"Interview with the Vampire Writing Assignment"

One of the first relationships shown in Interview with the Vampire is set up early. It begins with Louis (the interviewer) and Lestat de Lioncourt, the vampire to whom Louis is interviewing. The story sets up both how they interact with one another throughout the interview, but also how Vampires are portrayed in the story, such as not being harmed by light. 

Lestat is the one who “creates” Louis, turning him into a vampire (and later, Claudia). He acts more than thinking, since he is a vampire, choosing to bite first before everything else. It later talks about Lestat’s insecurities, and how he uses his powers to keep Louis close to him, resulting in Lestat coming off as this character who knows he’s flawed and will do whatever it takes for that insecurities to not show externally. This an extent of the gothic nature of a story like this. The gothic elements of vampire and the dreary sense towards oneself. It’s the darkness of vampires combined with the reality of one’s persona and how one feels about him or herself. 

Another relationship, which is the most complicated, involves Claudia. Because Claudia was “made” by both Lestat and Louis, after being bitten, this becomes a bit complicated and creates some tension. She has forgotten her human self, and leaves this trail of self loathing and sadness since she feels she won’t have this fulfilling life as a vampire. I feel that this not only creates this interesting look at how a vampire based relationship would be, but also enhances its Gothic undertones and mood. She hastes what she has become from the last 70 years, and can’t do anything about it. Even though she has this relationship with Louis, she feels this hatred and love for him for turning her into a vampire.

Another character that gets involved in the relations is Armand, the oldest of the vampires and leader of the coven of vampires. He sees Louis as this way of helping him connect to the times, especially the 19th century, since he’s been around for so long, and a bit out of touch. It’s his affinity for Louis and his natural evil that causes Armand to kill Claudia. It’s his natural evil combined with his love for another that creates this unnatural, and often unnerving, relationship, which creates an interesting situation. This is what the story is ultimately about; these unsettling relationships between horrific individuals, choosing between their natural urges and living a new life, while trying to come to terms with their new found affinities.

Overall, the relationships shown in Interview with a Vampire can be viewed as ones that embodied love and self doubt, where some characters love one another, yet have trouble coming to terms with themselves. This also goes great with the gothic themes around other gothic readings, such as Frankenstein, and the dark, and gloomy atmosphere, and placing in these realistic and resonating times that most readers would find relatable.