Northanger Abbey

 Finally a book that I’ve actually enjoyed! Northanger Abbey was not at all what I had expected. Just the way they beginning is set up you know that you’re in store for something far different than Romance of the Forest or Castle of Otranto  In this novel the heroine isn’t at risk of being killed or raped or set to marry a wicked older man. Instead she’s just an everyday girl from the time period that looking for a taste of that mystery and adventure. It’s a nice departure from the earlier novels we’ve read in class that portray women as helpless and just down right annoying with all the fainting. The fact that this is a parody speaks volumes about society of the time. The time it takes when discussing gothic novels and in the section considered “Austen’s Manifesto” says so much about what the author thought about novels and those who wrote and read them. I felt like I could better to relate to Austen’s characters than I could to Radcliff’s. Catherine is a bit like everyone, bright eyed and looking to really see the world, but the world isn’t exactly how she pictured it. People are not always honest or they don’t always have the best intentions. But most importantly, life is not a gothic novel, not everyone is a murderer or can find a skeleton in a secret passage or a manuscript in a chest. Catherine learns this the hard way when she is caught snooping and is reprimanded that life just can’t be what she imagines it to be in the books. But she soon has this epiphany and is able to put her imagination in check so that she can marry the man she loves and live a normal life without skeletons, manuscripts, or anything else gothic.

Romance of the Forest Part Two

I still wish Adeline would quit fainting but at least the book is starting to get interesting. When Adeline makes her plan with Peter to escape and ends up at the Marquis’ home is where things really start to become interesting. Her flight with Theodore and the journey that eventually leads her to his family is a lot more exciting and the use of the sublime in the parts that talk about her time with La Luc make one thing about nature differently. I enjoyed Radcliff’s vivid descriptions and the book starts to feel a little less gothic and a little more romantic. However comparing how far I am in the book with the number of pages still left to read, I knew that something was going to change. I was a bit disappointed in how Radcliff choose to tie everything together. After reading the entire book and with thirty pages left it didn’t seem right to give all the back ground information and tie up all the loose ends in one shot. I felt like I had become so invested in the book (partly because it was rather long) and to have everything in my opinion, so matter of factly tied up made me a bit sad. I wanted to be able to gradually learn what had happened to Adeline’s father and what would become of Theodore and LaMotte but summing it all up together took the fun out of guessing what would happen. Romance of the Forest while not one of my favorite books wasn’t awful; Radcliff really progresses what it means to write a novel. Her use of literary elements makes the book not only longer but adds another layer of horror and suspense. Along with that it also adds length, which would my biggest complaint, it really could have been summed up in about a hundred less pages, however, I’m sure the middle class readers of the time period would beg to differ

Romance of the Forest Part One

Thus far in reading Romance of the Forest I’ve yet to be entertained I’ve just been annoyed. Adeline, while being the epitome of a proper woman of the time period is just downright annoying! I understand the sections of the book serve to act as a guide to show how women of society should act and that by fainting she is showing her virtue and exerting control but really, how many times does she have to faint?  It makes reading Anne Radcliff so much less enjoyable. However I am glad that there are bits of excitement being added in to keep things interesting. The old abbey with its supposed haunting and stories of its past coupled with the circumstances in which the LaMottes and Adeline come to inhabit it keep the book interesting enough that I don’t want to throw it down everything Adeline faints. I am starting to hope though that they story line will pick up a bit. It tends to drag in parts and the details that go into some parts of the story, in my opinion could be left out but I assume it was just the style of the time.

Castle of Otranto

Castle of Otranto was the first gothic novel written and comparing it to modern novels that are many elements that have changed and many that have stayed the same. The first thing I noticed about Castle of Otranto was the first page which stated that the novel was found and translated from Italian by William Marshal. This addition makes the story seem like it was real therefore making this more terrifying for the readers. The death of the son, Conrad at the beginning along with the prophecy that, "the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it." foreshadows that there is a good deal of drama and scares ahead for Manfred and his family. Part of the drama comes from Manfred’s desire to marry his deceased son’s fiancé so that a male heir could be had to pass on the titles and land to. This is one of the aspects of gothic literature that I have the most trouble understanding. Why on earth would you want to write about incest? While I understand that it’s shocking it still is an odd theme to keep in the book.  One thing I did like about the book is that Isabella and Matilda are in some ways trying to be independent and doing what they think is right and not just what they are told they need to do. Matilda goes against her father’s order’s and frees Theodore and at the end of the book goes to see him against orders and dies because of this defiance. Isabella is the first one in the novel that we see break from what is expected of her when she runs away from Manfred in a attempt to save herself from a union with him. While both girls are independent, in the end Matilda goes back to obeying orders and even makes apologies for her behavior. The story wraps up a little too abruptly but since it was the first novel written I can understand the lack of good writing mechanics on Walpole’s part. Overall I would say that the book wasn’t bad but had I not had the footnotes to guide me through the language of the time, I would not have enjoyed it.