Carmilla

Chapter One opens with Laura describing her circumstances during the time of the events of the novel. She is nineteen and lives in a castle, or “schloss,” in Styria (modern-day southeast Austria and northeast Slovenia) with her father, “the kindest man on earth, but growing old” (7), some servants, and two governesses: good-natured mother figure Madame Perrodon, and the worldlier and “vivacious” Mademoiselle De Lafontaine (50). The schloss is “picturesque” (6) and in “a very lonely place” (7), surrounded by forest and with the nearest inhabited village seven miles away. Laura goes on to describe her first memory, an event which she says “produced a terrible impression upon my mind” (8). This memory is of lying at night in her nursery and being suddenly confronted with a young woman at her bedside. Laura finds herself soothed and soon falls asleep, only to be woken again by “a sensation as if two needles ran into my breast very deep” (9), whereupon she cries out and the mysterious young lady slips away. Her father and her nurses assure Laura that she was having a nightmare, though she is certain that it was not a dream, and she is frightened regarding this event for a long time afterwards.  

Laura is taking a “little ramble” with her father in the forest surrounding their schloss when her father tells her that General Spielsdorf and his niece, Bertha, cannot visit them as planned, because Bertha has died (11). This is very upsetting to Laura, particularly since she was looking forward to having the company of a young woman of her age at the schloss. Spielsdorf claims that a “fiend who betrayed our infatuated hospitality” is responsible for the death of his niece, and he vows to “devote [his] remaining days to tracking and extinguishing a monster” (13). Later that evening, a carriage carrying a mother and daughter crashes while travelling near the schloss. The mother claims that she is “on a journey of life and death” and that she cannot delay it at all (18). The daughter, whose name is Carmilla, has been injured in the crash, and Laura’s father agrees to take care of her until her mother returns in a few months. The chapter then ends with the mother driving off in the carriage, leaving Carmilla behind.

Carmilla revives and is helped into the schloss. Discussing Carmilla with Laura, Laura’s father tells her that Carmilla’s mother told him that Carmilla will “be silent as to who we [Carmilla and her mother] are, whence we come, and whither we are traveling” (23). Despite the mystery involved, Laura is “delighted” in having Carmilla at the schloss (23). Upon visiting Carmilla in her chamber, Laura realizes that it is Carmilla, or the image of Carmilla, that had visited her in her nursery as a child. For her part, Carmilla tells Laura that she saw her face in a dream twelve years ago herself. Their visions correspond, in that Carmilla’s version accords perfectly with Laura’s memory of the event. Laura feels “drawn towards” Carmilla, but also feels “repulsion” towards her (27). Laura calls her “the most beautiful creature [she] had ever seen” (28).

The chapter begins with Laura praising the beauty of Carmilla, detailing her physical features. However, she does criticize Carmilla for not being willing to tell her anything about her life or family. Laura relates how Carmilla will go into strange rhapsodies, saying things like “you are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever”, while behaving with “the ardor of a lover” (32). Laura notes that her habits have a habitual “languor” to them (33). One day, there is a funeral procession passing by, and Laura is shocked that Carmilla is angry at the procession, claimingthat the procession “torture[s]” her and makes her “nervous” (34-35). Later, a fantastically-arrayed peddler shows up at the schloss and sells the two girls amulets to ward off vampires, who are rumored to be prowling the area. Also, Carmilla’s strangely-pointed teeth are noticed by the peddler. Later, Laura’s father says that three cases of death attributed to vampires have been reported, though he believes this explanation is mere superstition.