Publisher's Synopsis
La Morte Amoureuse follows the trope of femmes fatales, the fatality to the male victim from female seduction. Femme fatales are often depicted in medieval literature as an alluring woman who leads men into harmful situations. The story begins with an elderly Romuald answering the question if he has ever loved. He answers that he has but describes this occurrence as a "bewitchment to which [he] fell victim". Clarimonde shows up in Romuald's life during the day of his ordination and is described by Romuald as "a young woman of rare beauty". From this moment onward, Romuald is encaptured by Clarimonde's beauty and is taken away from his life as a priest to live in Venice with Clarimonde, who is later revealed to be a vampire who survives by drinking his blood as he sleeps.
Clarimonde is extremely looked down upon by Father Sérapion, and her fate at the end of the story shows that she was not worthy of keeping alive. Romuald's constant guilt and fear of his love for Clarimonde shows that he knows he should not be involved with her; yet his lust and Clarimonde's sexuality outweighs his conscience. Several of Gautier's works have this sort of female archetype. "Omphale" and "Arria Marcella" are both stories involving femme fatale women.
Clarimonde is a vampire and like Dracula she represents "the highest symbolic representation of eroticism" in Gautier's short story. This is a different take on the vampire theme, since most vampires are males who seduce females. In this story, it is the female vampire who seduces a young man. Here we have a female vampire that seduces a male. The most famous, vampire Dracula, he is often the object of woman's desire but here the genders are switched and Clarimonde becomes the lover in the story. The scenes where she sucks on his blood is an erotic moment in the story and leaves Romuald into a higher state. Fantastic can also be viewed of a longing or desire that may not be known to us.
Blood is an important theme in this story because it is what keeps Clarimonde alive. Without Romuald's blood she would die and thus it links the two characters. Oftentimes fantastic themes incorporate this dark and violent setting. Included are themes about the afterlife and that is where vampires come in because vampires represent immortality but they also represent
it in the living dead.
