Since Coleridge's poem "Christabel" first appeared in 1816, questions have arisen as to who or what Geraldine is, what the poem is supposed to symbolize, and what Coleridge had planned as the end for the unfinished work. Among the suggestions, Coleridge himself denied that Geraldine was either a witch or, as Hazlitt suggested, Christabel's lover in disguise (Watson 1990, 180). Neither does Derwent Coleridge's suggestion that Geraldine is "a spirit executing her appointed task with the best good will" (Watson 1990, 180) seem likely. Finally, although Arthur Nethercot wrote an entire volume, The Road to Tryermaine, trying to prove that Geraldine was a type of vampiress, this explanation seems too far fetched to be convincing.
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