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The Nature of Evil
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Interview with the Vampire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Interview with the Vampire explores desire through a homoerotic subtext and the vampires’ insatiable thirst for blood, which shapes the relationships of the novel’s characters. The homoerotic undertones become evident in the intense, often intimate bond between Louis and Lestat. Their relationship transcends mere companionship, suggesting romantic and sexual desire (though the novel’s vampires never explicitly engage in sexual activity). Lestat’s decision to turn Louis into a vampire stems from a deep longing for a companion who can share his immortality. This act of transforming Lous, which occurs through an intimate exchange of blood, serves as a metaphor for a deeper connection, as their bodily fluids combine into one.
The desire for blood, however, is about more than the vampires’ need for sustenance; it represents a deep, erotic craving for companionship, either platonic or romantic, and one that’s inherently (and confusingly) tied up with violence. The act of feeding for Louis, Lestat, and Claudia becomes a moment of intense intimacy, even as it blurs the lines between violence and passion. Louis’s initial reluctance to kill humans and his eventual succumbing to the thirst highlight his struggle with this desire to harm others. Feeding on Claudia marks a significant turning point for Louis where he acknowledges the seductive power of blood and the pleasure it brings, despite his moral objections. The act of feeding, which is laced with eroticism and violence, underscores the vampires’ struggles with their identities and desires: whether they want to hurt or kill humans (or animals) or not, their survival depends on carrying out regular acts of violence. The novel thus suggests that vampires, like humans, are driven by impulses they cannot fully understand or control, which is both a source of pleasure and torment.
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Violence, Desire, and Eroticism ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Violence, Desire, and Eroticism appears in each part of Interview with the Vampire. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Violence, Desire, and Eroticism Quotes in Interview with the Vampire
Below you will find the important quotes in Interview with the Vampire related to the theme of Violence, Desire, and Eroticism.
Part 1, Pages 1-70
Quotes
“Killing is no ordinary act,” said the vampire. “One doesn’t simply glut oneself on blood.” He shook his head. “It is the experience of another’s life for certain, and often the experience of the loss of that life through the blood, slowly. It is again and again the experience of that loss of my own life, which I experienced when I sucked the blood from Lestat’s wrist and felt his heart pound with my heart. It is again and again a celebration of that experience; because for vampires that is the ultimate experience.”
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“Angels feel love, and pride…the pride of The Fall…and hatred. The strong overpowering emotions of detached persons in whom emotion and will are one,” he said finally. He stared at the table now, as though he were thinking this over, were not entirely satisfied with it. “I had for Babette…a strong feeling. It was not the strongest I’ve ever known for a human being.” He looked up at the boy. “But it was very strong. Babette was to me in her own way an ideal human being….”
Part 1, Pages 71-158
Quotes
“But the question pounded in me: Am I damned? If so, why do I feel such pity for her, for her gaunt face? Why do I wish to touch her tiny, soft arms, hold her now on my knee as I am doing, feel her bend her head to my chest as I gently touch the satin hair? Why do I do this? If I am damned I must want to kill her, I must want to make her nothing but food for a cursed existence, because being damned I must hate her.”
“‘But Claudia, he is not mortal. He’s immortal. No illness can touch him. Age has no power over him. You threaten a life which might endure to the end of the world!’
“‘Ah, yes, that’s it, precisely!’ she said with reverential awe. ‘A lifetime that might have endured for centuries. Such blood, such power. Do you think I’ll possess his power and my own power when I take him?’”
Part 4
Quotes
“Don’t you see how you made it sound? It was an adventure like I’ll never know in my whole life! You talk about passion, you talk about longing! You talk about things that millions of us won’t ever taste or come to understand. And then you tell me it ends like that. I tell you…” And he stood over the vampire now, his hands outstretched before him. “If you were to give me that power! The power to see and feel and live forever!”
And quickly the boy noted:
“Lestat…off St. Charles Avenue. Old house crumbling…shabby neighborhood. Look for rusted railings.”
And then, stuffing the notebook quickly in his pocket, he gathered the tapes into his briefcase, along with the small recorder, and hurried down the long hallway and down the stairs to the street, where in front of the corner bar his car was parked.
