"I cannot resist you": Love, Heart and Treasure in "Nosferatu" (2024)

In his classic “Anna Karenina” (1878), Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote: "if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.” In “Nosferatu” (2024), “love” and “heart” also take the central stage throughout the narrative. The Victorian characters couples address each other constantly by “my love” or “my lovely”, and there's no shortage of "I love you"; “love” in this story is connected with Victorian society, and the melodrama motif at play here. And Count Orlok "cannot love" in the present, within Victorian society nor its standards (in a reference to the "Dracula" novel by Bram Stoker: "Yes, I too can love. You yourselves can tell it from the past. Is it not so?”, here transformed in the reincarnation theme of "Remember how once we were? A moment. Remember?”).

Love and heart eventually become synonyms in the narrative, and this becomes apparent with the Solomonari instructions of the "breaking of Nosferatu curse": "And so the maiden fair did offer up her love unto the beast, and with him lay, in close embrace until the first cock crow. Her willing sacrifice thus broke the curse, and freed them from the plague of Nosferatu." Count Orlok feeds on the heart blood of the living, and as such the literal interpretation of "offer up her love" is "offer up her heart" for him to kill. "Offer up" is also connected with "offerings" in religious context, offer prayer or offer sacrifice in devotion; which is, already, the literal meaning behind the breaking of the curse ("willing sacrifice").

As Robert Eggers explained in one interview: "Orlok drinks blood from the heart, not the neck. Now obviously you can't pierce a breastbone, so it doesn't really make sense. It makes much more sense to drink someone's blood from their neck. But in folklore, when people are experiencing vampiric attacks it's similar to old hag syndrome [a colloquial term for sleep paralysis] where you have pressure on your chest, so people interpreted it as vampires drinking blood from their chest," he continues. "But there are also folk vampires who didn't drink blood, but just fornicated with their widows until their widows died from it. So I think it's all part of the source material." In an interview to Vulture, Robert Eggers would add: "in addition, for this film, drinking heart blood had physical, poetical appeal." This is connected with Count Orlok being a strigoi from Balkan folklore, the original psychic vampire, and, faithful to his myth, it's not blood specifically he feeds on: he drains their victims living energy, their life force, their souls. 

Love and Thomas Hutter

Ellen associates love with Thomas: "From our love, I became as normal"; "Our love was supposed to be sacred"; "Let him see. Let him see our love!"

"How should I have earned such a doting wife?"

Victorian society ("Victorianism”) was ruled by a rigid set of social and moral codes: “Cult of Domesticity” or “Victorian morality”, deeply rooted in Christian values and virtues like chastity, modesty and self-discipline, especially for women. The ideal Victorian woman was seen as pure, submissive and devoted to her family, while men were expected to be strong, honorable and protectors/providers of their households. These morals had a deep impact on romantic love. Marriage was the ultimate goal of love. Pre-marital relationships were watched carefully, and any deviation from the moral code (infidelity, unchastity or divorce) was met with severe social consequences. In Victorian society, marriage was a complex social contract, which served multiple purposes: social order, maintaining social status, ensuring financianl stability and upholding family honor. 

Victorian love was idealized to be chaste, modest and restrained. Aligned with the "cult of domesticity", Victorian love was also "domesticated", tempered devotion confined to the household. According to Walter Houghton, "Victorian Frame of Mind", married love was a sacrament, meant to exclude animalistic impulses. Unrestrained passion and erotism, was not love, but lust, the author said. True love was familial and domestic, for "passion" was considered the opposite of "love", and corruptive. Victorian love is an alchemy where the wife disappears into her husband’s legal identity, and becomes his property.  

While Victorian society was governed by ideals of morality and modesty, there was also a private fascination with the forbidden and the transgressive, evident in the popularity of Gothic novels and the exploration of darker themes such as madness, sexuality, the supernatural and the complexities of love and desire, the tension between individual freedom and social constraints. One of the prime examples being “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë (which is also one of the inspirations for “Nosferatu”) where passion, obsession and tragedy challenge the idealized portrayal of love from earlier literature. Marked by the intense and destructive love between Heathcliff and Catherine, the novel deals with themes of revenge, the destructive power of love and social class. 

"Love is inferior to you. I told you, you are not of human kind. [...] Your passion is bound to me."

Amidst the domesticated Victorian love, there was dark, fierce and cannibalistic passion on the side, explored in Gothic novels, illustrating the savagery of the heart, the desire to devour, where love and eating weren’t so different, after all. Torn between prudishness and erotism, repression and explosion, the cozy warmth of the home and the sexuality of the streets, the domestic sphere and freedom and liberation. Nature vs. society. To Robert Eggers, "it was always clear [to me] that Nosferatu is a demon lover story” and "a tale of love and obsession and a Gothic romance".

The most common expression of Victorian love was through writing love letters, which was considered one of the paramount aspects of Victorian courtship. And which is why Ellen will taunt Thomas with not writing to her during her “possession scene”; accusing him of not love her. It was also common gifting jewelry (like lockets), antique coins and portraits. 

"I will send you my utmost faith and you will write to me every day."

Gifting a lock of hair to someone was considered a sign of devotion, connected to a promise of love or remembrance. However, during the Victorian era, “mourning jewelry” became popular, especially by the inclusion of a lock of hair in a locket, to be wore close to the heart. Keeping a loved one’s hair within a locket was a long-lasting memento of a deceased loved one, creating a sort of relic for the wearer. Since it was an affordable option, it was appealing to the Middle-class. Which is what we see with Ellen in "Nosferatu", as her heart locket is made of silver. 

The “maiden’s token” she sent with Thomas was meant for Orlok, and an invitation for him to haunt her again. Ellen has premonitions (she had a dream just after the prologue); and she knows Thomas will be sent to Orlok. She does this token in front of her symbolic window, and the next scene after this is Herr Knock’s conjuring Orlok.  

When Thomas is already in Orlok’s castle in Transylvania, the count notices his “maiden token”, and asks to see it. As he opens it, and smells it, he immediately notices the scent of lilacs on Ellen’s hair. To Orlok, this is a confirmation that Ellen remembers their past life together, because like costume designer Linda Muir tells us, lilacs remind Orlok "from when he was alive” and in connection with Ellen. His passion and desire to merge souls with her is the only humanizing trait he was able to keep in his cursed strigoi self (who stripped him of all his best human qualities).

Orlok keeps the locket for himself, because he knows it’s meant for him, and he'll use it for the Sex Magick divorce ritual, to annul Thomas and Ellen's wedding in the spiritual realm. And this interpretation is also supported by the “Wuthering Heights” inspiration behind this story: after Catherine’s premature death, Heathcliff goes to the chapel to see her coffin. He places a strand of his hair inside of her necklace-locket, for her ghost to haunt him.

“You are fortunate in your love.”

The Heart and Count Orlok

While Thomas Hutter is "Victorian love" in Ellen's character arc; her "heart" is associated with Count Orlok. "My heart is lost without my Thomas", she reveals after Anna Harding says her words come from her "honest heart". Not only the silver heart locket (that he will keep into the second act), but her asking Thomas "Kiss my heart. My heart!", and she'll give Orlok, quite literally, her heart (for him to feed on). Both Thomas and Anna Harding (Orlok's victims) will also mention their hearts: "Our friendship is a precious balm to my heart" (Anna); "Your horror has rent our hearts, but you must hear us."

"Your husband is lost to you. Dream of me. Only me."

Symbolically, the “heart” has had several meanings throughout History. To Ancient Egyptians, the heart was believed to be the center of the soul and intelligence. It was the only internal organ kept intact in a mummy for it was believed, in the Afterlife, it would be weighted by Anubis or Maat, against the Feather of Truth (divine measure of justice); if it was heavier than the feather, the soul still had attachments and it would not embark to eternal life, if it was lighter, then the ship of immortality was ready to set sail. 

In Christian tradition, the “heart” is the seat of emotions, thoughts and intentions, associated with love, compassion and purity. In the Old Testament (Jewish-Christian), the “heart” appears as a reference to “inner self”, “center”, “being”, the understanding of God’s word, and the faithful decision to follow it. In Jewish tradition, the heart contains both wisdom and evil, it’s a combination of opposites, of spiritual wholeness. In Hindu religion, the heart is associated with the center of the body, the seat of the divine within. In Buddhism, the compassionate heart is essential to transcendent suffering and achieve enlightenment (concept of loving-kidness). In the Holy Grail legend, the heart is a vessel symbolizing the heart of Christ whose life/blood nourishes the soul.

"And I shall taste of you."

In Alchemy, the heart is the container where Chrysopoeia (Gold-making) occurs, where lead metals are transformed into gold. During the Middle Ages, the heart was considered a “book” containing a person’s thoughts, feelings and memories. This tradition goes back to Ancient Egypt, and medieval Christian theology pictured the heart as representative of the soul, mind, conscience, etc., as a “book” containing the record of a person’s life. The “book of the heart” was known only to God during one’s earthly life and it would be opened and read aloud to all during Judgment’s Day. Saint Basil compared the heart to a wax-writing tablet that was erased and rewritten as a result of religious conversion; and Saint Augustine converted his spiritual autobiography, “Confessions” into a “story of his heart”, of his conversation, and identifies the heart with the codex. Artists would later represent Augustine sitting at his desk with an open book (codex), holding a pen in one hand and his heart in the other. 

In the following centuries, monks and scholars would developed the concept of “book of the heart” by allegorizing every aspect of the manuscript codex and its uses: “from its polished vellum (piety) to its securing clasp (secrecy), and from checking the text for errors (accuracy of memory) to regular daily reading (heart-felt devotion)”. In Christian medieval tradition, the “book of the heart” contained divine truths, devotional feelings and/or personal moral record.  

Solomonari codex of secrets

Similar to medieval Clerical tradition, secular courts celebrated the “book of the heart”, filled with amorous memories and erotic feelings, associated with Cupid, the human lover, or even his Lady. The secular “book of the heart” dealt with the commandments of love, the charms of the beloved or his own turbulent emotional history. Sensual love was a considered a form of “worship”, and never truly lost its religious sources. However, it’s focus was on eros, carnal impulses, courtly poets, sexual desires, memories and fantasies.  

"The Offering of the Heart" (Tapestry), c. 1410

During the Renaissance era (15-16th centuries), many artists evoked this concept in their songs and poets. The “offering of the heart” became a popular theme in poetry and ballads. French composer Baude Cordier wrote a heart-shaped song addressing his lady (“Belle, bonne et sage noté sur une portée en forme de cœur") and goes on to offer her the lover’s heart by singing the “song in my heart”. Italian poet Boccaccio dreamed that his lady opened his heart and wrote her name there in gold letters; Petrarch claimed to carry in his heart “story of [his suffering” for his beloved Laura; Dante wrote the story of his love for Beatrice in “Vita Nuova”, among several countless examples. 

After the 17th century, with early modern science and technology, and as the printed book replaced the manuscript, the “book of the heart” metaphor lost significance, as physicians reduced the heart to a pump, compelling philosophers to relocate the soul or self to the head, the brain. As a consequence, the “book of the heart” was replaced by the “book of the brain”, which would explode in the early 20th century with psychanalysts like Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The “offering of the heart” would survive to our days in the form of Valentine’s Day cards and souvenirs. 

In Jungian alchemical lens, the "heart" is a symbol of psychospiritual transformation, integration, and healing. The "Alchemical Heart" is a mediating center of psychic polarities, of what Carl Jung called the "union of opposites". When these opposite forces (conflicting currents of consciousness and unconscious in a creative tension) are held in creative tension (instead of conflict), it gives birth to a new integrated attitude that includes and unites both matter and spirit , the "Philosopher' Stone", symbol of a more integrated transpersonal reality (individuation; path of Self-becoming). The heart, represents the air element, and is seen as the central focus of the individuation process. The “heart” operates like an alchemical vessel that forges the link between the material and the spiritual, and incorporates body, mind and soul in the birth of a unified transpersonal awareness. 

For this “child”, the “Philosopher’s stone”, the emergent “third”, to be born in the heart, it must be carefully worked over and undergo intense transformation within the heat of each tradition’s somatic and spiritual disciplines. Mercurius (or Hermes) is the "dweller in the heart"; a messenger which participates in both light and dark worlds, as well, as the perfect mediating bridge between them. Mercurius is duplex in nature, light and dark, water and fire, matter and spirit, destructive and creative, masculine and feminine, and is the principle of individuation itself. The heart serves as a link between the human and the divine, in which the lower and material is transformed into the higher and spiritual, and vice versa. To know the heart is to be transformed by what one discovers in the heart. 

"It doesn't matter! We are already dead!": Treasure and Preciousness

The themes of wealth and social class are also present in “Nosferatu” (2024), as the character of Thomas Hutter aspires to climb the social ladder and become like his wealthy friend Friedrich Harding, from whom he borrows money on occasion: "When I am no longer a pauper. Friedrich, when I have, I mean to say... I shall finally be able to return the monies you loaned me." And whom he admits to envy: “I envy you. You’ve truly taken your father’s place now... it’s incredible.” When we, the audience, are introduced to the Hardings, Thomas and Ellen go to their household dressed in their finest clothing, and even then, the luxury of the Hardings’ costumes is visible. Thomas and Ellen are dressed to fit in with the Hardings, and to reflect Thomas' ambition. 

"The bloody responsibility. It’s crushing,Thomas, crushing. Of course, It’s unseemly to complain with the earnings, but the demands of the market grow faster than the damnèd shipyard."

As Nicholas Hoult explains in one interview: "Thomas Hutter is kind of misguided. He loves his wife so much, but he can't listen to her fully or understand what she's going through. He's naive in his idea that getting more money and a better house is going to solve all their problems." Thomas wants to fulfill his Victorian husband role, of provider for his wife, and, as such, he wants to buy them a big house and a maid to attent to her: "Ellen, we are already wed! What could be amiss? Look, when I return I will finally make something of myself –- I shall buy us a fine house of our own, with a maidservant. [...] I wish you to have all you deserve of."

Marriage was the institution where Victorian men fully accomplished their male responsibility and privilege: to form a household, provide safety and comfort, and exercise authority over dependents (wife and children) where the trademark of a successful man. This was also connected to their social and professional success, making them respectful in the eyes of other men. A man who couldn’t govern his wife was also seen as unfit, socially, professionally and morally. To Thomas, provide the best domestic sphere for Ellen (wealth, house, maids, dresses) is how he's meant to fulfill his Victorian husband role, and show his love for her.

From her part, Ellen doesn't care about wealth, nor a bigger house nor maids: "We needn’t any of that!" As showed by her family manor at the prologue of the film, she comes from wealth, but has "married down" and lives in a Middle class house with Thomas. As Linda Muir, the costume designer, elaborates in interview to "The Art of Costume": “she [Ellen] comes from a family of wealth. Yet, when she marries Hutter (played by Nicholas Hoult), she embraces a simpler life, content without an array of elaborate clothing or assistance from maids. Thomas, on the other hand, is the one who desires those luxuries for her". At the beginning of the film, all Ellen wants is Thomas' love and freedom, as the costume designer reveals in another interview: "Ellen starts off with wealth, which is apparent from the bedroom in the estate and the lilacs that she’s writhing around under. And when she goes to Thomas, she doesn’t care about the wealth. All she wants is Thomas and to be free. He’s the one that is driven to want but it’s just in order to give to her. And it’s his downfall."

"You mustn’t leave, I love you too much!"

As she’ll go on to reveal to Professor Von Franz, Ellen believes it was Thomas’ love that made her “normal”, and stopped her “epilepsies” (hysteria) and “melancholy” (delusions and hallucinations), her diagnose by Victorian doctors. And, as such, she sees Thomas as her freedom from her medicalization by Victorian society, which is why she holds on to him so fiercely, because she believes his love will keep her "shame" (hysteria) and "melancholy" at bay, and out of the doctors' grasp. As Robert Eggers tells us in his own interviews, Ellen doesn’t understand her power nor Victorian society provides her with the language for her to be able to. Which is why it’s a character outside of this society, Professor Von Franz, who will begin to unravel the true reason behind her “sickness” (mediumship).

As a child, Ellen enjoyed being in nature, as she tells Professor Von Franz: “Father... he would find me in our fields... within the forest... as if – I was his little changeling girl” (European folklore). However, as she was growing older, her father wouldn’t allow it anymore because it was not suitable for a young girl, who should start to learn how to be the future wife to a respectable husband, as it was socially expected of her: “But as I became older it worsened... Father dispraised me for it... I frightened him. My touch.” This also indicates her father stopped giving her physical affection, because that would be inappropriate, and this hurt Ellen deeply. When she was 15-years-old, Ellen unconsciously resurrected Count Orlok, and, from then on, she would masturbate and he would appear as a shadow at her window. Both her power (death) and her sexuality (sex) has awoken through him, which would lead her to her medicalization by Victorian society. 

Fast forward a few years, Ellen is now married to Thomas, and all she wants is to be his greatest treasure, and love. She doesn’t care about money, nor a bigger house. Deep down, she doesn’t want to be trapped in the domestic sphere, either, as she’s revealed to be curious and wants to learn about the mysteries of life, outside of the domestic and organized religion (which is what is sociably expected of her). She’s drawn to nature (symbolic of her desire for freedom), still, as she wants to go to the beach, and stay there for as long as possible. She'll also ask Anna Harding: “Look at the sky! Look at the sea! Does it never call to you? Urge you?” Unlike Anna, who's content with the domestic sphere and even warns her daughters to "be careful now, children, keep from that filth!" (the muddy bay shore where Ellen will later have a "hysterical fit" to communicate with Orlok).

Friedrich Harding, the ideal Thomas chases, is a wealthy man, a successful ship merchant, and the Victorian patriarch role model, and friends with Thomas Hutter since their school days. However, and in spite of his wealth, his greatest treasure is his wife, Anna, and their children Clara and Louise: “And my two girls... two Tom... I... I love them more than the world.” This is also showed in his gold pocket watch, as Aaron Taylor-Johnson explains in one interview; it’s an expensive watch, and has his wife and children’s names engraved.

Thomas Hutter and Friedrich Harding pocket watches: Middle class vs. Wealth

Linda Muir, the costume designer, revealed this “preciousness” is also present in Anna Harding’s costumes: “There is a distinct difference between Ellen and her friend Anna (Corrin), who is the most precious thing to her wealthy husband, Friedrich Harding (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). All of Anna's clothing—and she has many, many outfits— are unique and new. You can see by her outfits how much wealth she has at her disposal. With her, I used a lot of fabrics with gold threads in them. Many of her outfits were finished with a very luxe sheen to them. One reason was to reflect the character back in low lighting but I also wanted to suggest how precious she was to Harding.” 

Count Orlok is a strigoi, a cursed creature, but he was once an extremely wealthy man, and this is visible not only in his estate (castle), heritage (nobility; “Lord”) and, also, on his costume design, as a Transylvanian Count from around 1580-1590, as Linda Muir describes in one interview: “the overall look was to establish Orlok as a once-real person with a life, with money, with wealth, with entitlement, with attitude”; "Orlok would have been a young, vital, you know, “I’m a sexy, handsome, gorgeous, rich beyond belief man.”" But, like Robert Eggers revealed in one interview, his Orlok isn't interested in world domination nor spreading his plague, all he wants is Ellen, for her to "be one with [him] ever-eternally", and for her to break the curse, because she's the reincarnation of his wife or lover, and he can't be "sated without" her (which in 16th century English means he can't rest, find peace in death, without her soul by his side).

We see Orlok using his wealth to get Ellen; nor only to travel but, mainly, to trick Thomas Hutter into signing the covenant papers (the divorce papers where he forsakes his marriage to Ellen, and promises her to Orlok) in exchange for a sack of gold. Thomas intuition tells him there’s a hidden motivation at work here, but he ignores it in favor of his ambition. But Thomas’ signature is not the only “exchange” we see happening in this scene: as Orlok gives Thomas a part of his wealth, he takes Ellen’s heart locket. And there’s a difference of monetary value here: he gives Thomas gold, while keeping silver for himself (Ellen's locket), which is considered less valuable. 

This is a subversion of the "money" theme from the "Dracula" novel, where Count Dracula's castle is filled with opulent furnishings, hires solicitors, makes deals with banks to expand his empire, and buys several properties around London. Here, Orlok buys a decrepit ruin, which amazes even Thomas himself ("Forgive me, but is it not, well, a ruin?"). And he keeps his sarcophagus at the chapel of Grünewald Manor, beneath the rose window, representing his yearning for higher spiritual realms, and to be free from Nosferatu curse. He doesn't employ his wealth to improve the building, nor anything else. He doesn't care about wealth, he's already dead. Orlok's greatest treasure is not the silver locket for its own sake, it's the scent of lilacs on Ellen's hair, which remind him of his human life, of their past life together, of what they once were. The locket is also heart-shaped, symbolic for Ellen's love and soul.

Friedrich and Anna Harding are the mirror (and opposite) pair to Ellen and Orlok, in "Nosferatu" (2024), and we find several parallels between them throughout the film. Ellen and Anna are opposite characters, like Robert Eggers tells us "unlike her friend Anna (Emma Corrin), Ellen cannot, or will not, conceal her sexual desires". 

While Ellen has a silver heart locket, Anna Harding has a silver cross, illustrating her as very religious and God-fearing woman, as Emma Corrin reveals in one interview, Robert Eggers provided the actors with novellas on his character's backgrounds: “I remember mine saying that she was Lutheran from a conservative household. Anna meets Friedrich at a ball, and how their eyes meet across the room to this particular piece of music.” While Anna says the "sea" and the "sky" urging Ellen is God's power ("That is his power. A gentle breeze from Heaven–"), Ellen rejects it, and calls it "Destiny". While Anna is driven by religion and society (silver cross), Ellen is driven by love and destiny (heart-shapped locket).

"God is with us, Leni."

After the prologue, Ellen is trying to make Thomas return to bed because “the honeymoon was yet too short”, and she urges him to “take off your shoes”, and begs for “one minute more”. Thomas sees this behavior from Ellen as her being a “doting wife” to him, submissive and eager to please him, because women, in the early 19th century, weren’t supposed to have nor display sexual desire, and their sexuality was owned and controlled by their husbands. Thomas is already satisfied, he has to be off to work, and so he leaves. Ellen is clearly displeased by this, but says nothing. Later, at the Harding household Ellen devours Thomas with kisses, a scene which will find parallel in Orlok feeding on Thomas during the Solomonari Sex Magick divorce ritual, foreshadowing of "you could never please me as he could", and of the connection between Ellen and Orlok.

Friedrich Harding resents Ellen, and doesn't want her anywhere near his daughters ("I thought it was agreed you were to keep the girls from her"), and reluctantly accepts the friendship between her and Anna, out of respect for his long-time friend, Thomas, but still worries she might "contaminate" his wife ("you mustn’t be swept up in her fairy ways"), which will culminate in him blaming Ellen for Anna's sickness (contagion).

Friedrich resents Ellen not only due to what she represents ("otherness"; "sickness"; "female sexuality"), but mostly because he recognizes his own nature in her: “rutting goat”; “always hungry”; “her dashing young husband is leaving her bedside cold” as he jokes with Thomas before his departure. And he tells Ellen, himself: “I am most sensitive to your ardent nature”. And Ellen recognizes this resentment, as she'll ask him, herself, as he expells both her and Thomas from his household: "Why do you hate me? You have never liked me. Never." Friedrich resents Ellen because she's a woman, and, as such, she shouldn’t have this nature, while Ellen is envious of him because he gets to display his sexuality freely, while society tells her she has to repress hers.

"Really, Friedrich, in public."

"I cannot resist you, my love."

Ellen has this “hysteric fit” as Friedrich and Anna are displaying sexual desire in public, and almost kissing. The narrative has established that Ellen controls her entire connection with Orlok, and it’s her who summons him for their communications to happen (telepathic, inside of her mind). She channels her sexual energy to conjure him, to call him to her; which is what she’s doing in this scene. She’s covered in slime and muck, representing her affiliation with nature, her desire for freedom (nature vs. society). She’s also convulsing erotically at the shore, in the sea. She’s not only giving Orlok entrance (invitation) into Wisburg by sea, but this also provides the context for her longing for the sea itself, as it symbolizes her yearning for Olrok to come to her, and how he represents nature itself in her character arc. "Destiny!"

Fast forward, Professor Von Franz will be introduced in the plot and began to unravel the truth behind Ellen’s Victorian diagnose. She’s not “melancholic”, she’s a medium who communicates with the spiritual world (“I believe she has always been highly conductive to these cosmic forces, uniquely so”), and her “hysteric fits” are, in fact, trance mediumship (“the pupil is expanded. It does not contract naturally to light. A second sight. She is no longer here. She communes now with another realm.”). Von Franz also says she’s “obsessed” of some “daemon”, (not "possessed"): a daemon is haunting her, and communicating with her, influencing her behavior throught words. However, and since Ellen, like the rest of the Victorian characters, doesn’t understand any of this, she’ll interpret this as if Orlok is a demon possessing her body.

Meanwhile Thomas returns, and the haunting stops: Ellen thinks it's his love, and not her stopping her conjuring of Orlok. However, when Anna Harding points this out, and in connection with her melancholy, Ellen gets upset: "I am only glad that you have become yourself again. It seems a miracle. Perhaps Professor Franz was wrong. Perhaps it was only your wish to see Thomas safely returned, and your... your [my melancholy?]”  Ellen wants to be free of her medicalization, and Professor Von Franz has begun to give her answers about her power, but she doesn’t understand, and she wants to. 

"Well where is it? Your money? Your promotion? Your house? Where is that which is so precious to you? [...] For what? For what? For these... things?"

Only, later, when she sees Orlok in the flesh for the first time ever, and he’s monstruous, she thinks this is confirmation that he’s, indeed, a demon, and he has been possessing her, compelling her to have these “hysterical fits” and creating this sexual attraction to him. Only in her "possession scene" will Ellen realize this is not the case: her trance mediumship allows her to communicate with the spiritual world as a whole; Orlok isn't "a demon possessing her body", it's all on herself, and it’s her who has been summoning Orlok this entire time, which is why she says she'll become a demon without Thomas (without her husband owning and controlling her sexuality) and "I'm unclean!". 

"I’ll kill him! He shall never harm you again. Never!"

Only, Ellen has just realized it’s not Orlok, it’s her own power, her own nature. And she also realized something else: Thomas won’t ever accept her power and will always call the doctors to deal with her (“I shall send for Doctor Sievers” and “Ellen, wake from this. I love you! I love you.”).He now believes it's Orlok who's making his wife "sick", and once he's destroyed everything will be back to "normal", and she'll be the perfect Victorian wife to him, then. His (Victorian) love and her medicalization are one of the same: Thomas is society, and he wants to keep her in the domestic sphere. And this “unclean” nature finds a parallel in Friedrich Harding, where Robert Eggers makes another subversion of the “Dracula” novel, based on 1980’s Feminist literary criticism of Victorian authors who created female heroines who have sexual desire and sexual energy, and need to be killed and punished for that. Here it’s Friedrich Harding, the Victorian patriarch, the “rutting goat”, who gets punished with death by the narrative, alongside his God-fearing wife and children (Victorian family ideal).

After the funerals, there’s a notorious difference between Thomas and Friedrich Harding. Thomas is driven by revenge against Orlok, not only because of what he thinks he did to Ellen, but because he believes everything that has happened it's his own fault, since he thinks he was the one who unleashed Orlok into the world (nevermind what Ellen told him the night before: "I have brought this evil upon us [...] I called out..."), as he asks for both Ellen and Friedrich's forgiveness: "Please, it is my fault! Forgive me my dear, sweet friend!"

Friedrich Harding, on the other hand, doesn’t care about revenge. He’s already dying from the “blood plague”, and he blames himself because of what happened to his wife and children, and could use his last strength to destroy Orlok to avenge his wife and children's killings, like Thomas, alongside Dr. Sievers and Professor Von Franz. "Please, forgive me, all of you. My reason could not accept..." However, plans to destroy monsters have no interest to him, and he goes to his wife and daughters mausoleum to die alongside them, instead. Friedrich lost his greatest treasures; his wealth and social reputation don’t matter to him anymore. He’s already dead. 

"I shall never sleep again. Never."

Anna Harding’s burial costume is very reminiscence of a wedding dress. It’s not confirmed if this is the case with Anna’s character, but many women were buried in their wedding dresses in the 19th century, because it was tradition for the dead to be dressed in their best clothes, and, for many women, their wedding dress was their finest fashion possession. Anna’s character is a wealthy woman with many fashion choices at her disposal to illustrate her wealth. However, a huge part of her character is being precious to Friedrich Harding, so this angle would fit her story. Queen Victoria herself was buried in her wedding attire, in spite of being queen of an empire.

And this finds parallel in Ellen scene with Orlok, as she accepts his covenant ("be one with me ever-eternally"), and wears her wedding dress filled with lilacs: in her hair, in her veil, in the dress itself, the symbolic lilacs which connect both Ellen and Orlok, showcasing this is what Ellen desired all along. This is her destiny. She accepts him after being confronted with the threat of his destruction by the men plotting to drive a spike of cold iron throught him. She doesn't know about the instructions of the Solomonari codex of secrets, Professor Von Franz never told her nor anyone about them; but they are confirmed to have been successful at the end, and the curse of Nosferatu was broken, and Orlok soul was set free, united with Ellen's, forever (strigoi myth). 

At the end, like Friedrich Harding with Anna; Ellen could not resist Orlok. She's already dead, and so, like Friedrich goes to Anna, she summons Orlok to come to her. All Ellen ever wanted was to be someone’s greatest treasure, and she is, to Orlok; all he wants is her soul alongside his, forever. That's his whole motivation in this story. Like Friedrich himself, Orlok was wealthy beyond belief when he was alive, but none of that matters in death; Ellen’s soul is the most precious thing to him. Their souls were separated by death, and are united by death. But while the plague has taken both Friedrich and Anna, Ellen and Orlok union ends the plague of Nosferatu, by breaking the curse. To fulfill their covenant, Ellen has to die, and Orlok needs to have his soul set free from the rotten corpse it's trapped in (Nosferatu); hence why she doesn't need to be told about any instructions from any ancient manuscript. They are already implied to make their spirits one. From his part, Orlok is very much aware of these instructions because he wrote them, himself.  

Love and heart become one in this scene; as Ellen offers both her heart (willing sacrifice) and her love (covenant) to Orlok. And he will drink her blood/soul and trap it inside of Nosferatu, alongside his, where they will merge together. At dawn, when Nosferatu is destroyed, both Ellen and Orlok’s united souls are liberated to the Afterlife, as their joined blood pours out of it. But Orlok is not merely drinking her blood and getting her soul in this scene, he's also having sex with her, as the breaking of the curse says: "with him lay in close embrace until first cock crow". And this will find parallel in a earlier scene between Friedrich and Anna Harding:

Friedrich Harding and Anna Harding are the Victorian patriarch and the ideal Victorian woman, their sexual union is both a marital duty, devoted to male pleasure, and for reproduction (life). They are having sex with their clothes on, as it was customary in the early 19th century. They represent society. Robert Eggers gave us this sex scene as reference to Ellen and Orlok’s, for the audience to know what they are doing until dawn without showing it, explicitly (the background of the window and the mirror are alike).

As opposite to the Hardings, Orlok and Ellen are naked, freed from 19th century societal conventions. They represent transgressive sexuality, not only necrophilia (death), but female sexual pleasure (Ellen is moaning freely, and will experience an orgasm at the end). They represent nature, and Ellen is fully liberated from corsets and from her medicalization, with her hair down with dry lilacs between their strands, fully embracing herself and Orlok (the monster of her own creation), by extension. Their sexual union is meant to consummate their marriage (sex as a sacrament), and to break the curse. 

“Let this your tender embrace keep me now in bliss, away from everlasting sleep.”

Friedrich Harding will go on to defile Anna’s corpse, as he’s found on top of her. This is a more direct parallel with Ellen and Orlok being found at the end, by the same characters (Thomas, Dr. Sievers and Professor Von Franz), where the corpse can consent to the act. But while Friedrich and Anna are inside of a mausoleum and in the dark (society); Ellen and Orlok at in the light, being bathed by sunlight, and Professor Von Franz will place their symbolic lilacs around their bodies (nature).  

Friedrich and Anna Harding represent the true horror of women’s oppression in Victory society. Women were property of their husbands, with no agency whatesover, her bodies and sexuality owned by their husbands, fully dominated by them (even in death), who could physically and sexually assault them with no fear of repercussions, and infected them with "blood plagues" (especially syphilis) quite often. God-fearing, Christian values, morality, decency and concern with social reputation all fall apart in this scene, as Victorian society hypocrisy is brought to light by Professor Von Franz, the occult scholar.

Ellen and Orlok's union is blessed by nature; the great Pagan priestess and the Pagan priest-shaman follower of Zalmoxis, both demonized by Christian Victorian society, together and their sexuality on full display, no longer shameful nor demonic. Ellen is naked; fully embracing herself, fully liberated from Victorian society. Ellen and Orlok are the owners of the secrets of immortality; death, resurrection, rebirth and reincarnation. Their spiritual and sexual union (Sex Magick) has healed them and the world, and the plague was lifted.

Friedrich and Anna are in dark (ignorance); while Ellen and Orlok are in light (knowledge). Both men “can’t resist” these female characters; but while Friedrich used Anna’s corpse for his own sexual pleasure; Orlok gave Ellen pure ecstasy (orgasm), their scene is about her sexual pleasure, not his. Friedrich and Anna are riddled with plague; while Ellen and Orlok are fully healed; Ellen healed Orlok from Nosferatu curse (“his affliction”), and Orlok was the only one who could heal Ellen “sanguine temperament” by draining her blood (“hysteria”). They healed each other, and by consequence, they ended the plague for everyone else.

As for Thomas, he never stood a chance, for he and Ellen were completely mismatched for each other, they wanted different things: while Ellen wanted to break free from social convention, Thomas wanted to embraced it, while Ellen wanted to be in nature, Thomas wanted to keep her in the domestic sphere. He goes from wanting wealth to seek revenge, and ends losing Ellen in the process. However, he already lost before she was dead. He lost Ellen when he accepted to travel to Transylvania, they both just didn't realize it until later. As for that “last look of love”; to whom was it, truly? Ellen and Orlok’s souls were already united, and ready to ascend, as their joined blood/souls are pouring out of Nosferatu. Was this “last look of love” to Thomas or to Orlok?