Wouldst thou like to die deliciously?

[bleodswean]

 
Let's talk about Egger's women. Let's discuss the female characters in Nosferatu and how Eggers portrays them, what they represent, and how we should view them in the vampire mythos, Stoker's Dracula, and the legacy of the Nosferatu films that came before.

Comments

[earthspirits]

Good catch, E! I'd forgotten the young woman on the horse. Wasn't there also an older woman in the village?

Working at the moment, but will return later to discuss all this! Your questions are excellent, by the way.

[earthspirits]

Okay, I'm back!

I'm listing each of bleodswean's questions, with my response noted right below.

Includes Spoilers.
Trigger Warning: Mention of violence, death, obsession

And what of Clara and Louise? Why are these daughters?

Like Bram Stoker before him, Eggers included child characters as victims, to illustrate the utter depravity of his vampire. They're essentially plot devices, but Eggers does make an effect to flesh them out, and there's a distinct difference between how he and Stoker present them.

In Stoker's novel, the children (all nameless victims) have no personalities to speak of and no specified gender. Their only purpose is to illustrate the evil of Dracula and his Brides, and how far Lucy has fallen in her vampiric state. A former innocent reduced to preying on innocents. There's bitter irony in this.

Eggers, on the other hand, names the children, and their feminine gender is specified. They're beloved by their parents, the family scenes invoking a sense of warmth and empathy. This is further enhanced by setting the story at Christmas, a season usually associated with happiness and love. The attack scene when it finally comes (along with the aftermath when Anna discovers her daughters' fate) is therefore incredibly shocking, and deeply disturbing.

Eggers could have just as well made the children male, but I think he depicted them as female, as an extension of the film's focus on women struggling for understanding and acceptance in a repressive world.

Orlok's predatory attraction to innocence, and his desire to corrupt and destroy that quality in others is also an ongoing theme. This ties in with his obsession for Ellen. She possesses a purity of soul that draws him to her like a moth to flame. And like that flame, she will eventually destroy him in the purifying sunlight, along with herself.

[smokingboot]

Love these answers!

The virgin on a horse could be an extension of that purity and innocence that seems to be the bane of vampires. I am trying to remember if the horse is white.

[earthspirits]

Thank you!

I agree about the virgin symbology. I believe the horse was white.