Musings

Normally when we hear the word    vampire , the first image that usually comes to mind is a malevolent, blood-thirsty creature looking for its next meal (Edward Cullen, anyone?) However, in Anne Rice's novel "Interview with The Vampire," there seems to be so much more than a simple hemophile thirsting for blood. Through protagonists such as Louis, Lestat, and Claudia, Rice reveals that there is more to these 'fearsome' characters than meets the eye. They are not vicious vampires, but vampires with compassion and desire to do normal, average… well, human things. For example, when Louis faces a personal crisis, he makes his way to an art museum to contemplate several paintings. Even the crude Lestat tends to spend spare time at the opera house, or attending productions of Shakespeare. Looking at the overall plot and motivations of the characters, the reader can’t help but feel some sort of empathy for all the vampires involved. Sure, they kill innocent people j...

There is a certain type of obsession with the role of God that has withstood the test of time; the all-powerful desire to dictate Life and Death—perhaps to bring back a deceased loved one, or to create an entirely new form of life. In Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”, Victor Frankenstein focuses on the latter with the creation of his monster. Unsurprisingly however, this decision acts as the catalyst for a chain of events that alter the lives of Victor, his assistant, and even his family in the worst ways imaginable. Unlike other pieces of Gothic literature however, Shelley also explores the pursuit of knowledge and the enlightening power that comes with it, through the concept of a monster who was just created. Imagine; an infant intellectually advancing so quickly to the point where they begin teaching themselves how to read, speak, and write. The monster, who had started from absolutely nothing, pursues that very knowledge in order to obtain a sense of belonging that Victor robbed him...