Interview With The Vampire

I definitely see major differences between how vampires are portrayed within Interview with The Vampire compared to Dracula... While in Dracula, we see the Count as a very poised, confident, aristocratic type of vampire, very old and seemingly knowledgeable about parts of the world and kinds of people, etc., in Interview, we see a very different portrayal of vampires. Louis is a very thought-provoking character, as he stays very much in touch with his "human nature" even after he becomes a vampire. It's quite interesting that he does this, as before he turned into a vampire, he describes himself as: "I drank all the time and was at home as little as possible. I lived like a man who wanted to die but who had no courage to do it himself... I backed out of two dues more from apathy than cowardice and truly wished to be murdered..." (11). While Count Dracula is very alluring in a Victorian sense, that he has a mansion, is intelligent, and is sometimes even portrayed as "sexy," Louis and the other vampires in Interview are portrayed in another light. One of the first things I noticed was that they never seem to get older, obviously I know they're immortal, but Louis describes the faces of vampires as soft and wrinkle-free sometimes. It's interesting that they can contain their human characteristics they had in life within their un-dead bodies as vampires.

Also, Count Dracula is viewed completely as a monster, with little or no friends, and many are actually afraid of him, and cower by the sight of him. On the contrary, vampires like Louis, Lestat, and Claudia seem to lure humans in because of their intense beauty and their seemingly sensual personalities. These attributes allow us to almost not hate them as much; Louise seems to have feelings, unlike many other vampires, that humans share, and this causes him much trouble throughout the entirety of the book. On pages 85 and 86, for example, when Lestat is toying with some prostitutes' lives, drinking their blood, scaring them, and leaving them to die, Louis demands he stop, as he cannot stand to be in the room while he did this to human women. Lestat tells him, "You can stand it!... You're a vampire the same as I am!" This is a very bold statement, as we come to find that Louis is very UNLIKE all of the vampires we see in this incredibly enticing novel.