Carmilla Discussion Questions

As always, these questions are meant to help inspire and guide your reading. Feel free to develop your own questions or respond to another student’s blog.

• Do some independent research on any of the following terms: The Irish Famine, Young Ireland, or Catholic Emancipation. What could an understanding of these historical events bring to a reading of Carmilla? Make sure to quote from and provide links to your research sources.
• The metaphor of the vampire is certainly a capacious one. In terms of this novel, how might we see the metaphor of the vampire functioning in the Irish context? Who (or what) might Carmilla represent in the social, political, and economic sense? Use examples from the text to support your answer.
• How would you characterize the modes of sexuality in this novel? How do we see identity being “queered” or “troubled” in this novel? Use examples from the text to explain your answer.