Interview with the Vampire - Character Analysis

Being a vampire changes a lot of things. Once you've been bitten, your whole world changes and there's not much you can do about it. In Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice explains how Vampires are forced to live alone. Looking specifically at Lestat, we can see how such an evil character who practically views himself on the same level of Satan interacts with humans and other vampires. Lestat himself acts broody and malicious as if he is better than everyone else. In reality he is afraid of being alone as a Vampire and desires a companion to spend eternity with. At one point in the book Louis notices this dependency and expressed that Lestat only turned him into a vampire so that he wouldn't be alone. "It's you who need me" He says.

Being a vampire means you live forever, (if you are careful,) and you will eventually outlive any human who you meet. There are many different reasons why a vampire might turn a human. First, for love, to ensure that the two will be together forever. Second, for increasing the vampire population keeping the vampire race alive. Finally in the case of Lestat, to have someone to talk to. Turning a human into a vampire means you have the ability to "show them the ropes" and train them to become a ruthless killing machine, lording over the human race. Lestat attempts to train Louis to be as such, but fails to convince him to follow in his footsteps. I believe that regardless of being a vampire or human the book I read illustrates that your moral code doesn't always change when turned. In the case of Lestat, his father tells of times when Lestat was a nicer person, before he was turned into a Vampire. But ever since his turn he put on a cynical bastard persona. This shows a dramatic change in Lestat's life, although this is not always the case. When Louis was turned he did not become a murderer quite like Lestat. He believed humans to be his equal and did not want to do any harm unless necessary. The difference between the two shows that depending on the case, becoming a vampire could either effect your relationship to humans or not depending on what kind of person you are.