History Literature / Carmilla

* BloodCountess: Carmilla's real name is [[spoiler: Countess Mircalla Karstein]] and it is revealed that she is [[spoiler: an actual vampire, and that she has been killing random women for a very long time. Her obsession with Laura only indicates this trope further.]] Carmilla was most likely another inspiration for the trope, and she's also an {{Main/Expy}} in a ton others.

* HelicoperParents: Although Laura never blames him, there are clear hints that her father is afraid of letting go of her. Even though Laura is suffering from loneliness at the castle, he does not take her to balls, send her to a boarding school, or consciously prepare her for a life outside of the castle. When Laura's father tells her of the death of Bertha Rheinfeldt, General Spielsdorf's niece whom Laura was looking forward to meet, he adds that he is "very glad" that Laura never got to know Bertha, because this way she has been spared the grief of losing a friend. Taken to its conclusion, this reaction indicates that he prefers his daughter not to have friends at all rather than to risk grief from experiencing loss; obviously not a very wise precept, as this in turn makes Laura starved for friendship and affection, making her easy prey for Carmilla.

** Played with. After describing Carmilla's private displays of affection to her (like embracing her, kissing her cheek, and whispering confessions of love in her ear), Laura (relating the story ten years after the fact) emphasizes that Carmilla's behavior and words were incomprehensible and embarrassing to her, and that she wished to extricate herself from Carmilla's "foolish embraces", though at the same time she somehow lacked the power to resist them. She also says that at these occasions she felt "a strange tumultuous excitement", and also that, after such a long time, she only has a "confused [...] recollection of certain occurrences and situations". This lack of remembrance she justifies with the conjecture that "in all lives there are certain emotional scenes, those in which our passions have been most vividly and terribly roused, that are of all others the most vaguely and dimly remembered", which doesn't quite explain why Laura's emotions are so "terribly roused" by Carmilla's embraces. In the same passage Laura also says that she was "conscious of a love growing into adoration", an ambiguous expression that could refer to both Carmilla's love for Laura, but also Laura's love for Carmilla. Taking furthermore into account that the words "excitement" and "passion" both also have a sexual sense, it cannot be ruled out that Laura feigns lack of recollection to conceal that she was sexually aroused by Carmilla, and that the "occurrences" between Carmilla and Laura did not stop at embraces and kisses on the cheek.

** Played with. After describing Carmilla's private displays of affection to her (like embracing her, kissing her cheek, and whispering confessions of love in her ear), Laura (relating the story ten years after the fact) emphasizes that Carmilla's behavior and words were incomprehensible and embarrassing to her, and that she wished to extricate herself from Carmilla's "foolish embraces", though at the same she somehow lacked the power to resist them. She also says that at these occasions she felt "a strange tumultuous excitement", and also that, after such a long time, she only has a "confused [...] recollection of certain occurrences and situations". This lack of remembrance she justifies with the conjecture that "in all lives there are certain emotional scenes, those in which our passions have been most vividly and terribly roused, that are of all others the most vaguely and dimly remembered", which doesn't quite explain why Laura's emotions are so "terribly roused" by Carmilla's embraces. In the same passage Laura also says that she was "conscious of a love growing into adoration", an ambiguous expression that could refer to both Carmilla's love for Laura, but also Laura's love for Carmilla. Taking furthermore into account that the words "excitement" and "passion" both also have a sexual sense, it cannot be ruled out that Laura feigns lack of recollection to conceal that she was sexually aroused by Carmilla, and that the "occurrences" between Carmilla and Laura did not stop at embraces and kisses on the cheek.

** Played with. After describing Carmilla's private displays of affection to her (like embracing her, kissing her cheek, and whispering confessions of love in her ear), Laura (relating the story ten years after the fact) emphasizes that Carmilla's behavior and words were incomprehensible and embarrassing to her, and that she wished to extricate herself from Carmilla's "foolish embraces", though at the same she somehow lacked the power to resist them. She also says that at these occasions she felt "a strange tumultuous excitement", and also that, after such a long time, she only has a "confused [...] recollection of certain occurrences and situations". This lack of remembrance she justifies with the conjecture that "in all lives there are certain emotional scenes, those in which our passions have been most vividly and terribly roused, that are of all others the most vaguely and dimly remembered", which doesn't quite explain why Laura's emotions are so "terribly roused" by Carmilla's embraces. In the same passage Laura also says that she was "conscious of a love growing into adoration", an ambiguous expression that could refer to both Carmilla's love for Laura, but also Laura's love for Carmilla. Taking furthermore into account that the words "excitement" and "passion" both also have a sexual sense, it cannot be ruled out that Laura feigns lack of recollection to conceal that she was sexually aroused by Carmilla's carresses, and that the "occurrences" between Carmilla and Laura did not stop at embraces and kisses on the cheek.

* UnreliableNarrator: In the opening chapter, Laura emphasizes how very lonely and "solitary" the ''schloss'' is, describing it as situated in the middle of an extensive forest, and at seven miles distance from the nearest village, thus giving the impression that the ''schloss'' is the only human habitation for miles around. But over the course of her narration it becomes clear that there are people living in the surrounding area, some of them close by, as is shown by Laura and Carmilla watching a funeral procession passing by only a short walk from the ''schloss'', and her father visiting a sick peasant "only a mile away"; indeed the "small estate" linked to the ''schloss'' implies the presence of tenants who work on the estate. Laura perceives the ''schloss'' as impossibly remote and "lonely" because she is almost entirely isolated from the people who live in the vicinity (like peasants, woodcutters, and forest rangers) by distinctions of class, and possibly also religion.[[note]]Austria used to be overwhelmingly Catholic, Laura and her English father may well be Anglican Protestants.[[/note]]

The story has long been in the public domain, so feel free to check out the [[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10007 text]] or [[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/28917 audiobook.]] It has recently been adapted into an ongoing [[SettingUpdate modern day]] VlogSeries similar to ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4QzRfvkJZ4&list=PLbvYWjKFvS5rX2yv-k5AJ8oxPoZ9zHcpe featuring Laura and Carmilla as college roommates,]] the trope page for which can be found [[WebVideo/CarmillaTheSeries here]]. Another (loose) adaptation is the book and later film ''Literature/TheMothDiaries'', to the point the originally story is directly referenced. A film version of the story, here set during the late 1700s, came out in 2019.

* OverprotectiveDad: Although Laura never blames him, there are clear hints that her father is afraid of letting go of her. Even though Laura is suffering from loneliness at the castle, he does not take her to balls, send her to a boarding school, or consciously prepare her for a life outside of the castle. When Laura's father tells her of the death of Bertha Rheinfeldt, General Spielsdorf's niece whom Laura was looking forward to meet, he adds that he is "very glad" that Laura never got to know Bertha, because this way she has been spared the grief of losing a friend. Taken to its conclusion, this reaction indicates that he prefers his daughter not to have friends at all rather than to risk grief from experiencing loss; obviously not a very wise precept, as this in turn makes Laura starved for friendship and affection, making her easy prey for Carmilla.

* MissingMom: Laura's mother died from an unspecified cause when Laura was an infant. Laura shares this trait with other victims of Carmilla: Bertha Rheinfeldt is implied to be an orphan, and the coffin of the peasant girl whose funeral Laura and Carmilla watch is followed by her father only.

* BigFancyHouse: The schloss where Laura lives. One floor alone has about twenty-five rooms.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The evening Carmilla is taken in at the schloss, Laura, her father and her two governesses go for a walk in the moonlight, and Madame De Lafontaine opines that the intense moonlight indicates "a special spiritual activity", and underpins her claim by remarking that the windows of the ''schloss'' reflect the moonlight "as if unseen hands had lighted up the rooms to receive fairy guests". She also tells a story of how her cousin on a moonlit night dreamt of "an old woman clawing him by the cheek", and woke up with "his features horribly drawn to one side" and "never quite recover[ing their] equilibrium." Moments after, a troupe of (so we must assume) vampires stages a carriage crash in front of the ''schloss'' (vampires are ghosts, i.e. spirits, hence "a special spiritual activity"); Carmilla is taken in at the ''schloss'' (a "fairy guest" received); and finally Laura is attacked (physically and figuratively) by Carmilla, and, like the cousin's face, never recovers her former balance again.

* UnreliableNarrator: In the opening chapter, Laura emphasizes how very lonely and "solitary" the ''schloss'' is, describing it as situated in the middle of an extensive forest, and at seven miles distance from the nearest village, thus giving the impression that the ''schloss'' is the only human habitation for miles around. But over the course of her narration it becomes clear that there are people living in the surrounding area, some of them close by, as is shown by Laura and Carmilla watching a funeral procession passing by only a short walk from the schloss, and her father visiting a sick peasant "only a mile away"; indeed the "small estate" linked to the ''schloss'' implies the presence of tenants who work on the estate. Laura perceives the ''schloss'' as impossibly remote and "lonely" because she is almost entirely isolated from the people who live in the vicinity (like peasants, woodcutters, and forest rangers) by distinctions of class, and possibly also religion.[[note]]Austria used to be overwhelmingly Catholic, Laura and her English father may well be Anglican Protestants.[[/note]]

** Carmilla apparently converted Laura's cousin. What happened to her?
** Also, what happened to the lady in black velvet, believed to be Carmilla's mother?

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Laura's father and his associates. They aren't outright villainous, nor are they aristocrats themselves, but while they're nominally sympathetic to the "illness" sweeping through the local peasantry, they aren't actually concerned about it until Carmilla's predations start showing their effects on the daughters of landed men.

* SympathyForTheDevil: Laura still nourishes some affection for Carmilla, even after it has been relieved that Carmilla is a vampire who is not only responsible for the death of many people, but also wants to kill Laura. It is not clear whether this is a true remainder of their friendship or just an effect of the vampire's power over her victims.

* GhostlyGlide: The first night that Carmilla enters Laura's bedroom at night, Laura wakes up and sees "a female figure" standing at the food of her bed. Though the figure stands perfectly still, she seems nevertheless to change its place and move out by the door.