Aware of Her Surroundings

            While reading a little bit about the Gothic novel and The Romance of the Forest specifically, I found that one of Radcliffe’s outstanding qualities as a writer is her emphasis on landscape. This relates to my post last week about the physicality of her style, and I think it might also speak to some of the posts this week that are frustrated with the unbelievable events that Radcliffe incorporates into her plot. I agree that she has a tendency to include dramatic events seemingly out of nowhere, and that can be a bit off-putting. However, I think grounding her text in the surrounding landscape so often and so intensely helps make the story a little more real, and also quite enjoyable to read. In Volume III, Radcliffe explains that “they slowly passed up the Rhone, whose steep banks, crowned with mountains, exhibited the most various, wild, and romantic scenery” (235). The image of a crown of mountains is very explicit, which lends reality to this scene. Later Radcliffe writes that “the moon arose from the bosom of the ocean, and shed her trembling luster upon the waves, diffusing peace, and making silence more solemn” (295). This imagery is at once lovely and specific: I can clearly imagine such a moonrise in my head, and its soft light does convey an atmosphere of peace and quiet. Although these details do not make up for inconsistencies in the plot, they do help make specific scenes more believable through their artful specificity.