SOURCE: “Gothic Heroes” in The English Hero, 1660-1800, edited by Robert Folkenflik, University of Delaware Press, 1982, pp. 205-21.

In the following essay, Anderson analyzes the male characters in Udolpho and measures their complexity and traits versus the men in such works as Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto, Matthew G. Lewis's The Monk, and Radcliffe's own The Italian.

The Mysteries of Udolpho … is in my opinion one of the most interesting Books that ever have been published. I would advise you to read it by all means, … and when you read it, tell me whether you think there is any resemblance between the character given of Montoni in the seventeenth chapter of the second volume, and my own. I confess, that it struck me, and as He is the Villain of the Tale, I did not feel much flattered by the likeness.”¹ The intensity of M. G. Lewis's...