I must say,
this was one of the most difficult reads I have ever tackled. As a mystery
enthusiast, I thought it would delight me, as The Mysteries of Udolpho has been praised as inspiration for many
mystery writers in the centuries after. At first it looked like it. I loved to
find that St. Aubert, Emily, and even Valancourt, were nature enthusiasts. I
enjoyed reading the beautiful sceneries during their journey around the
Alpines. But then, after the death of Mr. Saint-Aubert, and Emily must
(according to Saint-Aubert's last wish) live with her aunt, things began to
alternate from bad to worse, to bad, to even much worse; especially during her
stay in the Castle of Udolpho - the home of the wicked Montoni, to whom Emily's
aunt married not long after Emily's stay with her.
Misfortunes
came flooding with every change, and everytime you think this one is the worst
of all previous, something more wicked would come. At first, you could relate
very much with Emily's misfortunes, but after a while you would feel dullness
in both the heart and mind. Like something that terrified you so badly at
first, but after some repetition, well... it's not so terrifying anymore in the
end, you’d feel numbed.
It's doubly
torturing because Emily, the heroine, is a calm and loving creature. That she
must endure the selfishness, coldness, and shallowness of others, the disgust
over Montoni's wickedness, her complete helpfulness to protect her own life and
honor, not mentioning her superstitions (which was not unusual at that era),
the gloomy atmosphere of a Castle Udolpho, and her fear lest her lover has
betrayed her or even dead (which one is worse, anyway?) - why, I was almost
surprised that any human being could get through all that safely!
Have you
felt depressed already from reading my review? Well, beware that you don't read
this book during your gloomiest mood!
It would
have been a perfect Halloween read, if only Ann Ratcliffe hadn't thrown every
ingredient of horror and evil at a single human being that it seems almost impossible
to bear. Well, tired is what I felt after finishing the story. Ann is a great
Gothic writer, but never again would I read The
Mysteries of Udolpho!
Note: I have
read this last year (in October), but just couldn’t spare enough time to write
a proper review till now.
Final
rating: 3 to 5