The Vampire Lestat and the Problem of Eternal Damnation

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The problem or question of what it means to be damned is difficult to understand at the best of times, it is however all the more difficult when the subject in question is a vampire. How does a vampire that has developed God-like powers and whose only way to survive is to take human life, redeem themselves in the eyes of God? This is not really an issue for Lestat; as for the majority of the Vampire Chronicles he believes himself to be a form of God. With every life that Lestat takes he is committing a mortal sin, the gravest form of sin and he does so with full knowledge and consent. With reference to Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and both Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned motion pictures, Lestat's journey from mortal to perhaps damned immortal will be cross examined with Christian thought on what it is to be damned an how Lestat has transcended the state of sinner to supernatural supreme entity.

Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles cover great lengths of time from pre-revolutionary France to late twentieth century New York and New Orleans. Within this time Rice shows us the transformation of a literary icon, we see him move from the wolf-killing shabby aristocrat to being offered the position of the Devils lieutenant. It becomes clear that religion has been very important to Rice throughout her life; within the Vampire Chronicles there are many references to religious beliefs and Christian relics. It will be examined how a creature such as Lestat can be included in the Christian faith and what affect it may have upon him.

What is Mortal Sin and how is it relevant to Lestat?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church a mortal sin is considered to be a grave matter, which is committed with the full kno...

... middle of paper ...

...l commentary and philosophy', The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, eds, N. Kretzmann and E. Stump, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

Suchocki, M. H. (1995) The Fall to Violence: Original sin in relational theory, New York, Continuum Publishing Co

Toufic, J. (1993) Vampires - An uneasy essay on the undead in film, New York, Station Hill

Turner, A. K. (1995) The History of Hell, London, Robert Hale

The Holy Bible, (1995) London, Hodder & Stoughton

Worley, L (Ph.D.) (1997) Anne Rice's Protestant Vampires, http://members.tripod.com/~Baron91/WorleyProtVamp.html

What is Mortal Sin? http://www.saintaquinas.com/mortal_sin.html

The Structure of Dante's Inferno, www.atsweb.neu.edu/uc/s.cassavant/DanteOut.html

Word Count: 5,071

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