We learn from the get-go in The Mysteries of Udolpho that Emily and her mom are about as different as night and day. Madame St. Aubert is the picture of classic femininity with her perfect family and her domestic pleasures. Em, we hear, has a more "varied countenance." That is to say, we expect quite a different portrayal of womanhood from Miss Emily.
Sure, Em's prone to those frequent fainting spells, and she'd never do anything improper like elope with Valancourt. But she doesn't think twice about escaping from Udolpho in the dead of the night, or risking Montoni's displeasure by visiting her aunt in the turret. And if we've picked up anything about all of Em's problems, it's that they boil down to her lack of money. So by the time Em inherits all that property at the book's end, we're rooting for her to be the power player in her relationship with Valancourt.
Questions About Women and Femininity
- Does Em really have power at the end of the book, or does Valancourt take it away by marrying her?
- How is Em traditionally feminine? How is she untraditionally feminine (by eighteenth-century standards)?
- Does Montoni treat Em differently because she's a woman?
- How does Blanche's femininity compare to Em's?
Chew on This
Emily puts on traditional femininity like a disguise whenever she sees fit.
The women surrounding Em don't always provide strong examples, so Em has to forge her own brand of femininity.