had themes of want, desolation, and conflict. In every single novel we have read, there has been a want or desire that the protagonist can’t immediately attain. For Carmilla it was Laura’s blood, and essentially having the love of Laura. In Dorian it was everlasting beauty and youth and even for Basil it was having Dorian and his beauty. For A Portrait it was belonging, and finding out whom one really is. This theme is entirely evident in Breakfast, because it was everywhere within the pages of the novel. Pussy wanted her mother and a family; she wanted to belong somewhere. And even in The Gathering, Veronica wanted so badly to know what drove her brother off the edge and into committing suicide. Of course desolation is evident in most of the novels too, whether it be metaphorical or physical. And what novel is truly enjoyable to read without conflict? That theme was also evident in the novels as well. However, I chose to further explore Carmilla because I think this novel is the strongest of these three themes.

Carmilla was a novel that I took interest in right away. Of course it was easy for a vampire novel to capture my attention (thanks to Twilight) but even still I have always loved supernatural fiction and such. I thought it would be interesting to do a modern take on Carmilla because it was so interesting to read Twilight in modern day. The only previous vampire stories I had heard of was Dracula, and that was set in an older era. When I first read Twilight four years ago, the setting and modern aspects of the novel painted such an incredible picture in my mind that I wanted to believe it was all real; I wanted to believe that vampires were real, and that this instance that happened in the novel could possibly happen to me. Of course, I knew it was impossible, but the novel still made me happy and wishful. Not to get entirely off subject but it’s the same with the movie “Avatar.” It has been said that “Avatar” made some people depressed because the movie was so incredible that they wanted to actually live on Pandora, and while watching the film in the theater they for a second almost believed it to be real. While exiting the theater, realization set in and all of a sudden Earth wasn’t good enough for them—they needed to be on the fictional planet of Pandora. Now, this didn’t happen to me personally but I can relate to that feeling all the same.

Back to Carmilla—I wasn’t sure how exactly to conduct writing the story. I didn’t know if I should rewrite the whole thing or just a few chapters. Then I worried about my chapters not being significant enough or not being able to fit enough imagery in with all the action that happens in just a few pages. I settled on rewriting the beginning in modern time with three short chapters up until they grow their friendship to something more. Then I wanted to rewrite the scene at the end where the General attacks Carmilla (which is strangely related to the ending in Twilight, hmm...) I replaced the General with Laura’s father because I think it adds more of a “family love” theme to the novel and makes the scene stronger. I wanted to rewrite these parts in modern time because I think it would be interesting and challenging to stretch my brain around being an author for a moment and having to come up with settings, scenes, dialogue and emotions. Since the novel already has a plot, setting, and characters, I figured it would be like having the same food for dinner, but instead of frying the chicken, grilling it, and having bow-tie pasta instead of spaghetti (if you get what I mean.) The beginning and end seemed the strongest to me; if I could set the tone of the story then the reader could guess the middle and want to jump right ahead to the end of the story. The end is much different than that of the book, but I wanted it to be that way. Of course, in modern day not many people really believe in vampires being real, and I wanted to incorporate that into the story but also wanted to add a little mystery to what’s real and what isn’t.

Originally, I wanted to rewrite the entire novel in modern-day time, and incorporate every little detail or idea that pops up in my mind but realized that it would be way to long both to write and to have someone else read. However I did use my creativity to replace the obsolete objects in the novel with modern-day ones instead, creating a whole new spectrum of a story. It may not be Twilight, but it’s still realistic and intriguing nonetheless with a twist that no one could have seen coming. I hope you enjoy!