What Is The Distinguishing Feature Of Ann Radcliffe's Character?

It is also worth noting that, aside from having a positive effect on the emotional state of characters, the picturesque landscapes of Radcliffe are also a source of inspiration for her characters. It can be seen as an element of the religious sublime that the characters are able to feel a sense of unity with the landscape. Norton would go on to describe this quality as a “distinguishing feature of Ann Radcliffe’s characters” which he refers to as: [T]heir uniquely aesthetic sensibility. They read books, compose poetry, play music, draw pictures and contemplate the landscape—pausing long enough in their flight from banditti to analyse the affecting contrasts of a picturesque cliff, employing the precise terminology derived from contemporary

Extreme distress has occupied Emily’s mind now: she is in a surrounding she doesn’t know. She also realizes that she is in a great danger – if her father were to die, she would be completely alone. The nature that once gave her comfort now makes her feel small and fragility and is unable to lift her spirit. The darkness and coldness of the landscape only increases after St. Aubert dies thanks to his illness. In the passage during her last visit to her father’s grave, it can be seen how much the landscape has changed from the beginning of the novel, and how it invokes the

Yet again, Emily manages to find some comfort in memories when she remembers her mountainous homeland and Valancourt. She is seen yearning for her former life and Valancourt and once she finally gets an opportunity to go away from her aunt, since she finally gave her consent for the two to marry, she must leave for Italy. Namely, Madame Cheron marries to an Italian nobleman named Montoni and he immediately chooses to return back to Italy, that way preventing Emily’s and Valancourt’s union. Emily’s journey continues. „Dear pleasant mountains!’ said she to herself, ‘how long may it be ere I see ye again, and how much may happen to make me miserable in the interval! Oh, could I now be certain, that I should ever return to ye, and find that Valancourt still lived for me, I should go in peace! […] The trees, that impended over the high banks of the road and formed a line of perspective with the distant country, now threatened to exclude the view of them; but the blueish mountains still appeared beyond the dark foliage, and Emily continued to lean from the coach window, till at length the closing branches shut them from her sight“(155-156). Here, the author once again provides us with a rather picturesque landscape which again in a correlation to Emily’s thoughts: she remembers her lost happiness and how she almost got