#and an explenation of her character on a surface level made longer than it should have

[jameslongforjimshortforgabriel]

I've been thinking a lot about Claudia's character in the show lately and i need to yap about it on tumblr super quick

(quick disclaimer: this might be kinda inaccurate bc i havent watched the show in a month or two so i've forgotten some bits but still)

Why I Believe Claudia's Story Is One Of The Best Tragedies Of All Time.

One of the things that I love the most about how Claudia is written out in the show is how she is almost intended to be forgotten by the audience. I mean, sure, who doesn't love Claudia? who in the world would forget her? But to me, the narrative feels like it purposefully makes us focus on Louis' drama and, at least for a second, forget about Claudia, storyline-wise. So this perspective that is given to the audience is actually amazing because it forces us to feel Louis' (and a little of Lestat's) guilt regarding Claudia, forcing us to be on their shoes, even if we don't agree with them. The fact that we can't see her own perspective throughout the whole show just represents the relationship Claudia has with almost everyone in her life.

A really distinctical trait of Claudia's is that she is constantly looking for community. She was mistreated by her biological auntie, so she looks forward to living with Louis and Lestat. And when they let her down as well, she craves community even more, which makes it make sense how hard she was looking for other vampires and how easily and quickly she blended into the Theatre Des Vampires. This makes her opposing to Louis (ik everyone talks about how similar Lestat and Claudia are, but no one talks about how many differences she has with Louis), who always tries to distance himself from having to be tied to something or someone: the church, his brother, his mother, his sister, Lestat, and later on, Armand.

So going back to Claudia, she is always looking for someone or something that she can lean on. And the common pattern with these communities is that they start off promising and end up hurting her. Her life with her mother, I'm assuming, was pleasant up until she died and Claudia was passed to her auntie (i think it was her auntie?). Then, when she joins the Loustat unholy family, it all looks perfect at first, but it quickly turns into an environment Claudia can't even stand. Same thing with Theatre Des Vampires: it all looks like vampire utopia to Claudia until she realizes these people don't care about the person that she is and only about the person she could be to benefit them. This is also shown with that one european vampire, who Claudia seemed greatly excited for but she ended up accidentally messing it up (killing her son) which made the mother vampire throw herself into the fire, leaving Louis and Claudia alone, but most of all, disappointing Claudia. This means Claudia is never actually seen as she sees herself ever. She has a perception of herself that is often stepped on, disregarded, and ignored. Because the idea people usually have about Claudia is, to them, better than Claudia herself.

This pattern is only broken once she meets Madeleine. Their relationship start out harsh and uncaring (unlike all her past (and failed) attempts at a community), with Madeleine almost wanting to kick Claudia out of her shop. But then, slowly, very slowly, Madeleine gets to take a peep into Claudia's real self. This also happened with the Loustat family, but this event only brought negative consequences. With Madeleine, though, this brings her closer to Claudia. And this way, they both let themselves be truly seen and loved for the first time, finally breaking Claudia's cycle of rejection.

Now is when the tragedy comes in: the trial. This is what makes Claudia's story so heartbreaking, right when she's found the one exception, right when she's broken the cycle, right when she finds someone who see her as her, right when she's happy, she must die. And the most tragic part of all this is that she and her lover are killed by the punishment of a crime she comitted only to try to escape. Her crime was trying to escape. And she got her dreams cut off, she got her love taken away, she got death for trying to escape. Only until she didn't have to escape no more.