66 pages • 2 hours read
The Vampire Lestat
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Beauty
Beauty, as a motif, develops the theme of The Importance of the Arts. For instance, the frescos that Marius paints around Those Who Must Be Kept are beautiful: “The beauty was too soothing, too grand” (386). Lestat is frequently overwhelmed by beauty—not only the beauty of visual art, but also of music. Lestat’s ongoing appreciation for beauty enables him to remain in touch with his more human emotions, helping him to feel connected to humanity even as a vampire.
Becoming a vampire also allows Lestat to find beauty in the everyday and strange. For instance, he notices that “even the rats shooting past in the dark had a curious beauty” (93). Many of the vampires are described as beautiful, just like many of the human characters. For instance, Louis has an “unusual beauty and unfailing charm” (498). Beauty thus offers a means by which vampires and humans can still remain connected to one another.
Angels
The symbolism of angels in the novel reflects The Tensions Between Good and Evil. Marius paints angels after he becomes a vampire, and Anne Rice describes almost all of her vampires as angels. For instance, Lestat refers to “My dark angel Gabrielle” (175). He also describes Armand putting “his other arm around Gabrielle’s waist, and the sight of them together, angel and angel, distracted me” (203). The repeated idea of vampires as “fallen angels” creates an allusion to the biblical myth of Lucifer/Satan’s fall from heaven after he and the other rebel angels rebel against God; this allusion is reinforced by the Children of Darkness coven, who regard themselves as followers of Satan and who are committed to the cause of evil. However, Lestat’s ongoing commitment to goodness suggests that the battle between good and evil remains ongoing, with the “angelic” appearance and qualities of the vampires suggesting that they may not be doomed to afterlives of unrepentant evil after all.
Blood
Blood is an important motif in the text, reflecting the vampire’s otherworldly natures. All of the vampires need to partake of blood to survive, but some—like Lestat—only drink the “blood of the evildoer” (294, 419) in an attempt to maintain a sense of human morality. In this way, the vampires function as the judge and executioner of murderers and thieves.
Drinking blood also speaks to the emotional and physical connections between the vampires themselves. The act of blood-drinking is described as akin to sexual ecstasy, and a vampire offering blood to another vampire to feed is depicted as an act of special intimacy or favor, such as when Akasha encourages Lestat to feed upon her in response to his music. Similarly, denying blood to another vampire can be an act of rejection and power, such as when Armand refuses to feed Lestat when Lestat is injured. Blood-drinking—or a refusal to drink or share blood—thus mirrors the level of intimacy between vampires, symbolizing intimacy and connection, or the lack thereof.
Violin
Nicolas’s violin is a symbol that reflects The Importance of the Arts, as well as The Tensions Between Good and Evil. It is a “Stradivarius violin” (258), a violin of exceptional quality. While Lestat thinks that there is goodness in the violin’s music, many “men thought the violin the work of the devil and accused its finest players of being possessed” (483). Nicolas believes he is evil and his violin music is evil. When Nicolas dies, his violin is sent to Lestat, and Marius makes sure to bring the violin when he takes Lestat to his secret island. There, the violin wakes up Akasha from her statue-like state, suggesting that Lestat is right about the power of music after all.
Unlock all 66 pages of this Study GuidePlus, gain access to 8,800+ more expert-written Study Guides.
Including features:
