Anne Rice has made a name of herself as one of the most known authors in modern Gothic fiction with her Vampire Chronicles, giving a new possible perspective to the literary figures of vampires by going against the stereotypes and making them sympathetic supernatural creatures. In Memnoch the Devil, she plays the Devil’s advocate as she sets out to do the same with myths of the Devil. The purpose of this essay is to examine some of the imagery used in Anne Rice’s Memnoch the Devil and the representation of the Devil and the implication of said imagery. As a very well-known character, there is a lot of mythology about the Devil so I have chosen to restrict it to mainly the Judeo-Christian tradition. Since there are so many versions of the Devil, this thesis will give an overview of some of the historical imagery used in the Judeo-Christian tradition to depict God’s adversary and the rebellious fallen angel, looking at literary works that have helped the transition from horned and demonic Pan-like figure to the angelic imagery used in works such as Rice’s novel.

Starting with the descriptions of the character of Memnoch, I will trace Rice’s imagery back to texts such as the Old and New Testament, as well as the resemblances to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Other than the imagery surrounding the Devil, the aim is to show the nuances of a rebellious character such as Memnoch and the relationship between God and the Devil in Rice’s texts. As a part of this relationship, the dynamic between the two will also be explored and how their portrayals effect the classical interpretations of good and evil. In connection to Rice’s novel, I will also give a summary of Gothic fiction, focusing more on modern rather than classical.