The Psychological Conflict of Laura in Carmilla (1872) by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30872/jbssb.v10i3.26856Abstract
This study analyzes the novella Carmilla (1872) to explore Laura's psychological conflict, a young woman living in isolation with her father in a secluded castle. Her encounter with Carmilla, a mysterious and affectionate stranger later revealed to be a vampire, becomes the catalyst for the psychological conflict. This study analyses how Laura's psychological conflict is represented using Kurt Lewin’s theory of psychological conflict. Employing a descriptive qualitative method, the research interprets the hidden meaning behind Laura’s emotional responses, decisions, and motivations when facing complex and dangerous situations. The findings reveal that Laura experiences all three types of psychological conflict, which are the approach-approach conflicts arising from her longing for companionship and her safety with and without her friend, avoidance-avoidance conflicts connected to the nightmare she experienced, and the dilemma of whether to reveal them to her father, and the most dominant type is approach-avoidance conflict, marked by Laura’s struggle to reconcile her affection, trust, and desire for emotional connection with fear, uncertainty, and betrayal. These conflicts intensify as Laura becomes increasingly aware of Carmilla’s true nature. In resolving her psychological conflict, the concept of valence is used to understand which choices Laura considers to have a more desirable and beneficial outcome (positive valence) and which have more undesirable outcomes and should be avoided (negative valenceDownloads
References
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1998). The landscape of qualitative research : theories and issues. Sage Publications.
Fakhruddin, R. A. (2015). The internal conflict faced by Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University Malang.
Griffith, K. (2011). Writing essays about literature : a guide and style sheet (8th ed.). Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Klarer, M. (2024). An introduction to literary studies (4th ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003133025-1
Lamb, N. (2008). The art and craft of storytelling: a comprehensive guide to classic writing techniques. Writer’s Digest Books.
Le Fanu, J. S. (1872). Carmilla. Duke Classics.
Levinger, G. (1957). Kurt Lewin’s approach to conflict and its resolution: a review with some extensions. The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1(4), 329–339. https://www.jstor.org/stable/172943
Lewin, K. (1935). A dynamic theory of personality (D. K. Adams & K. E. Zener, Trans.; 1st Edition). McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.
Maslej, M. M., Oatley, K., & Mar, R. A. (2017). Creating fictional characters: The role of experience, personality, and social processes. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 11(4), 487–499. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000094
McKechnie, L. E. F. (2008). Observational research. In L. M. Given (Ed.), The sage encyclopedia of qualitative research methods (Vols. 1 & 2). Sage Publisher Inc.
Mlodinow, L. (2023). Emotional: The new thinking about feelings. Penguin Books.
Plotnik, R., & Kouyoumdjian, H. (2011). Introduction to psychology (9th ed.). Wadsworth Publication.
Ribó, I. (2019). Prose fiction: An introduction to the semiotics of narrative. OpenBook Publishers.
Roberts, E. V, & Zweig, R. (2012). Literature: an introduction to reading and writing (5th Compact). Pearson Education, Inc. www.pearsonhighered.com/
Silverberg, R. (2010). Sailing to Byzantium. Asimov’s Science Fiction.
Steinhauer, H. (1978). Twelve German novellas. University of California Press.
Wellek, R., & Warren, A. (2016). Theory of literature (Melani Budianta, Tran.; 6th Edition).
Yimer, D. M. (2019). On the interaction between literature and psychology. International European Extended Enablement in Science, Engineering & Management (IEEESEM), 7(8), 155–167. https://doi.org/10.51594/ijarss.v4i8.382
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Every work in Ilmu Budaya: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, Seni, dan Budaya is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
