Christabel (poem)

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Christabel is a lengthy poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in two parts. The first part was written in 1797, and the second in 1800. Coleridge planned three additional parts, but these were never completed. The verse of Christabel features a novel metrical system, based on the count of only accents - even though the amount of syllables in each verse can vary from four to twelve, the amount of accents per line never deviates from four. The poem is notable for its influence on later vampire fiction.

[edit] Synopsis

The story of Christabel concerns a central female character of the same name and her encounter with a stranger called Geraldine, who claims to have been abducted from her home by a band of rough men.

Christabel goes in the woods to pray to the large Oak tree, where she hears a strange noise. Upon looking behind the tree, she finds Geraldine, who says that she had been abducted from her home by men on horseback. Christabel pities her and takes her home with her, where in the night, Geraldine leads Christabel to sin (this can be interpreted as a reference to lesbianism, as Geraldine takes a naked Christabel in her arms and the tells her about the curse under which Christabel has fallen upon looking at her unclad form). About this encounter in the night, Christabel feels as if she has sinned deeply, but by the power of Geraldine's enchantment, she could not utter a word to anyone. The only thing about Geraldine which she can tell anyone is that she found her in the woods.

Her father, Sir Leoline, becomes enchanted with her, ordering a grand procession to announce her rescue. The poem was never finished, and ends here. According to James Gillman, Coleridge planned to finish the poem in the following manner:[1]

The bard reaches the castle where Geraldine claimed to have been from, but finds the place a ruin, long deserted. Returning back to the castle of Sir Leoline and Christabel, Geraldine vanishes, transforming herself into an old, vanished lover of Christabel. Christabel finds herself disgusted by the return of her old knight, though she does not know why. Ultimately, however, her father persuades her to marry the man, and she consents against her desires. At the ceremony, however, the true knight reappears with a ring of betrothal she had given him years before, proving himself. The supernatural Geraldine vanishes, a bell tolls, Christabel's mother's voice is heard (as predicted), and the marriage recommences happily with the new knight.

Geraldine is an unusual being. Some interpretations claim she has a sexual attraction to Christabel. Her malign influence is felt as the story progresses and she seems altogether unhuman. The character of Geraldine can also be seen as evil early in the poem with her unusual behavior also of that the behavior of things around her such as the mastiff growling at her, and the strange actions of light,which may refer to her closeness to hell.

The plot has been interpreted in various ways, and has been interpreted both as being focused on lesbianism and on the daemonic (among other ways, such as a recapturing of the Medieval lai).

[edit] Influence

Christabel was an influence on Edgar Allan Poe, particularly his poem The Sleeper" (1831).^[1] It is largely considered the main source for Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's vampire novel Carmilla, first published in 1872. It has been argued that Carmilla is a homage or adaptation of Christabel ^[2]. Le Fanu's antagonist Carmilla has certain similarities with Christabel's Geraldine; for instance, she cannot cross the threshold of a house, and seems to be stronger at night. Likewise, the heroines of the two works are similar, both Christabel and Laura are the children of deceased mothers currently in the charge of their widowed fathers. Geraldine's presence gives Christabel similar symptoms as Carmilla's does to Laura, both heroines experience troubled sleep and weakness in the morning after spending the night with their guest.

These points and the general character of Geraldine have led some to regard Geraldine as the first vampire in English literature^{[citation needed]}. However, it should be noted that Geraldine lacks many or most characteristics normally associated with vampires - for example, she doesn't drink blood, nor is she identified as undead.

[edit] References

1. ^ Campbell, Killis. "The Origins of Poe", The Mind of Poe and Other Studies. New York: Russell & Russell, Inc., 1962: 154.
2. ^ Nethercot, Arthur H. “Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ and LeFanu’s ‘Carmilla.’” Modern Philology 47.1 (Aug., 1949): 32-38. Washington College Lib., Chestertown, MD. JSTOR. 13 March 2006. <http://www.jstor.org>.