I thought I would share an excerpt from the author portfolio assignment I submitted for my British Literature BYUI class. My kids were willing to help me recreate a few scenes from Ann Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udolpho. I love how the pictures turned out! We all celebrated my 100% grade together. #lovemykids
“How often I have sat with a book in my
hand, sometimes reading, and sometimes looking out between the branches upon
the wide landscape, and the setting sun, till twilight came, and brought the birds
home to their little nests among the leaves!”
“Emily, who had always endeavoured to
regulate her conduct by the nicest laws, and whose mind was finely sensible,
not only of what is just in morals, but of whatever is beautiful in the female
character…”
Let my
consolations be yours. I die in peace; for I know, that I am about to return to
the bosom of my Father, who will still be your Father, when I am gone. Always
trust in him, my love, and he will support you in these moments, as he supports
me.
Her silence, though it was
that of agony, encouraged the hopes of Morano, who watched her countenance with
impatience, took again the resisting hand she had withdrawn…”
From
her window she gazed upon the garden below, shown faintly by the moon, rising
over the tops of the palm-trees, and, at length, the calm beauty of the night
increased a desire of indulging the mournful sweetness of bidding farewell to
the beloved shades of her childhood, till she was tempted to descend.”
Biographical
Impressions
Ann Ward Radcliffe was born to a family that valued and
encouraged intellectual and spiritual strength. Her extended family included
well-known scholars and physicians and her own father encouraged her love for
literature (enotes.) Ann Ward married at age 22 to William Radcliffe, who was also
very supportive and encouraging of her love of reading and later writing
literature.
Though we know many details about Radcliffe’s career, the
details of her private life are a mystery to us today. Radcliffe, from the time
she was a young child, to the day she died at the age of 58, was a very shy and
private person. Most of the personal details we know about her, we learn
through the values she instilled in her writings.
In Radcliffe’s most famous work, “The Mysteries of
Udolpho,” a prominent theme is the triumph of virtue over villainy. This theme
is one found in all of her works. She most definitely, treasured her own
testimony and faith in a beloved Savior. As Emily’s father lies dying, he
testifies to her, “O my child!... let my consolations be yours. I die in peace;
for I know, that I am about to return to the bosom of my Father, who will still
be your Father, when I am gone. Always trust in him, my love, and he will
support you in these moments, as he supports me (Radcliffe 77.) I cannot believe
that Radcliffe could have written such spiritual words if she had not had a
deep burning testimony in a loving Heavenly Father.
Radcliffe’s desire to live a balanced and moderate life
is also shown through her portrayal of the heroine Emily. Emily’s father had
taught her from a young age to be strong and rational and temperate. These
lessons helped her when she struggled. “…she remembered how often he had blamed
her for indulging useless sorrow; how often he had pointed out to her the
necessity of fortitude and patience, assuring her that the faculties of the
mind strengthened by exertion, till they finally unnerve affliction, and
triumph over it. These recollections dried her tears, gradually soothed her
spirits, and inspired her with the sweet emulation of practicing precepts,
which her father had so frequently inculcated (Radcliffe, 112.) I believe that
Radcliffe valued this type of emotional control in her own life. Perhaps this
is one reason why she lived a secretive and private life. Her shyness may have
been in part due to her desire to be temperate and controlled.
It also cannot be argued, that Radcliffe loved nature.
“The Mysteries of Udolpho” is full of detailed, poetic, and beautiful
descriptions of nature. The splendors of nature uplift and bring incomparable
joy to the Emily. When Emily is shown the most glamourous hotels and mansions
and cannot help but miss nature. “Emily was not so charmed but that, when she
remembered the scene she had just quitted, she felt how infinitely inferior all
the splendor of art is to the sublimity of nature. Her heart was not now
affected, tears of admiration did not start to her eyes, as when she viewed the
vast expanse of ocean, the grandeur of the heavens, and listened to the rolling
waters, and to the faint music that, at intervals, mingled with their roar.
Remembering these, the scene before her added into insignificance (Radcliffe
175.) I am sure that Ann Radcliffe too, rejoiced in the loveliness of this
beautiful world.
Works Cited:
"Introduction" Nineteenth-Century
Literary Criticism Ed. Edna M. Hedblad Russel Whitaker. Vol. 106. Gale Cengage 2002 eNotes.com
13 Jul, 2014
