The Mysteries of Udolpho: A Romance is a Gothic novel written by Ann Radcliffe. It was published in four volumes on May 8, 1794, by G. G. and J. Robinson in London. This was Radcliffe’s fourth novel and her most well-known work. The story follows Emily St. Aubert, who faces difficult challenges, including the deaths of her parents, frightening supernatural events in a dark castle, and dangerous actions by an Italian bandit named Signor Montoni. The book is often considered a classic example of the Gothic novel genre.

The success of The Mysteries of Udolpho helped establish the Gothic novel as a separate type of literature. It also influenced many writers who followed. The novel was an important reference in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, which both mocks and honors the style of Gothic stories.

Plot

In 1584, Emily St. Aubert is the only child of a family that owns land in the countryside of Gascony. Emily and her father share a strong bond because they both love nature. After her mother's death, Emily and her father travel through the Pyrenees mountains to the coast of Roussillon for her father's health. During the trip, they meet Valancourt, a man who also enjoys nature. Emily and Valancourt fall in love. While staying in a village in Languedoc, Emily's father becomes ill and dies. He is buried at the nearby monastery of St. Claire. Emily becomes curious about her father's connection to the monastery and a nearby house said to be haunted.

After returning home to La Vallée, Emily follows her father's final request by destroying hidden papers that reveal shocking secrets. She also finds a small portrait of a woman she once saw her father cry over. With no parents left, Emily is now cared for by her aunt, Madame Cheron, who does not share her interests or show her affection. In Toulouse, Emily and Valancourt plan to marry, but Madame Cheron marries Montoni, a nobleman from Italy. Montoni moves the family to Venice, where he stops Emily and Valancourt's relationship and instead encourages her to marry Count Morano. After learning that Count Morano is not wealthy, Montoni takes Emily and her aunt to his castle in Udolpho.

Udolpho is a cold and unwelcoming place. Montoni is gathering soldiers for a dangerous plan. Emily is scared by strange noises, sights, and a mysterious door in her room. She and the servant Annette discover a room covered by a black veil. Annette tells a story about the castle's former owner, Signora Laurentini di Udolpho, who disappeared and allowed Montoni to take the castle. Curious, Emily removes the veil and is terrified by what she sees. Count Morano tries to kidnap Emily through a secret passage but is caught by Montoni, who injures him and drives him away. Later, Montoni threatens his wife, trying to take her property in Toulouse. Someone tries to poison Montoni, and he accuses his wife, imprisoning her in a tower. She dies from illness, and Emily inherits her property.

Montoni now tries to force Emily to give him her aunt's estate using tricks and threats. Eventually, Emily escapes with Annette and Annette's lover, Ludovico. During their escape, they free a prisoner named Du Pont, who was once a neighbor of Emily and secretly admired her. They travel to the coast and board a ship heading to Marseille.

The ship crashes near Languedoc, the village where Emily's father died. They are taken in by Count de Villefort and his family at Chateau-le-Blanc, a manor said to be haunted. Emily befriends Count de Villefort's daughter, Blanche. Emily is invited to stay at the nearby monastery and splits her time between the monastery and the chateau. Valancourt arrives but fears he is no longer worthy of Emily's love. Count de Villefort tells Emily that Valancourt gambled heavily in Paris, associated with someone of poor character, and lost much of his money. Horrified, Emily rejects Valancourt, and he leaves.

At Chateau-le-Blanc, the housekeeper, Dorothée, notices that Emily looks like the former owner of the chateau, the Marchioness de Villeroi. She realizes Emily has a small portrait of the Marchioness. When Dorothée shows Emily a larger painting of the Marchioness in a locked part of the chateau, a ghostly figure appears, and they flee in fear. Later, Ludovico volunteers to spend the night in the room to prove there is no ghost. The next morning, Ludovico is missing.

Emily returns to Toulouse and becomes the new owner of her aunt's estate. She thinks she sees Valancourt in her garden. One night, the gardener shoots a robber, who is not caught, and Emily is heartbroken, fearing Valancourt may have been killed.

Meanwhile, Count de Villefort, Blanche, and Blanche's fiancé, the Chevalier St. Foix, travel to visit Emily. They stay at a watchtower where they are captured by banditti, who injure St. Foix. They are rescued by Ludovico, who explains he was kidnapped by pirates who used the chateau's abandoned section as a treasure vault. He was sent to the watchtower as a prisoner until Count de Villefort's group arrived. He also reveals that one of the pirates was the ghostly figure Emily and Dorothée saw.

Returning to Languedoc, Emily visits a sick nun named Sister Agnes, who believes Emily is a ghost. After calming down, Sister Agnes shows Emily a portrait, and Emily realizes Sister Agnes is the missing Signora Laurentini di Udolpho. When Emily mentions Udolpho, Laurentini becomes delirious and dies the next day.

Count de Villefort learns the truth about Valancourt: he did gamble but was later imprisoned for debts. After his release, he used his money to free another prisoner and gave up gambling. Count de Villefort invites Valancourt to Languedoc to reunite with Emily. Meanwhile, Emily learns from the abbess that Laurentini fled Udolpho to be with the Marquis de Villeroi, who poisoned his wife—Emily's father's sister. The couple later felt guilty and died, with Laurentini changing her name and entering a convent. The terrifying sight behind the black veil was not Laurentini's body but a wax figure made as part of a medieval punishment.

Valancourt joyfully reunites with Emily. They marry in a double wedding with Blanche and St. Foix, and they live happily at La Vallée.

Characters

• Emily St. Aubert: Much of the story is told from Emily’s perspective. She loves the beauty of nature, just like her father. She is very kind, gentle, and has a calm, graceful appearance. She enjoys reading, music, poetry, and spending time outdoors. Emily is described as honest, respectful, clever, brave, caring, and independent. She grew up in a place called La Vallée. She often feels sad about past problems and worries about future challenges. She writes poetry, and some of her poems appear in the book.
• Monsieur St. Aubert: Emily’s father, he dies early in the story while traveling with Emily and Valancourt. Before dying, he tells Emily to control her emotions instead of letting them control her. His connection to the Marchioness de Villeroi is a mystery in the story.
• Valancourt: He is the younger brother of the Count Duvarney. While traveling with Emily and her father in the Pyrenees, he becomes close to Emily. He is charming, energetic, and has a strong sense of honor. He is on leave from the army when he meets Emily. Emily’s father believes Valancourt would be a good match for her, even though he is not wealthy.
• Madame Cheron (later Madame Montoni): She is Emily’s aunt and the sister of Monsieur St. Aubert. She is selfish, proud, and wealthy. After Monsieur St. Aubert’s death, she becomes Emily’s guardian. At first, she is cold and unkind to Emily, but near the end of her life, she becomes slightly kinder. Emily helps care for her during this time.
• Montoni: He is a typical villain in Gothic stories. He pretends to be a noble Italian man to marry Madame Cheron. After marrying her, he imprisons Emily and Madame Cheron in Udolpho to take control of her money and land. He is harsh and cruel to Emily, who believes he is a leader of thieves.
• Count Morano: Montoni introduces him to Emily and tells her to marry him. Emily refuses, but Morano still tries to win her affection in Venice and Udolpho. When Montoni learns Morano is not rich, he stops supporting the marriage. Morano tries to kidnap Emily twice, but both attempts fail.
• Annette: She is a servant who travels with Madame Cheron from France. She talks a lot and believes in superstitions, but she is loyal, kind, and honest. She is in love with Ludovico and often gets locked in small rooms.
• Ludovico: He is a servant of Montoni and falls in love with Annette. He is more thoughtful and brave than Annette. He is the one who locks Annette in the rooms.
• Cavigni, Verezzi, and Bertolini: These are Montoni’s friends. Cavigni is clever, careful, and very polite. Verezzi is imaginative but lacks courage and is selfish. Bertolini is brave and cheerful but also careless and wasteful. His behavior upsets Emily.
• Orsino: He is an assassin and Montoni’s favorite. He is cruel, suspicious, and vengeful.
• Marchioness de Villeroi: She is a mysterious woman. Emily finds a small portrait of her in a hidden compartment in her father’s closet. She was married to the Marquis de Villeroi but later became his enemy. She died because of Laurentini di Udolpho. She is Emily’s aunt through her connection to Monsieur St. Aubert.
• Signora Laurentini di Udolpho (also called Sister Agnes): She is a nun at a French monastery called St. Claire. She dies near the end of the story, and it is revealed she is the heiress of Udolpho. She caused the Marquis de Villeroi to separate from his wife and later lived in the monastery in regret. She divides her money between Emily and the wife of Monsieur Bonnac.
• The Marquis de Villeroi: He was once in love with Laurentini di Udolpho before marrying the Marchioness. After Laurentini’s death, he leaves his home, Chateau-le-Blanc.
• Francis Beauveau, Count De Villefort: He is the heir to Chateau-le-Blanc in Languedoc. He inherits the estate from his friend, the Marquis de Villeroi. He has two children from a previous marriage, Blanche and Henri, and is married to the Countess De Villefort.
• Lady Blanche: She is a kind young woman who loves the beauty of nature and writes poetry. She lives at Chateau-le-Blanc and becomes friends with Emily, sharing similar interests.
• Dorothée: She is a servant at Chateau-le-Blanc. Like Annette, she believes in superstitions, but she is not often locked in rooms.
• Monsieur Du Pont: He is one of Emily’s suitors. He steals a small portrait of Emily from her mother but later returns it. He helps Emily and her friends escape from Udolpho. He is a friend of Count De Villefort, who supports his interest in Emily. When Emily refuses him, he turns his attention to Blanche, but she marries Monsieur St. Foix instead.
• Monsieur Quesnel: He is Emily’s uncle. He is cold and distant to Emily until she becomes wealthy.
• Madame Clairval: She is Valancourt’s aunt and a friend of Madame Cheron. At first, she supports the match between Valancourt and Emily, but later believes there are better options for both of them.
• Monsieur Bonnac: He is a French officer in his 50s. Emily meets him at a convent. His wife inherits Castle Udolpho.
• Monsieur St. Foix: He is Blanche’s suitor and marries her at the end of the story.

Publication

The book The Mysteries of Udolpho was published by the bookseller George Robinson’s company, G. G. and J. Robinson, located at 25 Paternoster Row in the City of London. The Robinsons paid the author £500 for the manuscript and later published her other work, A Journey Made in the Summer of 1794.

Reception and influence

In August 1794, The Critical Review published an article about The Mysteries of Udolpho. The article praised the novel as "the most interesting novel in the English language" but also pointed out that it had too many long descriptions and an ending that did not build up to a big climax. Some experts think the article was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but others disagree.

Modern critics have noted that The Mysteries of Udolpho influenced the work of many later writers, including Edgar Allan Poe, John Keats, and Henry James.

• The Veiled Picture; or, The Mysteries of Gorgono (1802) is a shortened version of the novel in a small book format. It keeps most of the characters and story but removes many details and descriptions.
• BBC Radio 4 has produced two radio adaptations. The first was a two-part version in 1996 by Catherine Czerkawska, with Deborah Berlin playing Emily and Robert Glenister in another role. The second was a one-hour version in 2016 by Hattie Naylor, with Georgia Groome playing Emily.
• In 2007, The Mysteries of Udolpho was published as a graphic novel in the Gothic Classics: Graphic Classics series.
• A play version of the novel was published in July 2015 by Carole Diffey.

• The novel is a major subject in Jane Austen’s 1817 novel Northanger Abbey, which both jokes about and honors it.
• In Walter Scott’s novel Waverley (1814), Scott humorously mentions Udolpho in the introduction while thinking about possible subtitles for Waverley.
• The quote at the beginning of the novel, written by the author Ann Radcliffe, "Fate sits on these dark battlements, and frowns,.." is fully repeated by Washington Irving in his book Tales of the Alhambra (1832). Irving says the lines "used to thrill me in the days of boyhood."
• The Castle of Udolpho is mentioned in a letter from Rebecca Sharp to Miss Sedley in William Thackeray’s 1848 novel Vanity Fair.
• The Castle of Udolpho is mentioned in a speech by a defense attorney in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1880 novel The Brothers Karamazov.
• In series 1, episode 12 ("Homefront") of Young Justice, The Mysteries of Udolpho is the book used to open a secret passage in the League’s library. Characters in the series are shown reading it.
• In Henry James’s 1898 novel The Turn of the Screw, the second sentence of Chapter 4 reads: "Was there a 'secret' at Bly – a mystery of Udolpho or an insane, an unmentionable relative kept in unsuspected confinement?"
• In Anthony Trollope’s Framley Parsonage (1860), a room used for interviews at the London office of solicitors Gumption & Gazebee is compared to the torture chamber at Castle Udolpho.
• In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story The Oval Portrait (1842), "Mrs. Radcliffe" is mentioned in a reference to The Mysteries of Udolpho.
• In Emily of New Moon by Lucy Maud Montgomery, Emily mentions having read The Mysteries of Udolpho while exploring her aunt’s strange, "gothic" house.
• In Herman Melville’s novella Billy Budd, Sailor (1924), the narrator says that an event "is in its very realism as much charged with that prime element of Radcliffian romance, the mysterious, as any that the ingenuity of the author of The Mysteries of Udolpho could devise."
• In Frances Eleanor Trollope’s That Unfortunate Marriage (1888), the line "And may one ask where she is? It is not, I presume a Mystery of Udolpho!" appears.