Mysteries of Udolpho

About the Author

Ann Radcliffe was born as Ann Ward on 9th July 1764 in London, England. She became a famous author of Gothic fiction, a genre that mixes romance and horror. In 1787, she married William Radcliffe, a journalist and become Ann Radcliffe. They did not have children, and Ann preferred to live a private life, staying away from public events and literary circles.

Early Life

Radcliffe grew up in a comfortable middle-class family, with her father involved in trade. After her marriage at 23, her husband William Radcliffe encouraged her to pursue writing. Despite her success as a writer, she led a quiet life and rarely travelled. Her only trip abroad was to Holland and Germany in 1794, which she documented in A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794 (1795).

Writing Career

Radcliffe’s writing career began in 1789 with her first novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, published anonymously. Her next novels, A Sicilian Romance (1790) and The Romance of the Forest (1791), gained her widespread fame. Her most famous novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, was published in 1794 and became very popular. This novel tells the story of Emily St. Aubert, an orphan who faces many dangers and imprisonment in castles but eventually finds freedom and love. The novel’s setting in the Apennine Mountains adds to its frightening and mysterious atmosphere.

Radcliffe’s final novel, The Italian (1797), showcased her full potential as a writer. It features a well-constructed plot, strong dialogue, and a deep psychological portrayal of the villain, Schedoni, an evil monk. Radcliffe earned significant money from her novels. After these successes, she stopped writing novels, likely because she no longer needed to write for financial reasons and because she was shy and did not want to be addressed as an author.

Later Life and Legacy

In the last two decades of her life, Radcliffe focused mainly on poetry. Her collection Poems (1816) and her posthumous novel Gaston de Blondeville (1826) did not receive the same acclaim as her earlier works. Radcliffe played a crucial role in the early development of the Gothic novel. She distinguished between terror and horror, believing that terror “expands the soul and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life,” while horror “contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates them.” Her stories often created a sense of mystery and suspense, with seemingly supernatural events later revealed as natural phenomena. In contrast, her contemporary Matthew Lewis wrote horror-filled tales with corpses, violence, and blood.

Influence and Recognition

Radcliffe was praised by Sir Walter Scott for being one of the founders of a literary school, and her admirers included Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Christina Rossetti. By adapting the tradition of the novel of sensibility, she influenced the themes of emerging Romanticism and had a significant impact on subsequent Romantic writers.

Ann Radcliffe passed away on 7th February 1823 in London. She is remembered as a key figure in Gothic literature, and her novels remain important and popular to this day.

Major Characters

Emily St. Aubert

Emily St. Aubert is the main character in the novel. She is a beautiful, gentle, and graceful young woman who deeply appreciates nature, books, poetry, and music. She shares a love for the sublimity (something sublime is extremely beautiful, grand, or inspiring) of nature with her father, M. St. Aubert. Emily is virtuous, obedient, resourceful (inventive), brave, sensitive, and self-reliant. She often reflects on past misfortunes and imagines future troubles, which frequently brings her to tears. She also enjoys writing poetry, and some of her verses appear in the novel.

Emily lives at La Vallée, her childhood home. She wants to marry Valancourt, but her uncle, who desires her property, prevents their marriage and forces Emily to sign over her inheritance to him. However, when her uncle is captured as a robber, Emily’s property is returned. She is reunited with Valancourt, marries him, and they live a peaceful life together.

Throughout the novel, Emily values education and judges people by their moral character rather than their wealth. She endures great grief, witnessing the deaths of both her parents. Despite being easily startled and prone to fainting, Emily displays significant courage, such as when she confronts her own mortality by looking at a wax figure of a corpse.

Emily’s strength largely comes from her religious faith, which she connects to nature. She believes that monks should spend more time in the natural world, which God created, rather than staying inside monasteries. Her strong sense of morality even leads her to initially refuse to marry Valancourt, thinking he has corrupted himself with gambling in Paris. Ultimately, Emily overcomes her suffering and achieves a happy ending. She represents the novel’s ideal way of living, showing that education (not merely acquiring theoretical and academic knowledge and skills, but an education that inspires wisdom, encourages critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to apply knowledge to real-life situations with discernment and judgment) and an appreciation of nature are more important than greed and materialism.

Monsieur St. Aubert

(Monsieur is a French term for Mr. or Sir!)

Emily’s father, a French aristocrat (a member of the highest social class). He is a widower (a man who’s wife has died) who values character over wealth, which is why he marries Emily’s mother for her character. St. Aubert takes Emily and Valancourt on a trip to the Pyrenees Mountains, but he falls ill and dies early in the novel. On his deathbed, he advises Emily to control her emotions rather than becoming a victim to them.

St. Aubert informs Emily about some letters that he asks her to destroy, along with a mysterious miniature portrait. One of the novel’s mysteries is his strange relationship with the Marchioness de Villeroi (MAR-kih-səs duh vee-lə-RWAH), who is later revealed to be his sister, not his lover as initially suspected.

St. Aubert instills in Emily a love for education and nature, settling his family in the modest but beautiful La Vallée. This simple life contrasts sharply with the lavish and greedy nature of Montoni’s castle of Udolpho. St. Aubert’s calm acceptance of his death and his moral teachings continue to influence Emily’s actions throughout the story, highlighting how morality is connected to nature and education.

Valancourt (vah-lahn-KEWR)

Valancourt is a young French nobleman who falls in love with Emily St. Aubert while travelling with her and her father through the Pyrenees. Valancourt, the younger brother of Count Duvarney, is on suspension from the army when he meets Emily. He is a dashing and enthusiastic young man with a noble character. Emily’s father, St. Aubert, considers Valancourt a suitable match for his daughter, despite his lack of wealth.

Valancourt’s love for Emily leads him to spend much of the novel trying to court her. Emily is impressed by Valancourt’s generosity, especially when he gives money to those in need. However, after St. Aubert’s death, Emily’s new guardian, Madame Cheron, discourages the relationship because she believes Valancourt does not have a large enough inheritance.

While Emily is away at Udolpho, Valancourt goes to Paris, where he is rumoured to have been corrupted by gambling, eventually ending up in prison. These rumours make Emily doubt his character. However, she later learns that his actions were not as bad as the rumours suggested. Valancourt proves he is still generous and kind, leading to their happy marriage at the end of the novel.

Valancourt represents the ideal qualities of a good marriage partner, demonstrating that generosity and good character are more important than wealth and family name.

Madame Cheron (sheh-ROHN)

Madame Cheron, later known as Madame Montoni, is the sister of St. Aubert and the aunt of Emily. After the death of Emily’s parents, Madame Cheron becomes her guardian. Initially, she is a wealthy widow living near Toulouse, but she is selfish, vain, and cold-hearted. She does not treat Emily kindly and prioritises her own interests.

Madame Cheron discourages Emily from marrying Valancourt, believing he is not wealthy enough. Her materialistic nature leads her to marry Montoni, an Italian man who she thinks is a wealthy noble. However, Montoni has lost much of his wealth due to gambling and marries Madame Cheron for her money.

Montoni forces Madame Cheron to sign over her property to him, treating her harshly and locking her in a castle tower. She falls seriously ill due to this treatment. Near her death, Madame Cheron softens slightly towards Emily, who cares for her. Despite her slight change, she remains materialistic, advising Emily on protecting her property from Montoni.

Madame Cheron’s life represents the emptiness and negative consequences of greed and materialism, contrasting sharply with the positive values of St. Aubert.

Montoni

Montoni is a classic Gothic villain in the story. He pretends to be a nobleman to marry Madame Cheron and then locks her and her niece Emily in the castle of Udolpho to take control of Madame Cheron’s wealth and estates. Montoni is cold and cruel to Emily, who initially thinks he is a bandit leader.

After marrying Emily’s aunt, Montoni becomes Emily’s guardian and forbids her from marrying Valancourt. He tries to steal the properties of his wife and niece. He takes them to a remote castle in the Apennines, where he lives as a bandit. Eventually, Montoni is captured and forced to return the stolen wealth.

At first, Montoni seems like a wealthy and respectable gentleman, but Emily and her aunt soon discover his fortune is mostly a facade (superficial), wasted on gambling debts. Montoni is also involved in crime, hiding a wanted murderer named Orsino and leading a band of bandits. The dark, secret-filled castle of Udolpho reflects Montoni’s personality and his sinister secrets. He uses the castle’s isolation to control Madame Montoni and Emily. Montoni symbolises the dangers of greed and materialism, showing how marrying for wealth can lead to an unhappy relationship.

Count Morano (moh-RAH-noh)

Count Morano is introduced to Emily by Signor Montoni, who insists that she marry him. Emily refuses, but Count Morano continues to pursue her, first in Venice and later at Udolpho. Montoni initially supports the match because he believes Count Morano is wealthy. However, when Montoni discovers that Count Morano is not as rich as he thought, he withdraws his support.

Despite this setback, Count Morano does not give up. He becomes obsessed with Emily and tries twice to kidnap her, but both attempts fail. He even gets into a duel with Montoni over her. Throughout the story, Count Morano’s behaviour demonstrates the dangers of greed and obsession. Emily remains loyal to Valancourt, resisting Count Morano’s advances at every turn.

Introduction to the Novel

The Mysteries of Udolpho is a renowned Gothic novel written by Ann Radcliffe. Originally published in four volumes in 1794, it is considered a groundbreaking (new, important and original) work in the genre. It is a classic example of a Gothic romance which contains incidents of both physical and psychological terror. The story features remote, decaying castles and events that appear supernatural. It includes a dark, cunning, and plotting villain and a heroine who is constantly persecuted.

The novel revolves around the experiences of Emily St. Aubert, a young woman who encounters a series of misfortunes. These include the deaths of her parents and subsequent (one after another) mistreatment at the hands of her guardians (i.e. Madame Cheron and Montoni). The story reaches its climax with Emily’s imprisonment in the dark and gloomy Udolpho Castle, where she is subjected to various frightening experiences.

The novel is set in a remote and eerie (strange and frightening) castle filled with suspenseful and shocking events. These elements of the novel have become classic features of Gothic fiction.

The popularity of The Mysteries of Udolpho significantly contributed to the establishment of the Gothic novel as a distinct literary form. Its influence can be seen in numerous works that followed. Notably, Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey both parodies and pays homage to the Gothic genre, referencing Radcliffe’s novel.

Summary

After his wife dies of illness, Monsieur St. Aubert, a French aristocrat, takes his daughter on a trip to the Pyrenees mountain. While traveling on a high mountain road, they meet a young nobleman in hunting clothes. His name is Valancourt, and he is the younger son of a family that Monsieur St. Aubert knows. Valancourt joins the St. Auberts on their journey. Soon, he falls in love with eighteen-year-old Emily St. Aubert. Emily also starts to develop feelings for him.

St. Aubert becomes very ill and dies in a cottage near the Chateau-le-Blanc (“White Castle”), the ancestral home of the noble Villeroi family. After he is buried at the nearby convent of St. Clair (a convent is a place of religious seclusion), Emily returns to her home at La Vallee (“The Valley”). Following her father’s instructions, she burns some mysterious letters. Among the letters, she finds a small portrait of a beautiful, unknown woman. Since her father did not tell her to destroy the portrait, she keeps it. Emily takes the portrait with her when she leaves La Vallée to stay with her aunt in Toulouse.

Valancourt follows Emily to Toulouse to propose to her. After some persuasion, her aunt agrees to the marriage. Before any wedding plans are finalized, the aunt marries Signor Montoni, a sinister Italian. Montoni immediately forbids Emily’s marriage. To make sure of this, he takes Emily and her aunt to his mansion in Venice.

In Venice, Emily and Madame Montoni find themselves in a difficult situation. It soon becomes clear that Montoni has married Emily’s aunt to gain control of their estates. He then tries to force Emily to marry a Venetian nobleman named Count Morano, which leaves her feeling hopeless and in despair.

On the night before the wedding, Montoni makes a sudden decision. He orders everyone in his household to pack their belongings. They are to leave for his castle at Udolpho, which is located high in the Apennine mountains.

When they arrive at Udolpho, Montoni immediately begins repairing the castle’s fortifications. Emily dislikes the dark and cold castle. The previous owner, Lady Laurentini, had mysteriously disappeared from there. The superstitious servants claim to see apparitions in the halls and galleries of the ancient fortress.

Shortly after Montoni and his household settle in, Count Morano tries to kidnap Emily. Montoni stops him and wounds him severely in a sword fight. Morano then threatens revenge. A few days later, Montoni tries to force his wife to sign over her estates to him. When she refuses, he locks her up in a tower of the castle. That night, Emily tries to visit her aunt. She is terrified when she finds fresh blood on the tower stairs and concludes that her aunt has been murdered.

The ghostly sounds and shadows in Udolpho start to make everyone feel uneasy. Even Montoni, who had organised a group of thieves to terrorise and loot the area, begins to believe the castle is haunted. Emily hears that several people have been taken hostage. She is certain that Valancourt is one of the prisoners because she hears someone singing a song he had taught her. One night, a mysterious shadow calls her by name.

Emily’s life is made worse by Montoni’s threats. He says that unless she signs over her estates to him, she will suffer the same fate as her aunt. Emily learns from her maid that her aunt had not been murdered directly. Instead, she had died after becoming very ill due to harsh treatment. She had been buried in the chapel of the castle.

Morano makes another attempt to steal Emily away from the castle. This time, Emily helps him because she is now afraid for her life. However, Montoni and his men discover the plan in time and capture the kidnappers outside the castle walls.

Shortly afterwards, Montoni forces Emily to sign papers giving him control of her estates in France. After this, he sends her away. At first, Emily thinks she is being sent to her death. However, Montoni actually sends her to a cottage in Tuscany. He does this because he has heard that the Venetian authorities are sending a small army to attack Udolpho and arrest him and his bandits. This is because the villas of several rich Venetians had been robbed.

When Emily returns to the castle, she sees signs of a terrible battle. Her maid and another servant, Ludovico, tell her that there is a prisoner in the dungeons who knows her. Emily thinks the prisoner must be Valancourt and plans to escape with him. However, the prisoner turns out to be Monsieur Du Pont, an old friend of her father. Emily, Monsieur Du Pont, her maid, and Ludovico manage to escape and reach Leghorn safely. From there, they take a ship to France.

A great storm drives their ship ashore near the Chateau-le-Blanc, close to where Emily’s father is buried. Monsieur Villefort and his family rescue Emily and her friends. The Villeforts have inherited the chateau and are trying to live there, even though it is in poor condition and believed to be haunted. While staying at the chateau, Emily decides to spend a few days at the convent where her father is buried. There, she meets a nun who looks very much like Lady Laurentini, whose portrait Emily had seen at the castle of Udolpho.

When Emily returns to the chateau, she finds it in a state of turmoil. Strange noises are coming from the rooms of the former mistress of the chateau. Ludovico offers to spend a night in these rooms to find out what is happening. The next morning, even though all the windows and doors are locked, Ludovico is missing.

The old caretaker tells Emily about this. Emily then notices a small portrait she had found at La Vallée. The servant explains that it is a portrait of the former mistress, the Marquise de Villeroi. She also says that Emily looks very much like the woman in the portrait.

Valancourt reappears and plans to marry Emily again. But Monsieur Villefort tells her about Valancourt’s gambling debts and his reckless life in Paris while she was a prisoner in Italy. Because of this, Emily refuses to marry him and goes back to her home at La Vallée feeling distressed. There, she finds out that Montoni has been arrested by the Venetian authorities. Since he had obtained the deeds to her lands by illegal means, the court returns them to her. Emily becomes a young woman of wealth and position once more.

While Emily is at La Vallée, the Villefort family goes on a hunting trip high into the Pyrenees. During the trip, they are almost captured by bandits. Ludovico, who had mysteriously disappeared from the chateau, rescues them. He explains that he was kidnapped by smugglers. These smugglers used the chateau’s vaults to hide their treasure. Ludovico says the strange noises in the chateau were made by the outlaws to scare away the rightful owners.

When Emily hears the news, she returns to the chateau to see her friends. While she is there, she visits the convent of St. Clair again. At the convent, the nun who looks like the former mistress of Udolpho becomes very ill. As she lies dying, the nun confesses that she is Lady Laurentini. She explains that she left Udolpho to be with her former lover, the Marquis de Villeroi. When she found him married to Monsieur St. Aubert’s sister, she convinced him to help her poison his wife. The marquis, filled with guilt, fled to a distant country where he died. Lady Laurentini then retired to the convent to atone for her sins.

Emily feels completely happy when Monsieur Du Pont, who had escaped with her from Udolpho, reveals the truth about Valancourt. He explains that Valancourt had only gambled to secure money to help some friends who were facing serious misfortune. With this misunderstanding cleared up, Emily and Valancourt reunite. They get married and move to La Vallée. There, they live a peaceful and happy life, very different from the many strange adventures that had kept them apart for so long.

Themes

1. Dangers of Materialism and Greed

Materialism and Greed can have disastrous consequences. These traits ultimately lead to injustice and creates conflicts and chaos for individuals as well as for the society as a whole. In the novel, among other characters like Madame Cheron and Count Morano, the character of Montoni predominantly symbolises the dangers of materialism and greed. His uncontrolled greed for wealth and property drives him to cruelty and manipulation. The novel suggests that such excessive desire can corrupt individuals, leading to conflicts, isolation, tyranny and exploitation, and the ultimate fate of downfall.

2. Perseverance

Perseverance is a key theme that is prominent throughout the novel. Emily shows perseverance while trapped into the castle. She wanted to give up many times, but she showed resilience. She was brave and kept trying her best to get out of the castle. Her determined attempts shows her perseverance. Emily also showed perseverance by rejecting Morano’s multiple marriage proposals. Her perseverance is an important factor that would lead her to a happy married life with her love, Valancourt. As the narrator suggests at the end of the book, Emily and Valancourt ultimately ended up together because of their unwavering determination and perseverance.

Valancourt and Du Pont also showed perseverance. Valancourt never stopped loving Emily, even when things were difficult. Du Pont stayed locked up in a horrible place just to be near Emily.

3. Marriage, Love and Inheritance

The characters in the novel have different views on marriage. For Emily, marriage is about love and companionship. Her father, St. Aubert, influenced her ideas because he married Madame St. Aubert for love, not for wealth. Emily meets Valancourt and admires his kindness and respect for her father. She believes he would be an ideal husband based on his good character, not his wealth.

However, other characters view marriage differently. After her father’s death, Emily’s guardianship is transferred to her aunt, Madame Cheron. Madame Cheron tries to separate Emily and Valancourt, wanting Emily to marry a richer man. She herself marries Montoni, thinking he is wealthy. But Montoni actually marries Madame Cheron for her money because he lost all his money in gambling. Madame Cheron’s greed leads to her downfall. Her fate shows that trying to use others for their wealth can result in being exploited in return.

The novel acknowledges that money and inheritance play a role in marriage. However, it also highlights that marriages based on love and understanding can lead to lasting happiness and companionship.

4. Man and Nature

The heroic or positive characters, like Emily or St. Aubert or Valancourt, take time to appreciate nature and its beauty, while the villains like Montoni and Morano, isolate themselves from it. This suggest the moralising effects of Nature and corrupting consequences of moving away from it.

Whenever Emily or St. Aubert describe the French countryside, their problems seem to fade away. They realize that their lives are brief compared to the ancient mountains and trees. Emily feels a sublime connection when she reflects on nature, finding solace and philosophy of life in its beauty and permanence. She is often so moved by the splendour of nature that she composes or recites poetry about it. For Emily, spending time in nature is not just enjoyable but also moral; it brings her closer to God and allows her to appreciate the grandeur of His creations.

Nature acts as a socialising force that helps establish true and permanent bonds of love and compassion with everyone who appreciates it—Emily, St. Aubert, and Valancourt. In contrast, the castle of Udolpho, a manmade structure, represents the opposite of nature. It is a gloomy place, filled with secret passages and ghostly noises, where Montoni locks up Emily and Madame Montoni while he plots to takeover their money. The castle makes Emily long (have a strong wish or desires) for the natural world at La Vallee, where she could wander among the mountains and see rich vegetation.

Montoni originally comes from Venice, a man-made city. Living in the city leads Montoni into corruption, including involvement in acts like assassination. Similarly, the city of Paris corrupts Valancourt, who loses all his money gambling after moving from the country to the city. The sinfulness of cities contrasts with the purity and innocence of the natural world in the country.

The novel presents nature as a cure for evil schemes and gothic gloom, showing how appreciating nature’s beauty can make a person happier and more morally upright.

5. Value of Education and Art

From an early age, St. Aubert emphasizes giving Emily a good education. He teaches her about science, literature, nature, music, and drawing. He provides her with musical instruments and encourages her to express her creativity through poems. St. Aubert believes that an educated mind protects a person from both ignorance and vice. Emily’s wise decisions as an adult show the value of St. Aubert’s philosophy.

In contrast, Montoni shows no interest in art or science, even though his castle of Udolpho is in a beautiful natural landscape and full of art. His lack of appreciation for these things leads him to focus only on making-money. This prevents him from finding satisfaction in healthier enterprises and ultimately leads to his arrest and death.

The novel shows the benefits of knowledge and art. It demonstrates how a well-rounded education can help a person make wise decisions and avoid the temptation to seek happiness in material things, which the novel suggests are never truly satisfying.

6. Fear and the Supernatural

Fear of the unknown is a fundamental human emotion that stems from our innate desire for control and predictability. When we face the unknown, we fear because it affects our sense of control  and security. Humans have evolved to fear the unknown as a protective mechanism. Emily, for example, is constantly in a state of fear of the unknown, which triggers her mind’s safety mechanisms that makes her more alert to her mysterious environment inside the castle of Udolpho.

Emily, along with others confined inside the castle, experience intense fear and anxiety, often arising from their isolation and vulnerability in unfamiliar and potentially dangerous environments. However, it is important to note that the characters’ fear and fascination with the supernatural often stem from their own imaginations and anxieties, blurring the lines between reality and the supernatural.

The novel is filled with a pervasive sense of fear and insecurity, created through descriptions of gloomy landscapes, decaying castles, and mysterious occurrences that instigate the reader to question whether they have supernatural explanations. The use of Gothic conventions such as dark castles, secret passages, and mysterious characters contributes to the overall atmosphere of the supernatural.

While some of the seemingly supernatural occurrences are explained by the end of the novel, most have been left ambiguous for the readers to interpret them as real or figments of characters’ imagination. This ambiguity adds to suspense and psychological terror of the story.

7. Mortality

Death is pervasive in the novel. Emily, the main character, has to face the deaths of her parents and aunt. A prominent symbol of death in the novel is a wax statue of a decaying body covered by a black veil. The original members of the Udolpho family created this statue to remind themselves of their mortality, but later generations chose to ignore it by covering it.

The novel suggests that avoiding thoughts of death can have harmful consequences. Montoni, a character in the story, disregards the idea of his own death while carelessly taking the lives of others. This disregard ultimately leads to his own untimely death.

In contrast, Emily confronts her fear of death by looking at the terrifying wax statue. Although this experience is frightening, it helps her accept the inevitability of death. Her faith, along with the example of her parents who faced death calmly, strengthens her resolve. Other characters, such as La Voisin and Ludovico, also find comfort in accepting death as a natural part of life. Essentially, The Mysteries of Udolpho suggests that while death is an inevitable part of life, it is how we confront this reality that defines our experience of it.

The gloomy atmosphere of the novel, combined with the numerous deaths, emphasizes the certainty of death. However, the story implies that acknowledging mortality can help people cope with life’s challenges.