Imperialism In Laura's Carmilla

In the nineteenth century, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s texts present varying circumstances of inexplicable terrors situated in Gothic tradition to explore the political and social ideals fundamentally inherent in the Victorian age, particularly surrounding imperialism and sexuality. However, Le Fanu’s method of exploring and critiquing Victorian ideology of imperialism and sexuality are cleverly concealed under the prevalent supernatural elements present in his works. This is a concept that is interwoven seamlessly into the narrative structure of Le Fanu’s Carmilla. By analyzing the unique qualities of Carmilla’s character, this paper will argue that Carmilla’s attacks on Laura’s body and virtue renders Laura incapable of living because it functions as a systematic attack on her core Victorian ideals of English superiority and female sexuality. In Le Fanu’s short story, Carmilla’s various attempts to feed …show more content…
Carmilla’s physical “features [are] small and beautifully formed” (262) with “large, dark and lustrous” (262) eyes and “hair so magnificently thick and long” (262) that Laura is filled “with [a] wonder” (262) that is peculiar. As Carmilla’s physical description, specifically her dark eyes and thick hair, seems to indicate an exotic origin, one that is insinuated further by Carmilla’s apparent acquaintance with “a hideous black woman, with a sort of coloured turban on her head” (257), this suggests that Laura’s seemingly childish fascination to “fold and braid it, and spread it out and play with it” (262), to thoroughly ‘examine’ Carmilla’s hair, demonstrates a form of English domination over an exotic individual, which is concealed under a guise of childish