Across the nineteenth century, melodrama visually and dramatically expressed the ideologies that motivated and sustained the nation’s imperial project. Spectacular, jingoistic, and intensely patriotic, melodrama translated imperial conflicts and conquests into timely and topical cultural productions that generally simplified complex cross-cultural engagements and current political and military events. Melodrama’s conventional framing translated a complicated political concept into familiar theatrical idioms, allowing audiences of all classes to make sense of themselves as citizens of an empire. The ideological and visual dynamics of imperialist melodrama were rooted in early nineteenth-century Orientalist fantasies, and slavery and nautical melodramas. As the form evolved, it became more visually spectacular and jingoistic in tone. Though late-century melodramas generally promoted a popular pro-imperialist sentiment, many also used the structures of the normative romance plot to reflect increasing public anxieties about the domestic impact of Britain’s foreign entanglements as well as doubts about Britain’s ability to maintain its empire in the face of new international rivalries.