Coleridge’s “Christabel” Discussion Questions 1. What connections do you see between this poem and other gothic works? In what ways does he subvert the gothic or challenge our expectations? 2. In...

Coleridge’s “Christabel” Discussion Questions

1. What connections do you see between this poem and other gothic works? In what ways does he subvert the gothic or challenge our expectations?

2. In an earlier draft, Coleridge labels Geraldine a “witch”—but is she the evil figure in the poem or is Christabel? She’s also been read as a vampire, is there any evidence of this in the poem?

3. Christabel and Geraldine share an interesting relationship in the poem.. How would you classify it? Geraldine and Christabel have often been read as lovers, whose love is somehow forbidden and unspeakable. Consider how female sexuality, in particular lesbian sexuality, has been “created” as an unspeakable horror?

4. Many people read Christabel and Geraldine as doubles of each other―two sides of the same coin. What evidence is there for this reading? Do they switch roles at the end, Christabel ‘turning’ into something more like Geraldine?