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A review by steveatwaywords
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
The best I can offer for this sprawling work--beyond its importance as a foundation for later gothics and some Victorian heroines and villains--is that Radcliffe spends a great deal of time offering breathy descriptions of the rural and wilderness landscapes of France and Italy. In fact, while at first I found these lengthy passages needless and off-putting, I began to find them preferable to the absurd and disjointed plot. I could almost overlook the confusing over-abundance of commas.
Where to start? For me, our breathless and often fainting heroine Emily is the primary villain of this review. At no point does our virtuous and highly-principled young woman take a single assertive step in 750 pages to change her situation. She is constantly swept away by others, ceaselessly writing poems to fir trees when she might be considering her circumstances, and all too often changing her mind about what options she has. All the while, when she might be listening to any number of characters, including the love-interest Valancourt, she runs away or claims a violation of her propriety: and it is these endless denials of the events of the outside world that cause much of the drama. Her mistakes, misunderstanding, and outright ignorance create her own distress. Her passivity to all of it makes her a victim to it. I found myself resenting her.
It's not that the caricatures amongst the other characters are much better. The comic but insipid maid-servant, the chronic sighing and wailing of Valancourt (they deserve each other), the over-arching ego of the villain Montoni, the ignorant and arbitrary cruelty of Madame Cheron, and the complete and utter failure of ALL of them to effect any change in their own conditions. Each is an utterly static character, growing or learning not a jot but whining loudly each time they collide. That Emily has many suitors during the novel certainly has nothing to do with her quality of character.
It seems, too, that author Radcliffe understands that Emily herself cannot sustain the story. She spends the first 200 pages traveling in a carriage and looking at the outdoor scenes. After she escapes the evil castle--through the wildest of coincidences that have absolutely nothing to do with any previous events within it--Radcliffe quickly and without warning shifts the narrative point of view and introduces a similar young lady who has her own equally non-sensical adventures, many almost in parallel to Emily's. Why? Certainly not to fulfill any other demands of the main plot.
No, I could go on, but here's the base of it: That The Mysteries of Udolpho has been an origination point for many of the worst of Victorian romance tropes and patterns is not a sign in its favor. Unplanned, improbable, and just silly in its contrivances and coincidences, the length of this work makes it a poor reading choice for much but its own unfortunate role in literary history.
Where to start? For me, our breathless and often fainting heroine Emily is the primary villain of this review. At no point does our virtuous and highly-principled young woman take a single assertive step in 750 pages to change her situation. She is constantly swept away by others, ceaselessly writing poems to fir trees when she might be considering her circumstances, and all too often changing her mind about what options she has. All the while, when she might be listening to any number of characters, including the love-interest Valancourt, she runs away or claims a violation of her propriety: and it is these endless denials of the events of the outside world that cause much of the drama. Her mistakes, misunderstanding, and outright ignorance create her own distress. Her passivity to all of it makes her a victim to it. I found myself resenting her.
It's not that the caricatures amongst the other characters are much better. The comic but insipid maid-servant, the chronic sighing and wailing of Valancourt (they deserve each other), the over-arching ego of the villain Montoni, the ignorant and arbitrary cruelty of Madame Cheron, and the complete and utter failure of ALL of them to effect any change in their own conditions. Each is an utterly static character, growing or learning not a jot but whining loudly each time they collide. That Emily has many suitors during the novel certainly has nothing to do with her quality of character.
It seems, too, that author Radcliffe understands that Emily herself cannot sustain the story. She spends the first 200 pages traveling in a carriage and looking at the outdoor scenes. After she escapes the evil castle--through the wildest of coincidences that have absolutely nothing to do with any previous events within it--Radcliffe quickly and without warning shifts the narrative point of view and introduces a similar young lady who has her own equally non-sensical adventures, many almost in parallel to Emily's. Why? Certainly not to fulfill any other demands of the main plot.
No, I could go on, but here's the base of it: That The Mysteries of Udolpho has been an origination point for many of the worst of Victorian romance tropes and patterns is not a sign in its favor. Unplanned, improbable, and just silly in its contrivances and coincidences, the length of this work makes it a poor reading choice for much but its own unfortunate role in literary history.