56 pages • 1 hour read
Ann RadcliffeA Sicilian Romance
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1790A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary
From his cell in the dungeon, Ferdinand hears the duke and his entourage arrive for the wedding. However, when the marquis and marchioness go to retrieve Julia from her room, she is gone and only a note for Emilia is left behind. Despite her shock at reading the letter, the marquis assumes that Emilia had a part in helping her sister escape, and she is locked up as well. The marchioness, who has harbored a resentment for the obvious virtue of Madame de Menon, accuses her of complicity in Julia's escape. Rather than answer the charges, Madame resigns her post and threatens to leave, at which point the marquis begs her to stay.
The duke's pride is deeply wounded by Julia's determination not to marry him, but this only strengthens his resolve to have her for his own. The marquis sends servants to search the countryside for Julia, but weeks go by without result.
More strange lights and sounds are observed within the castle, and terror grows among the servants until most of them resolve to quit, citing the haunting of an unquiet spirit. Disgusted with the idea of their desertion and their obvious fear, the marquis commands the servants to assemble one evening for a tour of the castle's abandoned rooms. He takes them through the passages that Ferdinand explored, daring the servants to have the courage to pass through the locked doors. Terror arises at a noise from beyond a door, revealed to be part of the roof falling in.
One of the marquis's spies reports that Julia has been seen at a peasant's cottage in the woods with a young cavalier, whom the marquis assumes must be Hippolitus. Encouraged by this news, the duke commences his own search. He reaches a cottage where he overhears talk of a young couple, and the people within confirm that a young lady and a cavalier arrived a week ago seeking shelter but have already left. The duke and his men then set out through the countryside in pursuit.
Wandering through the woods and mountains in the middle of the night, they come upon a loud chorus and sounds of merriment and discover a party of banditti in a cave. The duke is discovered while eavesdropping. Once in the cave, the duke discovers that the leader of the banditti is his own son, Riccardo, who fled his household years earlier. The duke threatens and then begs his son to return, but Riccardo says that a life as a bandit is preferable to a life as the tyrannical duke's son, which the duke cannot comprehend.
Chapter 5 Summary
The night grows stormy, and the search party follows the sound of a bell to a monastery. There they find the friars partaking of wine, fruit, and other luxuries, which they share upon learning of the duke's noble rank. The friar explains that enjoyment of good things is a sure sign of gratitude to Heaven, a contrast with the abstemious traditions at most monasteries.
The duke sets out again the next day to continue his search and is again beset by stormy weather, leading him to take shelter in a vast and gloomy mansion. He and his entourage share the luxurious provisions that they have taken with them from the monastery, and the next day dawns clear and unclouded. The duke believes that his hopes have been justified when he spies two figures riding horses. After pursuing and overtaking the couple, he engages in a sword fight with the young cavalier, only to discover that the young people are unknown to him. They are fleeing the dictates of the girl's father, who sent her to a convent to prevent her from marrying her low-born lover. The duke lets them go and wonders whether he has been pursuing the wrong pair all along.
Chapter 6 Summary
Back at the Mazzini castle, Ferdinand languishes in the dungeon, mourning for Hippolitus and fearing for the fate of Julia. He continues to hear low sighs and other strange sounds coming through the deep darkness, and terror overcomes him. Remembering the story that his father told about the murdered della Campo, Ferdinand believes that the sounds are made by a vengeful spirit. He shares his fears with Peter, the servant who brings his food, and entreats Peter to spend the night in the dungeon with him. Peter agrees to stay.
Upon hearing a sudden noise, Peter flees, leaving the door unlocked. Ferdinand knows that he can escape but that Peter will be punished, so he remains in the dungeon. Peter confesses his actions to the marquis, who goes to the dungeon and finds Ferdinand exactly where he is supposed to be. As a reward for his steadfastness, the marquis moves Ferdinand to another room, which is still locked but has a window.
The marchioness has continued her infidelities, of which the adoring marquis remains unaware. However, Madame de Menon discovers the marchioness in a passionate and compromising situation with a young cavalier. Knowing that the marchioness will be terrified that she will expose her secrets, Madame resolves to leave the castle and take up residence in a convent. Her departure deprives Emilia of her only friend, and both women are left with heavy hearts and anxiety over Julia's unknown fate.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
While the early chapters of the novel are compact, here the plot begins to take on a more characteristically Gothic and rambling structure, allowing the characters to give in to melodrama, violent emotions, and desperate pursuits. In this section, the narrative exposition mostly centers on the thoughts and perspectives of male characters (and Maria), who all yield to wounded pride and are ruled by passion rather than reason. Their rash actions, the mystery of Julia’s escape and Hippolitus’s fate, and growing fears of the supernatural create a sense of uncertainty that builds tension. The shift away from women’s desires and perspectives develops the theme of The Oppression of Women in Patriarchal Society, as Julia’s story is set aside to follow the men as they cope with the consequences of her disappearance. The marquis, the duke, and Ferdinand descend into literal and figurative darkness, and good and evil are juxtaposed as the marquis and the duke are firmly established as Julia’s antagonists.
The marquis’s condescending response to his servants’ fears while he takes them to explore the south wing develops his arrogant character and demonstrates a lack of humanity. Because the marquis knows the real cause of these lights and sounds, his show of courage when he says to his most loyal servant, “I will shame your courage, and do it myself” (67) is nothing more than masculine bravado. When he places Emilia and Ferdinand both behind locked doors, sends men out to hunt for Julia, and finally treats his servants like children, he proves that he will be cruel to anyone who threatens his patriarchal sense of power.
The duke shows himself to be incapable of introspection, or of anything more than the pursuit of power and ambition. During the duke’s search for Julia, Radcliffe frequently describes scenes that demonstrate the Romanticization of the Natural World, indirectly characterizing the duke through his inability to appreciate them: “[T]o the duke, who was animated by a strong and impetuous passion, these were unimportant circumstances” (73). Also unimportant to the duke is the fate of his only son; when he discovers that Riccardo would rather live a life among the banditti than live under his tyrannical rule, he does not reflect on his failings as a father, only on what Riccardo’s actions might mean for his reputation. The banditti in this scene, as in other chapters of the novel, represent a breakdown of the social order and the general decay and chaos of society.
The contrast between Riccardo and the duke, as well as the contrast between Ferdinand and the marquis, connect with the motif of legacies, as both sons reject the power-hungry legacies of their fathers. Ferdinand, “who pined in sorrow and anxiety in his dungeon” (84), shows both reason and kindness through his refusal to flee in the face of his terror or to allow Peter to suffer the consequences of leaving the door unlocked.
Building on these contrasts, Radcliffe shows Madame de Menon’s virtuous character when she determines to leave the castle rather than make Maria uncomfortable about her vices. By having Madame physically depart the castle, Radcliffe transitions back toward the female perspective, shifts the mood and tone, and initiates Madame’s journey to a new setting.
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By Ann Radcliffe
