Ecogothic literature, a fusion of ecocriticism and Gothic elements, interrogates humanity's darker perceptions of the natural world, to scrutinize and dismantle our more sinister environmental visions; ecogothic bridges ecological anxieties with Gothic horror. As Andrew Smith and William Hughes explicate in Ecogothic (2013), the Gothic genre adeptly portrays and articulates these eco-anxieties (5). The confluence of Gothic horror and ecological critique expounds latent fears regarding environmental degradation and humanity's precarious relationship with nature. This literary approach exposes underlying anxieties tied to environmental disruption while critiquing humanity's often adversarial stance towards nature. It highlights the fragility of our ecological systems and the grave consequences of their destabilization. The interrelation and conflict between humanity and nature implicate the paradox in our ecological interactions. Employing ecogothic perspectives, this paper examines the swamp in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, divulging the symbolic representation of the contentious relationship between nature and humanity. This analysis emphasizes how the swamp's menacing presence reflects the ecological anxieties to the narrative, mirroring humanity's fear of the untamed and uncontrollable aspects of nature. The entwined relationship between human and natural elements in the narrative magnifies the conflicts in their coexistence, illustrating the ongoing struggle between human attempts to dominate nature and nature's resistance to such control. The swamp, as a threshold space, mirrors the transitional beings- vampires-who inhabit it, reflecting their internal conflicts and implying the blurred boundaries involving control and the untamed forces of nature, a paradox of creation and destruction.
