The Vampire Lestat

While the worlds of humans and vampires are, in theory, supposed to be more or less separate, Lestat’s longing to remain connected to human society begins to blur the boundaries between the mortal and immortal realms. Lestat is, above all else, a performer, and his desire to perform comes in conflict with the rules regarding the secret of vampirism. Lestat’s performing of vampirism in turn reveals the performative aspects of humanity, with the text exploring various facets of the nature of performance and role-playing.

The importance of performance first appears in Lestat’s human life. While he is human, Lestat performs with a traveling troupe of actors as a teen and in Renaud’s theater in Paris as an adult. Lestat is obsessed with performing; Nicolas says to him, “No matter what we’re talking about you bring it back to the theaters and the actors” (51). Against Lestat’s wishes, both of these gigs are cut short—his family forces him to leave the traveling troupe, and Magnus makes Lestat a vampire right after his big premiere at Renaud’s. When Lestat returns to Renaud’s as a vampire, he can perform feats that are impossible for many humans: “[M]y body could bend and contort like that of an acrobat” (124). Vampirism can be concealed on the stage—it is perceived as stagecraft and illusions, even though what Lestat is doing is real. Lestat’s “performance” as a vampire on stage is thus, paradoxically, his way of revealing his true self, but the audience fails to recognize the authenticity.

However, Lestat wants to be known as a vampire. Lestat performs vampirism in an aristocratic and romantic fashion like the famous vampires from literature, trying to conform to what humans expect his role to be. He styles himself as “Gentleman Death” (229) and enjoys the “romance to rising from the grave” (337). He generally sleeps in a coffin for the sake of aesthetics. When he and Gabrielle hide out in a church and must face the congregation, Lestat says, “We are going out. But we shall do it like proper vampires, do you hear!” (193, emphasis added). For many years, he is able to perform vampirism in the style he enjoys. However, after he is burned by Lestat and Claudia he “became the very antithesis of the romantic demon, bringing terror rather than rapture” (502). He becomes a hermit, unwilling to perform.

Lestat’s performances as a vampire highlight how much of being a human is performing various roles. The desire to perform itself, Lestat argues, is a human quality. It is his “mortal part, the vanity of wanting to perform” (528). His love of being on stage makes him more human than other vampires. Furthermore, human theater kids, or “theatrical types” (529), frequent vampire bars. They are attracted to the performative aspects of vampirism, which further blurs the differences between the two.

Ultimately, the performance of vampirism is performing the most extreme aspects of humanity. As Lestat muses, “Maybe I was not the exotic outcast that I had imagined, but merely the dim magnification of every human soul” (494, emphasis added). Thus, while Lestat is different from other vampires in his desire to be seen and known, the text suggests that vampires and humans may not be so different in their role-playing after all.