there is a really funny bit where a wandering salesman/entertainer visits the main girls (Laura and Carmilla, the vampire). he notices that Carmilla has two really sharp teeth "like a fish," and offers to file it down.
yes Carmilla is offended as hell but also i can't believe that such a foreboding novel allows this to happen. people have been making vampire jokes like this for YEARS it seems. that's hilarious
In an instant he unrolled a leather case, full of all manner of odd little steel instruments.
[...]
"Your noble friend, the young lady at your right, has the sharpest tooth... here are my file, my punch, my nippers; I will make it round and blunt, if her ladyship pleases; no longer the tooth of a fish, but of a beautiful young lady as she is. Hey? Is the young lady displeased? Have I been too bold? Have I offended her?"
oh yeah if you didn't know this is about VAMPIRES. YOW!!!!!!
it's thanks to this youtube short that i found out about it. it's accompanied by some gorgeous art so even if you're not interested in the story you should watch it anyways, cuz art is awesome.
most references to the Carmilla text are how it preceded Bram Stoker's Dracula. and how it's about lesbians. it's really short as well, only 100 pages, so if you have an hour or so to kill you should check it out. i don't know anything about vampire lore, especially the one used in Carmilla, so i was still surprised by what took place.
honestly there are a lot of weird things going on with Carmilla, or general vampirism in this story. they're restricted by a lot of rules so it's almost like they're acting out of possession. they have an "animal-like" way of doing things, by which i mean having to follow strange rules for seemingly no reason
vampires are inherently romantic. they don't suck the life out of random unlucky passerby, instead it's something akin to a mating ritual. or a parasite finding an ideal host. for Carmilla, that was rich girls her age. she works together with a woman who pretends to be her mother, who asks if Carmilla could be taken care of while she has to go on some urgent journey. because Carmilla is sooo charming and the girl really likes her and wants her to stay, her father, or whoever is in charge of the house, has no choice but to relent
to the girls she preys on, it's like a dream that slowly descends into a nightmare. they get sickly and have terrifying nightmares of some person or creature in their room, while Carmilla remains distant, but still loving
It was like the ardor of a love, it embarrassed me; it was hateful and yet over-powering; and with gloating eyes she drew me to her, and her hot lips traveled along my cheek in kisses; and she would whisper, almost in sobs, "You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever."
it was said that Carmilla had a boy for a lover when she was alive. disregarding whatever evilness lesbianism had meant at the time, why does she only go for girls? in this story, vampires are born out of a person's suicide, their spirit possessing the body. maybe she was so unhappy with the boy that in her undead state, she aims to fulfill the love she had wanted?
personally, i can't get over the restrictions of vampirism, it makes Carmilla so much more like an animal acting out of survival to me. the biggest ones to me were how she has to go back to her coffin every night and how she's forever stuck as "Carmilla" and fake names must be an anagram of that. i guess it's a testament to how much the soul is restricted in a vampire. she can't escape her death and goes back every night. she can't forfeit her name because its attached to her body... something like that?