The Mysteries of Udolpho · Chapter
XIV explained
Emily departs from Toulouse with Montoni and Madame Montoni, leaving Valancourt behind.
What happens
Emily departs from Toulouse with Montoni and Madame Montoni, leaving Valancourt behind. She receives a letter from him at a stop, which comforts her. The journey takes them through the Alps, where Emily is awed by the sublime scenery, though her thoughts often return to Valancourt. They stop at Susa, where she hears a young Piedmontese musician playing, and reflects on his departure from his simple life for the Carnival at Venice.
Themes in this chapter
The Sublime and Landscape
Emily experiences awe and sublimity while crossing the Alps, with descriptions of precipices, mountains, and shifting lights that elevate her mind.
Love and Separation
Emily's sorrow at parting from Valancourt is central; she treasures his letter and arranges to think of him at sunset.
Grief and Melancholy
Emily's lingering sadness over the separation and her memories of her father and Valancourt color her journey.
Characters to notice
- Emily St. Aubert
Leaves Toulouse with a heavy heart, receives Valancourt's letter, and is deeply moved by the Alpine scenery.
- Valancourt
Appears on the road to hand Emily a letter; she remembers his smile and later thinks of him at sunset.
- Montoni
Impatient to leave, gives orders for the journey, and plans to dine at Turin.
- Madame Montoni
Censures Emily's melancholy, complains of the mountains, and retires early due to fatigue.
- Cavigni
Travels with the party, raillies Emily about the musician, and correctly guesses the musician's background.
- Annette
Explains that the musician is a peasant's son going to the Carnival at Venice, and comments on Venice being built on the sea.
Key passages
“Where’er I roam, whatever realms I see, My heart untravell’d still shall turn to thee.”
No matter where I go, my heart remains fixed on you.
Epigraph from Goldsmith sets the tone of longing and separation.
“She endeavoured to chase away the impressions they had left on her fancy; but from imaginary evils she awoke to the consciousness of real ones.”
She tried to forget her nightmares, but waking brought back real troubles.
Emily's troubled sleep gives way to the harsh reality of her departure.
“She seemed to have arisen into another world, and to have left every trifling thought, every trifling sentiment, in that below; those only of grandeur and sublimity now dilated her mind, and elevated the affections of her heart.”
The Alpine scenery lifted her above petty concerns, filling her with grand and sublime emotions.
The sublime landscape transforms Emily's perspective.