Turning the queer into monster: vampiric queerness in Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla

This article examines the intersection of queerness and monstrosity in Le Fanu’s 1872 novella Carmilla. This study argues that Carmilla’s simultaneous depiction as a vampire and a queer figure serves as a critique of Victorian societal norms regarding sexuality and gender. Unlike existing studies that primarily compare Carmilla with other Gothic vampire stories, this research focuses on how Carmilla’s queerness intensifies her monstrosity, thus reflecting and amplifying Victorian anxieties about non-conformity and social deviance. The paper is divided into two main sections. The first explores how Carmilla’s queerness and vampirehood symbolize deviance, arguing that her relationship with Laura disrupts the era’s rigid norms surrounding family and sexuality. This section emphasizes how Carmilla’s love for Laura, which excludes male dominance, challenges Victorian values of monogamy and heterosexuality. The second section explores societal reactions to Carmilla’s transgression, which illustrates how fear and allure towards her queerness and vampirehood escalate into hostility and rejection. The study concludes that Carmilla’s monstrosity is not rooted solely in her vampirism but in her queerness, which defies the societal framework of her time. This dual identity makes her an ultimate representation of the “other,” whom society seeks to exclude and eradicate. By decoding these elements, the paper sheds light on the historical mechanisms of othering and the cultural constructions of monstrosity. This research highlights the importance of examining cultural fears and societal impulses to alienate those who challenge normative structures.