The Mysteries of Udolpho · Chapter
Chapter XVI explained
Emily writes to Valancourt, carefully omitting Count Morano's advances.
What happens
Emily writes to Valancourt, carefully omitting Count Morano's advances. At a dinner and evening boat ride, Morano persists in his courtship, encouraged by Montoni, while Emily grows increasingly distressed. She experiences a premonition that she will never see Valancourt again. The party visits the Quesnels, and later, during a musical evening on the water, Morano sings a passionate rondeau to Emily, who responds with a melancholy song that overwhelms her.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Separation
Emily's anguish over her separation from Valancourt and her premonition of never seeing him again dominate her emotional state.
Female Agency and Vulnerability
Emily is pressured by Montoni and Morano, her resistance is overruled, and she feels powerless against their combined will.
Grief and Melancholy
Emily's tears, her melancholy reverie, and the sorrowful music reflect her deep grief and foreboding.
Characters to notice
- Emily St. Aubert
Writes letters to Valancourt and her uncle, avoids Morano's advances, experiences melancholy and a premonition of never seeing Valancourt again.
- Montoni
Forces Emily into Count Morano's company, displays sullen disdain toward Madame Montoni, and insists on Emily's compliance.
- Count Morano
Persistently courts Emily, sings a rondeau to her, and is encouraged by Montoni.
- Madame Montoni
Shows resentment and envy toward the company, dresses ostentatiously, and is sullen toward her husband.
- Valancourt
Emily writes to him and thinks of him with deep affection and foreboding.
- Signora Livona
Noted for her beauty and fascinating manners, wins Emily's involuntary regard.
Key passages
“She avoided even naming Count Morano, much more the declaration he had made, since she well knew how tremblingly alive to fear is real love, how jealously watchful of every circumstance that may affect its interest; and she scrupulously avoided to give Valancourt even the slightest reason for believing he had a rival.”
Emily deliberately omitted any mention of Count Morano or his proposal from her letter to Valancourt, understanding that true love is acutely sensitive to potential threats and wanting to spare him any jealousy.
Emily's protective love for Valancourt leads her to conceal Morano's advances.
“It now seemed to her oppressed mind, that she had taken leave of him forever, and that the countries, which separated them, would never more be retraced by her.”
In her troubled state, Emily felt as though she had said a final goodbye to Valancourt and that the distance between them would never be crossed again.
Emily experiences a powerful premonition of permanent separation from Valancourt.
“Soft as yon silver ray, that sleeps / Upon the ocean's trembling tide; / Soft as the air, that lightly sweeps / Yon sad, that swells in stately pride: / Soft as the surge's stealing note, / That dies along the distant shores, / Or warbled strain, that sinks remote— / So soft the sigh my bosom pours!”
The Count's song compares his sighs of love to the gentle moonlight on the sea, a soft breeze, and a fading melody, all to express the tenderness of his emotion.
Morano's rondeau is a poetic declaration of his love, performed with great skill and emotion.