Interview with the Vampire: Part 3, Pages 277-318 Summary & Analysis

One week after Louis turns Madeleine into a vampire, Louis and Claudia join her as she burns down her doll shop. As the fire rages, Louis feels a cold, unsettling fear, as he recalls burning down the townhouse in New Orleans with Lestat still inside. As the shop burns, Armand appears and invites Louis to follow him. Eventually, they arrive at an ancient mansion. Armand tells Louis that he uses the house to be alone, away from the vampires of the Théâtre des Vampires.

Then, Louis and Armand have an in-depth conversation about how vampires die. Armand explains that vampires eventually get sick of life because they no longer can find anything that leaves them feeling fulfilled. Eventually, the thrill of the hunt fades and, without companionship, vampires eventually lose interest in living. At this point, they allow themselves to die, seeing no reason to go on living. Armand admits that he had begun to feel this way himself before meeting Louis. However, Louis’s conflicted moral conscience interested him and brought him back to life. He feels that Louis has retained his humanity in a way that no other vampire has, which he suspects is the key to true immorality.

Additionally, Armand admits he influenced Louis to make Madeleine a vampire, believing it would free Louis to join him. At first, this revelation angers Louis. Louis tells him that he almost destroyed the part of him that Armand finds so interesting. Although he has managed to still retain some of his humanity, Louis feels that turning Madeleine was the closest he came to losing it entirely. He warns Armand to never influence him in such a way again. Armand apologizes and says that Louis is right. However, he felt it was necessary for Louis to transform Madeleine, so that there would be someone to take care of Claudia. Armand tells Louis that Louis needs to convince Claudia to leave Paris with Madeleine because the other vampires are growing increasingly suspicious of her.

It is very near dawn when Louis returns to the hotel. Madeleine, her needle and thread in hand, has fallen asleep by the grate. Claudia stands still at the window, holding a hairbrush, her hair gleaming. The comforting atmosphere of the room overwhelms Louis, who notes that it is different from the enchanting presence of Armand in his mansion. Louis sits in a chair, hands on his temples, and then Claudia approaches him. She softly kisses his forehead and says, “You’ve been with Armand. You want to go with him.”

Louis looks up at her, feeling a sudden urge to touch her cheeks and eyelids. However, he does not. Instead, he suggests that what Claudia says is true, implying that he does intend to leave her to be with Armand. In response, Claudia puts her arms around his neck, and he buries his face in her hair, covering her neck with kisses. She strokes his hair and face, telling him they will do whatever he wishes. Louis asks Claudia if she will be happy with Madeleine. Claudia says she is but expresses concern for him, fearing he might be making a mistake with Armand. She urges him to leave Paris with them, but Louis refuses. Claudia, still skeptical of Armand, tells Louis that he can always return to her if need be.

Later the same night, Louis opens his eyes to find that vampires, including Santiago, have invaded his room. Louis shouts for Claudia to run and fights desperately to protect her and Madeleine. Despite his efforts, Louis is outnumbered and overpowered. He and Madeleine are dragged to the Théâtre des Vampires, where Louis calls out for Armand. Instead, he finds something even more shocking: Lestat. Lestat is angry that the other vampires brought Louis instead of Claudia. Although Lestat was once angry at Louis, he does not wish to take revenge on him.

A coffin is brought in, and despite Louis’s frantic resistance, he is forced into it and locked inside. The coffin is carried away, and he hears the sound of bricks being laid on top of the coffin. Struggling against the claustrophobic darkness, Louis clings to the hope that Armand will come and save him. As the coffin is sealed, Louis’s thoughts turn to Claudia. He remembers her touch and whispers her name.

Louis awakens to a distant voice calling his name, which he eventually identifies as Armand’s. Louis panics at first, thinking Armand will not be able to hear him because he is trapped behind bricks. However, before long, Louis hears the noise of bricks falling and the coffin being unlocked. Once the coffin is open, Armand urges Louis to follow him silently. Louis realizes Armand is rescuing only him and tries to stop him, but Armand insists he can’t save Claudia.

Louis refuses to leave without Claudia and rushes back with Armand following. When they reach the ballroom, Celeste stands in the doorway, seemingly indifferent. She calls to Lestat, who sits hunched in an armchair. Lestat approaches Louis in tears and begs Louis to return to him. Instead, Louis demands to know what happened to Claudia. Then, he sees Lestat clutching a piece of Claudia’s dress in his hands, which is torn and bloodstained. Santiago gestures for Louis to pass through an open door. Through it, Louis sees the burned corpses of Claudia and Madeleine.

A wild, consuming cry rises in Louis. He attacks Santiago, but Armand pulls him away into the ballroom. Lestat calls out to Louis as Armand takes him away. When they are alone, Armand tells Louis he couldn’t prevent their deaths. Louis accuses Armand of having the power to stop it but choosing not to. Quickly, Louis grows vengeful. He warns Armand not to return to the theater, implying that he intends destroy it as an act of revenge.

Louis doesn’t wait for Armand’s response. He leaves without looking back, indifferent to whether Armand follows. He retreats to the Montmartre cemetery, seeking isolation. There, he kills without satisfaction and finds a coffin in the cemetery to lie down in. The coffin offers no comfort, but it is what he wants. When Louis awakens, he wanders out of the graveyard and formulates a plan. He knows taking revenge will be dangerous, but he no longer cares whether he lives or dies.

Louis returns to the Théâtre des Vampires and waits for dawn. Then, he bolts the doors with pieces of wood and nails, making sure no one can escape. A passerby notices but moves on, perhaps believing Louis is the owner. Louis moves two small barrels of kerosene to the secret entrance, which leads to Armand’s room. He also carries a scythe with him. Entering through Armand’s door, he finds the cell empty. He spreads kerosene on the exposed beams and wooden doors of other cells. Listening for sounds, he hears nothing and proceeds upstairs to the ballroom, splashing kerosene on chairs and draperies. He pauses briefly and thinks about opening the door where he saw Madeleine and Claudia’s charred remains. However, he ultimately stops himself from doing so.

Finally, Louis sets fire to the furniture and stage curtains. The flames spread rapidly, illuminating the theater. He flees to the lower floor, setting more fires. Before he can leave the building, Louis hears Santiago’s cry and sees him coming down the stairs. Louis swings his scythe, beheading Santiago. As the fire consumes the theater, Louis hears the screams and sees the other vampires fleeing. Louis strikes Santiago’s head with his boot, sending it flying. Louis flees through the alley just as the sun begins to rise. There, a carriage that he hired waits to carry him away in his coffin.

Two nights later, Louis returns to the Théâtre des Vampires. The place is now a rain-flooded cellar with scorched bricks and skeletal rafters. Although Louis is glad that he got his revenge, the deaths of the other vampires do not bring him peace. Louis wanders to the Louvre, hoping to find solace in art. Along the way, Armand joins him silently. They walk together until Louis finally decides to speak. Louis asks Armand why there were no guards at the Théâtre des Vampires when he set fire to it.

Armand says that the guards served him, and he discharged them, knowing what Louis was going to do. Louis asks Armand whether he felt any sense of loyalty to the other vampires that he has known for so long. Armand says he does not, which Louis cannot wrap his head around. Still, he finds himself drawn to Armand and decides that they must be together now that everyone else is dead.

Louis and Armand leave Paris for Egypt soon after. Before leaving, Louis returns to his rooms at the Hôtel Saint-Gabriel intending to gather Claudia and Madeleine’s belongings to have them buried. However, upon seeing everything neat and ready as if they might return, he finds the task meaningless and leaves. At the hotel, Louis realizes something: the human heart and its understanding no longer matter to him. Because everything can be reduced to ashes—like Claudia and Madeleine—nothing is worth caring about.