Carmilla: Difference between revisions

* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: When a poor pedlar remarks in good will, but [[Elephant in The Living Room|with little tact on]] [[Red Right Hand|Carmilla's fanged teeth]], she flies in a rage and declares "''we'' [[Kick the Dog|would had him whipped!]]" She also reacts very contemptuously on Laura's empathy on the death of a peasant girl that was (as is implied) killed by vampires (probably by Carmilla herself), stating she doesn't "trouble her head about peasants."<ref>A latent trope in most 19th century vampire stories, reflecting the “parasitic” existence of the traditional nobility in the "backwards" regions of Europe.</ref>

* [[Cats Are Mean]]: Carmilla can [[Voluntary Shapeshifter|assume the shape]] of a monstrous cat.

* [[Evil Feels Good]]: Carmilla, although she did not become a vampire of her free will, obviously [[Fully Embraced Fiend|fully embraced her vampiric existence]]. She is, however, not totally without moral reflection, as she tries in fact in several instances to justify or rationalize her behavior (naturally [[Genre Blindness|nobody gets it]]). Some of her strange fits of agitation ''could'' even be the effect of feelings of guilt.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Part of the fun in ''Carmilla'' is that the final reveal is hinted at countless times, but all the characters are just too clueless to get it.

* [[Not Using the Z Word|Not Using the V Word]]: The word "vampire" is never used until the last few pages. Before that, there is only ominous talk about the ''oupir'', the North-slavic version of the vampire.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: For the curious: Le Fanu's vampire facts. <ref> Can walk around in daylight, but are "languid" and quickly exhausted physically (not mentally), and appear to be much more powerful during the night. They are able to shapeshift, pass through closed doors, and move too quick for the human eye to follow. They possibly can even turn invisible or dematerialize. The grip of their hands is unnaturally strong and can cause human limbs to grow stiff. Moonlight especially enhances their powers. They have to return to their grave at least for some hours every day and are unable to relocate their own gravesite on their own account, making their activities somewhat territorially restricted. Other than some special long, thin, pointy teeth that are hard to notice, they appear indistinguishable from living human beings, and have a faint pulse and respiration even in their dormant state. Suck blood only from sleeping victims. May kill a victim in a single night, but usually return to the same person for a few days till (rarely) up to several weeks. If not hindered, they always continue their visits until the victim dies, causing the victim to turn a vampire by default. Vampires are not peculiarly pale - on the contrary Carmilla is admired for her beautiful, brilliant, rosy complexion ... especially when she has fed on blood the previous night.</ref>

* [[Rasputinian Death]]: The method required to kill vampires, to completely prevent them from resurrecting, according to the local vampire expert: first they have to be [[Impaled With Extreme Prejudice|impaled]], then [[Losing Your Head|decapitated]], [[Kill It With Fire|burned]], and ''then'' have their ashes thrown into a river. {{spoiler|This is Carmilla's ultimate fate.}}

* [[Significant Anagram]]: Carmilla apparently creates new aliases for herself by anagramming her original name {{spoiler|Mircalla}}; a previous victim knew her as "Millarca."