The Vampire Lestat

“Yet, I sang on, pounding the slick white keys of the electric piano, and something in my soul was broken open.”

This is the moment when Lestat plays for the human band Satan’s Night Out, which later becomes The Vampire Lestat. Spiritual release is one role of the arts in the novel. Music always has a powerful emotional sway over Lestat, and this is seen for the first time in this passage.

“Maybe it was like being in a little boat on the ocean, all of us pulling together, unable to escape each other. It was divine.”

This is Lestat’s description of working in Renaud’s theater in Paris. Anne Rice uses a simile that compares rowing a boat with putting on plays, signifying how—to Lestat—both are productive. Creating art means working alongside others to arrive at a metaphoric destination of theatrical grandeur.

“If there is a Prince of Darkness, then I shall set eyes upon him at last. I shall spit in his face.”

This is what Magnus says about The Tensions Between Good and Evil before dying by suicide. Like Lestat, Magnus needs to see to believe, and like Lestat, Magnus defies the devil.

“I saw all this as one who had never been a part of life, gazing lovingly at the simplest details.”

Lestat’s perception of the world greatly changes after he becomes a vampire; he finds ordinary objects beautiful. Before becoming a vampire, he hunted alone to feed his family. His isolation in rural France spawns his desire to be known as an actor and, later, as a vampire.

“Macbeth…Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow…”

This is one of several allusions to the Shakespearean play. The idea of eternal tomorrows describes the existence of vampires and, at this moment, is in tension with the idea that Gabrielle is dying and might not have another tomorrow if Lestat can’t reach her in time.

“‘Ah, but we are splendid devils, aren’t we?’ ‘Hunters of the Savage Garden.’”

This is a conversation between Gabrielle and Lestat. He asserts that they are in the savage garden, which is an Edenic world where evil roams. The discussion of their devilish nature develops the theme of The Tensions Between Good and Evil.

“We are the things that others fear.”

This is both an explanation for Lestat’s fearlessness and develops the theme of The Tensions Between Good and Evil. Vampires are feared because they are considered evil. However, Lestat tries to attain goodness.

“I’d never surrendered to anybody in my life.”

Here, Gabrielle is convincing Lestat to go with the Children of Darkness, and he struggles to surrender. This develops Lestat’s characterization—he is a brat prince, stubborn, and rebellious.

“God, that our immortal bodies could be such varied prisons for us, that our immortal faces should be such masks for our true souls.”

This passage develops the theme of The Performance of Vampirism and Humanity. Masks are a symbol of the theater and literal props used in theater. Lestat compares the smooth features of vampires with these props. The external features of vampirism obscure the humanity and unique spirit within as masks obscure human expressions of emotions.

“You must know that the forms of goodness change with the ages, that there are saints for all times under heaven.”

Lestat discusses how The Tensions Between Good and Evil have changed over time to persuade the Children of Darkness to leave the cemetery. Rice includes the Catholic iconography of saints to develop the image of divinity and goodness.

“The violin was telling everything that had happened to Nicki. It was the darkness exploded, the darkness molten, and the beauty of it was like the glow of smoldering coals; just enough illumination to show how much darkness there really was.”

Here, The Importance of the Arts is to offer insight into the emotional state of another being. Rice uses volcanic, or fiery, imagery to describe the music. It metaphorically conveys the contrasting elements of light and the absence of light.

“Does she know what it was like when you stood on that stage as a young man and you heard the audience screaming for you?”

Armand tries to divide Lestat from Gabrielle by highlighting how Gabrielle does not understand Lestat’s desire to perform. She wants to leave human society altogether, having lived a full human life, while Lestat, whose human life was cut short, longs for the adoration of audiences. His desire to be seen develops the theme of The Performance of Vampirism and Humanity.

“And behind him, warm light spilled from the sanctuary of Those Who Must Be Kept; there came the smell of incense, and there seemed some promise of ancient magic there, some promise of cold and exotic beauty beyond all evil and all good.”

Beauty extends beyond The Tensions Between Good and Evil in this passage. Rice describes a concept from English Romantic literature that the consideration of beauty is the most important thing. She also casts this beauty as an Other by using the outdated term “exotic,” which refers to the pre-Christian world.

“And in all these places I was to write my messages to Marius on the walls.”

This can be read as a subtle allusion to Orlando in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. He famously posts love poetry on trees, as Lestat inscribes messages in stone. Both Orlando and Lestat are trying to obtain a companion and learn about the world.

“And of course it was the tale of Osiris that enchanted me, bringing back with it the romance of Armand’s story and Marius’s enigmatic words.”

This is a reference to the Egyptian myth of Typhon, Isis, and Osiris. Lestat researches this tale in his investigation of vampire history. Akasha and Enkil worshiped Osiris and used the myth to explain their vampirism.

“When the world of man collapses in ruin, beauty will take over.”

While Lestat finds human art and humans beautiful, Gabrielle prefers nature. She spends her time in remote regions of the world as a testament to this belief. In this way, her character is a foil of Lestat’s.

“So how could we, gods who fed upon human blood, have been seen as ‘good’?”

Marius describes how The Tensions Between Good and Evil changed after the invention of Christianity. In the pre-Christian world, vampire gods were worshiped with human sacrifices. The sacrifices and gods were seen as good before Christianity deemed the blood sacrifices to be evil, after which vampires became evil.

“If these fledglings are children of the Christian god, if they are poisoned as Nicolas was with the Christian notion of Original Sin and guilt, they will only be maddened and disappointed by these old tales.”

Here, Marius describes how Christianity impacts the identity of vampires; this influence is why Marius makes Lestat swear to keep the secret of Akasha. Lestat sees the 20th century as a time when humans, and vampires, are not under the influence of Christianity, and should hear the truth about their history. The Tensions Between Good and Evil change again with the rise in atheism and agnosticism.

“And then the descent into that hideous cellar full of ugly copies of the bloodiest paintings by Goya and Brueghel and Bosch.”

Rice references painters who are known for their depictions of the grotesque and otherworldly: Francisco de Goya, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Hieronymus Bosch. This develops the theme of The Importance of the Arts. Armand displays these paintings in the Theater of the Vampires to intimidate and captivate those who see them.

“We danced as our first video films appeared nationwide on the television cable.”

The music Lestat makes highlights one role of the arts—to share personal and cultural truths. He wants to be loved by audiences for himself and for revealing the secrets he knows. Making music videos adds another visual element to the auditory art.

“I wanted us to raise our voices together before the screaming throng. And at odd moments I remembered those long-ago nights at Renaud’s little theater too clearly.”

In this passage, Lestat compares the desire to perform his rock music as a vampire to the desire he had to perform on stage as a human. There is also a contrast between San Francisco’s large venue, Cow Palace, and the small Parisian theater. Crowds for rock stars in the 1980s are far larger than the audiences Lestat saw in his short time as a human actor.

“What are you waiting for, the Church to pronounce it a miracle?”

This is what Gabrielle says when she reappears from distant lands to help Lestat leave the crowded venue after his concert. Her joke highlights how vampires being burnt by a supernatural power could be considered a miracle. This develops her character, in terms of her religious upbringing, impeccable timing, and sense of humor.

“That music of yours could wake the dead.”

The final role of the arts in The Vampire Lestat is how Lestat’s rock concert causes Akasha to rise once again and come to him. In her statue-like state, she appears dead. Lestat’s music causes her to leave this state, imprison Marius in ice, and, as the reader learns in the next novel, kill Enkil.