Another New Novel Kind--"The Romance of the Forest"

Reading Ann Radcliffe’s Romance of The Forest took me by surprise from the very beginning, as it seemed that I was reading a text from a completely different era of time than what we have been exposed to thus far in our course readings. For one, unlike what we have read so far, Radcliffe is very in sync with the landscape she imagines and the portraits she descriptively paints throughout the text. Her vivid drawing of the outside world reminded me of the gothic and romantic works that came later in time. For example, Radcliffe describes, “He approached, and perceived the Gothic remains of an abbey: it stood on a kind of rude law, overshadowed by high and spreading trees, which seemed coeval with the building, and diffused a romantic gloom around” (16). The descriptions of the abbey and the landscape in which the action of the text takes place is just as imperative to the plot as are the character’s events that unfold. The gloominess of the setting coincides with the fear of the La Motte’s will get caught by their creditors, for example.

The romantic characteristics of the text were also evident in various characters. Adeline’s sensibility and connection in nature reminded me of the Romantic writers of Coolridge and Wordsworth. Throughout the text, Adeline situates herself in vast, dark and gloomy spaces where she thinks, and she is always inclined to go out to a garden. This type of connection with nature, especially for a central female character, is somewhat new amongst the novels we have read. She also shows much self-sacrifice and sincerity that we have not yet seen in central characters such as Pamela, who was parodied for readers’ doubt in her true intentions. For example, when Adeline refuses the Maruqis (126-127) she even tells La Motte that she is willing to go back to her father if her refusal of the Marquis is to cause him any harm. She never changes her mind about any of his advances, regardless of the “danger” it places her in.

                La Motte himself is a new type of male character that we have not yet seen. He isn’t the rake of Mr. B, nor does he have the masculine demeanor we have gotten in our impressions of others such as Sir Charles. Instead, he is described in feminine terms and seems very small in the face of nature and his surroundings. For example, Radcliff describes him as “He was a man whose passions often overcame his reason…but though the image of virtue, which Nature had impressed upon his hear, was sometimes obscured by the passing influence of vice, it was never wholly obliterated” (2). Accordingly, characteristics that are typically attributed to women in this time—virtue and passion—are laid out in the earliest descriptions of him. 

             While surfing around the net for more information about this text, I came across this blog from Marymount University that highlights the emotions of many of the male characters in the text, and it also provides links to other interesting sites (i.e. for more information on Radcliff). 

The major differences that separate this text from what we have read so far perhaps suggest the turn and new beginnings of a new space carved out for the novel in terms of setting and gender constructions.