Double review: Mysteries of Udolpho and Caleb Williams
I decided to continue reading books on my classic horror list, starting from the earliest chronologically (and available in Polish). The first was The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe. The book was published in 1794. It's a romantic tale of loss and grief, star-crossed lovers, separated by cruel relatives and their own principles, haunted castles, bandits and dark secrets. All of it is written in a very lush prose style, with rich descriptions of nature.
The novel is so long (almost 800 pages) that it was divided into two volumes. Getting through the beginning was especially difficult because of the abundance of descriptions and a rather slow pacing. The story gets interesting when the main character, Emily, finally reaches the castle of Udolpho (around page 200). Then the gothic atmosphere manifests in full force as she suffers imprisonment and other dangers at the mercy of the villainous Montoni.
I really enjoyed the supernatural elements in the story, even though they were explained later as actions of the living. The descriptions of Emily's state od mind and fear were just top notch. I was disappointed when in the second volume she escapes Udolpho, but she takes residence in another haunted castle, so after some time the gothic climate returned. I even liked the romantic subplot between Emily and Valancourt, how she refused to fix him and had high standards for morality of her partner. All in all, the book was a pleasant read, despite the slow start.
The next book I read was published in the same year as Mysteries. Caleb Williams by William Godwin is a deeply emotional story about the injustice of the law and the power imbalance between classes in England of that time. This book also has a slower start because in the beginning it tells the story of the antagonist, Mr Falkland, and his conflict with a fellow noble, Mr Tyrrel. I noticed that the character of Emily, Tyrrel's poor relative and victim, shares many similarities with Emily from the previous book. They're both innocent, naive and trusting, and both are mistreated by their captors in similar ways. It made me think that Godwin was reacting to Mysteries.
The main plot kicks in when the titular character finds out Falkland's dark secret and faces terrible consequences. Falkland wants to preserve his good name above everything else so he takes drastic actions against Williams, destroying his life. However, Williams often contributes to his own misery because he always makes the choices motivated by pride and his sense of righteousness, instead of doing the wise thing. That could be infuriating, but it's his character flaw that's necessary for the story.
The fast-paced action suits various adventures of Williams. The plot with Falkland throwing him into prison for false charges of theft and all the escape attempts strongly reminded me of Sirius Black's imprisonment in Azkaban. Maybe Rowling was inspired by this book.
Despite the clear criticism of the noble class, the ending trial had the two enemies reconciliate. I think Williams became the personification of Falkland's conscience which tormented Falkland until he publicly admitted his crimes. There might be some sort of allegory between his death and the end of the noble class in the future.
One thing that I'm trying to determine is why this book is classified as gothic. It doesn't have the atmosphere and while Falkland's constant persecution of Williams is a nightmarish scenario, I wouldn't call it a horror. The most gothic thing about the book was Emily's plight. Despite that it was an easier read than Mysteries - it was shorter and didn't have lengthy descriptions.
