Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Early on in J. Sheridan LeFanu’s ‘Carmilla’, Laura’s father rattles off the opening lines of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (p.14; 1.1.1-4). It is the most obvious but not the only allusion to Shakespeare in LeFanu’s gothic tale. This article identifies a handful of further references, notably to Cleopatra and Ophelia, and to instances of disguise in The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet , and to cross dressing in Twelfth Night . It begs the question, ‘What is Shakespeare doing haunting LeFanu’s nineteenth-century text?’ Ultimately connecting these allusions, some more subtle than others, to the othering of Carmilla (and her associates) and to the twin corruptions of cross-dressing and suicide, the article finds that the sometimes only half-visible figures of Shakespeare’s plays act as alluring but corrupting forces within LeFanu’s diabolical tale not unlike the titular vampire.
Authors: Andrew J. Power, Shahd Murshed
Institution: University of Sharjah
Language: English
Subfield: Cultural Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,690
OpenAlex ID: W4402516699