The Mysteries of Udolpho · Chapter
Chapter VI explained
St.
What happens
St. Aubert and Emily part from Valancourt, who promises to visit La Vallée. St. Aubert reveals financial ruin due to M. Quesnel's misfortunes, but Emily comforts him with the consolations of nature and virtue. They travel through Languedoc, and St. Aubert's health declines. At a cottage, St. Aubert discusses the afterlife with La Voisin, and Emily reflects on the mysterious music and the Villeroi family.
Themes in this chapter
The Sublime and Landscape
Emily and St. Aubert find solace in the sublime landscapes of the Pyrenees and Mediterranean, which offer consolation amid financial ruin.
Grief and Melancholy
St. Aubert's declining health and financial troubles evoke deep melancholy, while Emily's reflections on death and the afterlife highlight grief.
Virtue and Self-Command
Emily urges her father to find strength in virtue and the simple pleasures of nature, demonstrating self-command in adversity.
Characters to notice
- Emily St. Aubert
Comforts her father St. Aubert after news of financial ruin, reflecting on the consolations of nature and virtue.
- St. Aubert
Reveals his financial ruin due to M. Quesnel's misfortunes, and his health declines during the journey.
- Valancourt
Bids farewell to St. Aubert and Emily, promising to visit La Vallée.
- Monsieur Quesnel
Mentioned as the cause of St. Aubert's financial ruin through his misfortunes.
- Laurentini
Mentioned in connection with the mysterious music and the Villeroi family.
Key passages
“I care not, Fortune! what you me deny; You cannot rob me of free nature’s grace; You cannot shut the windows of the sky, Through which Aurora shows her brightening face; You cannot bar my constant feet to trace The woods and lawns, by living stream, at eve: Let health my nerves and finer fibres brace, And I their toys to the great children leave: Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave.”
Fortune cannot take away the beauty of nature, the sky, or the ability to walk in the woods; health and virtue are beyond its reach.
Epigraph from Thomson sets the theme of finding solace in nature despite misfortune.
“It is for you, Emily, for you, my child, that I am most afflicted.”
St. Aubert is most distressed about the impact of their financial ruin on Emily.
St. Aubert reveals his primary concern is for Emily's future.
“Poverty cannot deprive us of many consolations. It cannot rob us of the affection we have for each other, or degrade us in our own opinion, or in that of any person, whose opinion we ought to value.”
Poverty cannot take away our love for each other, our self-respect, or the respect of those who matter.
Emily comforts her father by emphasizing the enduring value of love and virtue over wealth.