The Vampire Lestat: The absurd anti-hero

• Main Author: Tabag, Ryan Stephen E.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Vampires > Fiction; Lestat (Fictitious character) > Fiction; Horror tales; Comparative Literature
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/2119
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explores the character of the Vampire Lestat, arguably Anne Rice's most famous vampire creation. Using The Vampire Lestat, the second installment of the Vampire Chronicles, Lestat is then placed within the context of the theory of the absurd, as discussed by Albert Camus. The study also traces a link between the Vampire Lestat and the concept of the anti - hero. In placing Lestat within the confines of the absurd man and the anti - hero, the study is able to create a new vampire archetype in the western sense. The study will meticulously discuss Albert Camus' theory of the absurd in order to elucidate and establish the groundwork where the discussion of Lestat's existentialist dimension will rely. It will then trace the development of the western vampire archetypes. In doing so, we are able to observe how Lestat exhibits certain traits which link him with the old vampire archetypes and essentially, how he deviates from them. The study will then proceed with the discussion of the Vampire Lestat and his correlation with Camus' absurd man and the concept of the anti - hero. In this light, Lestat deviates from the traditional role of the vampire as the source of fear and unexpectedly becomes an icon and an embodiment of what the people love and worship. A point must then be clarified that the study does not draw attention to some post - modernist thought. Lestat simply becomes the embodiment of the people by representing their sentiments and preferences. And though Rice portrays Lestat as an amalgam of the western vampire archetypes, this study discovers a fresh dimension within Lestat which then makes it possible for Lestat to assume the role of a new-fangled western vampire archetype.