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Volume 2, Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Mysteries of Udolpho, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marriage, Love, and Inheritance
The Wonders of Nature
Mystery and Superstition
Mortality
The Value of Education and Art
Summary
Analysis
After resting at night, Emily and the others head out to Turin. Madame Montoni wants to look around, but Montoni has already been to Turin many times and has no interest in seeing the sights. They continue on to Milan, where soldiers march by. The city shows more of the devastation of ongoing warfare. Montoni stops by some of the troops to speak with an army captain that he knows. Eventually, they all proceed on to Verona, where they arrive a few hours after sunset.
Montoni’s lack of interest in beauty sets him apart from St. Aubert and hints at his other shortcomings. The presence of troops at war also creates a strong contrast from the peaceful atmosphere of La Vallée. All of this illustrates how Emily is far from home—and possibly walking into a dangerous situation.
Themes
The travelers start up again the next morning and finally reach Venice around sunset. Emily is overwhelmed by her first view of Venice, which seems to rise out of the sea. She hears gondoliers singing, which reminds her of angels. When they arrive at Montoni’s mansion, it looks like something out of a fairytale. Emily is relieved, thinking that this mansion proves that the rumors Valancourt heard about Montoni are untrue.
Despite Emily’s apprehensions about leaving behind the familiar La Vallée, she finds that there is beauty to appreciate in other parts of the world as well. Once again, music follows Emily, with the gondola singers showing her how Venice has its own form of beauty.
Themes
Madame Montoni starts acting like a princess in the house, but Montoni seems restless and barely bothers to welcome her in. Emily continues to be impressed with all the sights, including people playing music and dancing outside, but she cries when she thinks of Valancourt. She tries to distract herself with fanciful daydreams of the sea, including Neptune and an array of nymphs. They all have supper, but Emily can’t let go of her fanciful visions, so she writes a long poem about them.
While Madame Montoni is interested in the seeming luxury of Montoni’s mansion, Emily is more interested in how Venice connects to nature, being a city right on the water. Emily’s fantasy about Neptune and nymphs may seem unusual given her strong Christianity (since Neptune is pagan), but this fits in with the way the novel as a whole combines Christian morality with hints of the supernatural. Additionally, gothic architecture, which helped give gothic fiction its genre name, has a strong Roman influence, and Neptune and nymphs come from Roman mythology.
Themes
