The Mysteries of Udolpho

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1794

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume 1, Chapters 1-5

Volume 1, Chapters 6-13

Volume 2, Chapters 1-6

Volume 2, Chapters 7-12

Volume 3, Chapters 1-6

Volume 3, Chapters 7-13

Volume 4, Chapters 1-7

Volume 4, Chapters 8-12

Volume 4, Chapters 13-19

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The Dangers of Materialism and Greed

The desire to acquire property is a prominent theme in the text. At one level, the novel critiques a person’s relentless need to acquire and improve property, as in the case of characters like M. Quesnel, Madame Montoni, and Montoni. On the other hand, owning a beloved piece of property is important even for less materialistic people like St. Aubert and Emily. The text’s complex stance on materialism and property acquisition can be understood in light of its philosophical ideals and sociocultural realities.

M. Quesnel is described as a coarse, intellectually hollow man who thinks nothing of cheating his niece out of her homestead or cutting down trees to make room for more buildings. Madame Montoni marries Montoni partly because she believes he is wealthy and advises Emily to accept the suit of Count Morano simply because of his social status: “If I was unmarried, and the Count had proposed to me, I should have been flattered by the distinction” (337). Montoni is ready to murder for estates, even causing Madame Montoni to die so he can have Toulouse and her other assets. This covetous, hungry greed is emblematic of the apathetic human being, one who has no respect for nature or their fellow humans. The text condemns such greed and acquisitiveness as malicious, with characters served their just desserts for their coarse appetites: Madame Montoni’s marriage of convenience leads to her death and Montoni is poisoned in prison.

The male greed for female property is an important subset of the broader theme of property. Montoni, the chief villain of the plot, embodies this greed. He marries Madame Cheron for money, feels cheated “by her comparative poverty” (293), and is angered by her decision to give him only a part of her small fortune. Madame Cheron’s canny refusal to part with all her property may be seen as materialistic, but can also be viewed as prudent. She senses her new husband poses a danger and, despite her infatuation, ensures she is not completely dependent on him. For Montoni, this display of “the superior cunning of a woman, whose understanding he despised” (293) is anathema. When he turns his pressure onto Emily, Emily responds by agreeing to relinquish her property rights as an act of self-preservation, while also still understanding that financial autonomy is a precious asset for a woman in her position. Without any financial autonomy or ability to maintain financial resources of their own, the female characters are left vulnerable to the exploitative men, like Montoni, who seek to dominate them.

In contrast, a lack of materialism is seen as a virtue. Both St. Aubert and Emily marry for love, rather than money. Valancourt gives away his money repeatedly, first to the shepherd family and then to the Bonnacs. At the end of the novel, Emily gifts Udolpho to the Bonnacs and sells off Toulouse so she can set up Annette and Ludovico. However, it is also true that Emily and Valancourt can afford to be generous because of the privileges they possess. Furthermore, Emily’s happy ending is inextricably tied up with being a rich heiress rather than an imperiled orphan. This duality of material acquisitions can be explained by the fact that in Radcliffe’s sociocultural milieu, wealth and property were the chief means for a woman to have autonomy and choices. As an orphan who does not possess wealth, there are few ways for Emily to advance in the world; as the owner of La Vallee, she has the space and safety to be herself. The text therefore promotes the idea that while wishing to have autonomy and financial security is not a bad thing in and of itself, all wealth must be tempered with moderation, humanity, and charity in order to avoid the dangers of materialism for its own sake.

The Link Between the Gothic and Real-Life Terrors

The validity of belief in the supernatural is a prominent thematic question in the text, affecting all the major characters and helping to drive the plot forward. Radcliffe’s innovation as a novelist is to turn the use of the Gothic into something more complex and psychologically sophisticated than mere plot devices or entertainment: The Mysteries of Udolpho continuously links its supernatural Gothic elements to real-life terrors.

Emily inhabits a world where most people are keen to believe in the supernatural. For instance, the idea that Chateau-La-Blanc is haunted is widely believed. Peasants believe the music in Languedoc is an omen of death, even though, as one admits, “I have heard it these many years, and outlived the warning” (112). The tongue-in-cheek assertion should be proof enough that the music does not herald death, but people cling to their superstitious beliefs. Similarly, Annette is quick to believe Udolpho is haunted and the nuns at St. Clare fear Count de Villefort is courting evil by investigating the case of the supposedly possessed rooms of the Marchioness. Emily herself is vulnerable to such suggestions. Being an imaginative and sensitive person, she finds the idea of the supernatural and Gothic fascinating to some degree. Even when in the throes of fear at Udolpho, she unveils the mysterious, hidden portrait, propelled by “a kind of fascination” (380) that makes one “seek even the object, from which we appear to shrink” (380). However, Emily also struggles against her superstitious streak, always looking for rational explanations behind supernatural phenomena. In Volume 2, Chapter 5, Annette notes after arriving in Udolpho that it looks like a place made for fairies and giants, and that “several times, something passed by me” (354). Emily gently scolds her, “you must not indulge in such fancies” (354, emphasis added).

The text makes it clear that Emily herself indulges in these fancies because of her imaginative temperament and her anxious state of mind. Emily’s experience of the supernatural increases as she enters Udolpho, since this is also a place where she is under actual, physical threat. At Udolpho, Emily is scared Montoni may force her to marry Morano, or worse. Montoni actually threatens her with excessive punishment and the prospect of letting his friends sexually harass her. Given these very real threats, “she imagined a thousand evils for futurity, and these real and ideal subjects of distress alike wounded her mind” (487, emphasis added). The phrase “wounded her mind” is crucial because it pinpoints the psychological basis of horror: Things appear horrifying because of perception and one’s individual circumstances. It is in this altered mind that Emily mistakes the wax figure under the veil for a decayed corpse. This explanation of the supernatural is also a commentary on the gendered perception of the time that women are more prone to superstitions and irrationality—Radcliffe deftly shows that women view the world itself as supernatural terror, since for them the everyday is imbued with the threat of patriarchal domination and violence.

Significantly, all the supernatural and horrific elements in the text have rational explanations. The mysterious music in Languedoc is from the lute of Sister Agnes, the music Emily hears in the fishing house at La Vallee and Udolpho is the sound of Du Pont playing. The moving pall on the Marchioness’s bed is a hiding pirate, and the corpse of Signora Laurentini turns out to be a decayed waxwork. This depiction of the uncanny is typical of Radcliffe; she is credited for featuring what critics call “explained supernatural,” a technique in which events that characters perceive of as otherworldly in the moment are later shown to have a logical explanation, thus emphasizing the fact that the real dangers are not the supernatural, but the earthy ones.

The Importance of Balancing Sensibility and Reason

Although The Mysteries of Udolpho has elements of Romanticism—which associates creativity and even ethics with soaring feelings, sensitivity, and imagination—its social worldview often returns to values of Neoclassicism, promoting reason and prudence. One of the text’s key themes is The Importance of Balancing Sensibility and Reason to ensure a harmonious existence.

Shortly before St. Aubert passes away in Volume 1, Chapter 7, he imparts an important life lesson to Emily. He tells Emily “not to indulge in the pride of fine feeling, the romantic error of amiable minds” because it can be a “dangerous quality” (129) if left unchecked. St. Aubert is urging his daughter, who does possess sensibility and imagination, to not be swayed by an excess of feeling. At the same time, checking one’s sensitivity does not imply cultivating “apathy” (130) or a lack of feeling and compassion. Throughout the narrative, Emily tries to follow her father’s advice. While she nurtures her sensibility through the composition of poems and through her sensitivity toward others, Emily’s decision-making rarely oversteps the bounds of propriety. Though she is in love with Valancourt and in danger from the Montonis, she refuses to elope with him: Eloping with Valancourt would be a rash, impulsive act born of an excess of feelings, something which Emily knows she must avoid. When Emily entreats her aunt to be prudent and not provoke her husband, Madame Montoni berates Emily for talking of prudence when she is under the threat of violence. Emily replies: “It is to avoid that violence, that prudence is necessary” (429, emphasis added).

Though Madame Montoni’s anger toward Montoni is justified, Emily stresses that Madame Montoni must rein in her feelings in order to survive. Emily’s advice can be seen as a survival strategy. Emily is well-aware of the patriarchal world she inhabits. In order to navigate it, she must behave objectively and strategically. The world will not be as forgiving of Emily if she makes a mistake, as in the case of Valancourt. Valancourt’s vices can be explained as the follies of youth, but Emily’s mistakes can ruin her socially. Radcliffe’s views on prudence and sensibility are informed by this gendered reality.

The balance between sensibility and reason which her father promotes as an ideal virtue is therefore especially important for Emily to cultivate because she is a young woman in a patriarchal world. Viewed in this light, the necessity of striking a balance between feelings and reason is not just about pitting Romantic values against the values of Neoclassicism—it is about realistically navigating the power dynamics of gender and class.