In Romance of the Forest, Radcliffe seems to use illness as
a method of plot and character development.
The same thing happens in Sense
and Sensibility with Marianne’s first meeting with Willoughby (when she
falls and twists her ankle, an injury more than an illness, but some
vulnerability nonetheless) and her last meeting with Willoughby (when she is
very ill at Cleveland and he comes to profess his real love for her). In Romance of the Forest, we see Adeline ill
early on in the novel, stalling La Motte’s escape away from Paris. We later see her ill after having to escape
the Marquis with Peter. She’s ill after
her father betrays her and after her future is almost completely jeopardized by
the Marquis. Adeline’s illnesses seem to
demonstrate the destructive physical power the men in her life have over her.
I find it interesting that Radcliffe does not limit the
illness to female characters. In Austen,
I felt that Marianne’s illness almost reflected her temperamental emotional
state, but illness functions completely differently in Radcliffe’s novel. By making Theodore ill near the end, Radcliffe
shows the reader Theodore’s true good nature. The reader learns to really trust Theodore
with Adeline when, in his illness, he thinks more about Adeline’s safety: “he
saw nothing but destruction, and was only relieved from total despair, by a
feeble hope that she, whom he loved better than himself, might one time enjoy
that happiness, of which he did not venture to look for a participation”
(205). Even at a time when he does not
believe in his own future, Theodore looks unselfishly to Adeline, proving his
devotion to her.
That is interesting to see how Theodore's illness brings an opportunity for his true nature to be revealed. I wonder what effect illness would have brought to the Austen scene in which Willoughby visits Marianne when she's terribly ill. What if he had had a sudden faintness or fever faced with such emotion? Would it have reflected on him in a positive or negative light?
ReplyDeleteThe scene in which Adeline faints at the sight of the Marquis is another prime example of female physical weakness in the presence of men. Peter tricks Adeline into traveling to the Marquis' home, and upon realizing her mistake and her captor, Adeline loses consciousness and then slips into a "state of insensibility" (158). She tries to deny the Marquis, but eventually his pleas cause her to become emotional again. Her emotions cripple her, and as she leans on the wall for support, the Marquis interprets "her silence into a secret compliance with his proposal" (161). The Marquis assumes power over Adeline because she is physically weaker than him. The depiction of women in this scene supports Darwin's belief that women were biologically inferior to men. Following this line of thinking, Adeline's inability to stand up for herself demonstrates that men, like the Marquis, ought to take care of her.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, as Jane pointed out, Radcliffe does not limit illness to women. Could Radcliffe be defending women by including an example of male physical weakness in her novel?