What Is Carmilla Imperialism

Additionally, Carmilla feeds off of young women, just as Dracula does. She exerts an agency that is not socially permissible, since she, as a female, is the predator and not the prey. Carmilla’s physical appearance causes much anxiety, as she comes across as innocently as other women and therefore undetectable, just as new ideas were spread amongst women. She is even stronger than the men, which is explicitly stated in her encounter with the general, in which Carmilla’s hand is compared to a “vice of steel” (Le Fanu 269). Between Laura and Carmilla’s relationship, men are not needed. With the rise of new technologies that gave women new choices, the anxiety that men would not be needed, an anxiety that is death with by Carmilla’s extermination.
With the British empire extending itself into what would become known as, “the empire on which the sun never sets”, debate arose on whether imperialism was entirely beneficial. Initially, Imperialism occurred as a way to cheaply accessed raw goods and control a market to sell goods to. The entire undertaking was embroiled with an ideology that placed Britain in the moral right since they claimed they were preforming a duty to the nations it sought to control. Of course, some questioned the possible the side effects of imperialism. During the fin de siècle, there was a growing concern that the empire as a whole was experiencing a decline; there was pervasive degeneration sweeping through the citizens and a fear that another country, such as the United States, would replace Britain as the leading world power. Dracula, written in this time, essentially deals with the concern as Dracula is heavily nodded as an “other”, by regaling in his long ancestry which includes historically-famed militaristic groups, further illustrating his as a possible bloodthirsty nature. He is marked by successful generation of conquerers, come to conquer once again. Dracula intends to enter the civilized world and dominate it. He represents the East, and the backwardness that has yet been “civilized” by modernity, which in of itself is threatening. Dracula makes the claim, “Your girls that you all love are mine already. And through them you and others shall yet be mine . . .” (Stoker 339) which ties back into the cultural belief of a man dominating another man by violating a woman who he has a close connection to. Women are not seen as an individual but rather an auxiliary to a male figure. Furthermore, there is the a threat that miscegenation will cause contamination amongst a strong nation. Before Dracula can accomplish his plan, he is defeated by three men who heavily represent England, and two