On a literal level, "Christabel," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is a tale of the chaste heroine who unwittingly brings peril into her home in the guise of the beautiful and mysterious stranger, a story not unlike many other supernatural tales of the era. Coleridge's work, however, progresses beyond the standard horror story as is revealed through the interpretation of the abundant symbols and unconscious material of the poem, both of which disguise many underlying conflicts and fears. These conflicts and fears find a voice in the relationship which develops between the Perilous Lady of the tale, Geraldine, and the heroine, Christabel. The key to understanding the complex undercurrents of the poem is to realize that this relationship is the fountainhead of all the conflicts in the work. In "Christabel," the most common of symbols, the archetype, is the key to expose the underlying conflicts of the poem. That archetype is the anima figure who is portrayed by both the Perilous Lady figure of Geraldine, and also by the sweet and innocent Christabel. .
As in any major literary work, "Christabel" is constructed of many different layers of conflict and interaction. One method to unlock some of the unconscious material contained in the poem is to explore the interplay between Geraldine and Christabel, and the narrator of the tale. Basically, their relationships gives rise to two major themes: the sexual relationship between the two women, and the desire for a nurturing phallic mother. The poem opens with a series of sounds generated by the natural creatures surrounding Sir Leoline's castle.They are not the only ones who have been aroused, for into this gloomy atmosphere steals the lovely Lady Christabel from the gates of her father's keep toward the nearby wood to pray for her "betrothed knight." There, like a lover rushing to a secret tryst, she encounters the mysterious Geraldine. For Christabel, lonely and frustrated,the event is exciting and exhilarating.
