100 Kick-Ass Female Characters: #86
86. Claudia, as seen in the book Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice and in the film Interview With a Vampire, portrayed by Kirsten Dunst
I've always been obsessed with monsters. Even when I was little, I never wanted princess stories; I wanted stories about vampires and werewolves and ghosts. Like a lot of kids, after reading pretty much everything RL Stine and Christopher Pike wrote, I was ready to read something a little more adult. After being deeply traumatized by It (seriously, Stephen King, what the fuck?) and well into my obsession with vampires, my aunt recommended I read Anne Rice. And while I've read several of her books, the only one I really liked was Interview With a Vampire, which became a film which is remarkably how I pictured the book.
Though Interview With a Vampire is technically about Louis and his relationship with his maker Lestat, from the moment she enters the story, Claudia steals the show. Louis has always refused to feed on humans, and, when he finally cracks, he feeds upon Claudia, a six-year-old girl whose mother has just died. In order to keep Louis from leaving him, Lestat turns Claudia, giving them a "daughter." For years, things go well; they spoil Claudia endlessly with dolls and dresses, and she positively adores Louis. But as Claudia ages, she realizes she will always be six-years-old. She is now an intelligent, assertive woman with a woman's needs eternally cursed to be a child, and she begins to resent Lestat for turning her. It is Claudia who lays the trap which "kills" Lestat, and it is Claudia who frequently pulls the strings in regard to Louis. Her death destroys Louis, and he never quite forgives himself for it.
What I love about Claudia is, she is the one who bests Lestat. Her existence is the worst kind of torture; she longs for all the things a woman should have but can never have them because Lestat turned her so young, and it makes her incredibly bitter. Her trap to kill Lestat is brilliant in its execution; he has always been so certain he is above her and Louis, he never perceived them as threats. Claudia exhibits more cunning than Louis ever does, and there is a level of cruelty in her that Louis remarks upon several times. In a land of monsters, Claudia is the one they never see coming, so bewitched by her innocent appearance they do not realize what lies underneath. Even Claudia's "release" of Louis is calculated, forcing him to break his own rule and turn Madeline into a vampire so she has a keeper so he can be with Armand; even at her most "kind," Claudia is manipulative and dark. Claudia is the sort of character which has often been imitated but never quite replicated, and what makes her so extraordinary is Anne Rice found the balance a "child monster" needs: Claudia is both to be feared and pitied, but, should you pity her, she'll tear your throat out.
And that's a cool kind of kick-ass.
I've always been obsessed with monsters. Even when I was little, I never wanted princess stories; I wanted stories about vampires and werewolves and ghosts. Like a lot of kids, after reading pretty much everything RL Stine and Christopher Pike wrote, I was ready to read something a little more adult. After being deeply traumatized by It (seriously, Stephen King, what the fuck?) and well into my obsession with vampires, my aunt recommended I read Anne Rice. And while I've read several of her books, the only one I really liked was Interview With a Vampire, which became a film which is remarkably how I pictured the book.
Though Interview With a Vampire is technically about Louis and his relationship with his maker Lestat, from the moment she enters the story, Claudia steals the show. Louis has always refused to feed on humans, and, when he finally cracks, he feeds upon Claudia, a six-year-old girl whose mother has just died. In order to keep Louis from leaving him, Lestat turns Claudia, giving them a "daughter." For years, things go well; they spoil Claudia endlessly with dolls and dresses, and she positively adores Louis. But as Claudia ages, she realizes she will always be six-years-old. She is now an intelligent, assertive woman with a woman's needs eternally cursed to be a child, and she begins to resent Lestat for turning her. It is Claudia who lays the trap which "kills" Lestat, and it is Claudia who frequently pulls the strings in regard to Louis. Her death destroys Louis, and he never quite forgives himself for it.
What I love about Claudia is, she is the one who bests Lestat. Her existence is the worst kind of torture; she longs for all the things a woman should have but can never have them because Lestat turned her so young, and it makes her incredibly bitter. Her trap to kill Lestat is brilliant in its execution; he has always been so certain he is above her and Louis, he never perceived them as threats. Claudia exhibits more cunning than Louis ever does, and there is a level of cruelty in her that Louis remarks upon several times. In a land of monsters, Claudia is the one they never see coming, so bewitched by her innocent appearance they do not realize what lies underneath. Even Claudia's "release" of Louis is calculated, forcing him to break his own rule and turn Madeline into a vampire so she has a keeper so he can be with Armand; even at her most "kind," Claudia is manipulative and dark. Claudia is the sort of character which has often been imitated but never quite replicated, and what makes her so extraordinary is Anne Rice found the balance a "child monster" needs: Claudia is both to be feared and pitied, but, should you pity her, she'll tear your throat out.
And that's a cool kind of kick-ass.