The Mysteries of Udolpho

The Mysteries of Udolpho

by

Ann Radcliffe

Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni Character Analysis

Madame Cheron is the sister of St. Aubert and the aunt (and only surviving relative) of Emily after St. Aubert and his wife, Madame St. Aubert, die. Madame Cheron begins the novel as a widow who has an estate but is looking for a new husband in order to add more wealth to her name. When she becomes Emily’s guardian, she starts trying to impose the same materialistic values on Emily, discouraging Emily from marrying her love, Valancourt, because she believes that he doesn’t have enough money to make him an advantageous match for Emily. Madame Cheron’s materialism eventually leads her to marry an Italian man named Montoni, who seems to be a wealthy noble, but who in fact has lost most of his money to gambling debts. Indeed, he is using the former Madame Cheron (now Madame Montoni) to get her wealth instead. At Udolpho, Madame Montoni falls fatally ill. Although this causes her to soften toward Emily, she remains materialistic to the end, advising Emily on how to avoid giving property away to Montoni. Madame Cheron/Montoni represents the emptiness of a greedy, materialistic lifestyle, presenting a negative example that is the opposite of St. Aubert’s positive example.

Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni Quotes in The Mysteries of Udolpho

The The Mysteries of Udolpho quotes below are all either spoken by Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni or refer to Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Marriage, Love, and Inheritance Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 10 Quotes

“Who is that young man?” said her aunt, in an accent which equally implied inquisitiveness and censure. “Some idle admirer of yours I suppose; but I believed niece you had a greater sense of propriety, than to have received the visits of any young man in your present unfriended situation. Let me tell you the world will observe those things, and it will talk, aye and very freely too.”

Related Characters: Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, St. Aubert, Montoni, Cavigni
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 1, Chapter 13 Quotes

Madame Cheron’s avarice at length yielded to her vanity. Some very splendid entertainments, which Madame Clairval had given, and the general adulation, which was paid her, made the former more anxious than before to secure an alliance, that would so much exalt her in her own opinion and in that of the world.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Madame Clairval
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 2 Quotes

“How delightful,” said she, “to live amidst the coral bowers and crystal caverns of the ocean, with my sister nymphs, and listen to the sounding waters above, and to the soft shells of the tritons! and then, after sunset, to skim on the surface of the waves round wild rocks and along sequestered shores, where, perhaps, some pensive wanderer comes to weep! Then would I soothe his sorrows with my sweet music, and offer him from a shell some of the delicious fruit that hangs round Neptune’s palace.”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 5 Quotes

Passing the light hastily over several other pictures, she came to one concealed by a veil of black silk. The singularity of the circumstance struck her, and she stopped before it, wishing to remove the veil, and examine what could thus carefully be concealed, but somewhat wanting courage.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni, Annette
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 9 Quotes

“You know not what you advise,” said her aunt. “Do you understand, that these estates will descend to you at my death, if I persist in a refusal?”

Related Characters: Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Montoni
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

It seemed to conceal a recess of the chamber; she wished, yet dreaded, to lift it, and to discover what it veiled: twice she was withheld by a recollection of the terrible spectacle her daring hand had formerly unveiled in an apartment of the castle, till, suddenly conjecturing, that it concealed the body of her murdered aunt, she seized it, in a fit of desperation, and drew it aside. Beyond, appeared a corpse, stretched on a kind of low couch, which was crimsoned with human blood, as was the floor beneath. The features, deformed by death, were ghastly and horrible, and more than one livid wound appeared in the face. Emily, bending over the body, gazed, for a moment, with an eager, frenzied eye; but, in the next, the lamp dropped from her hand, and she fell senseless at the foot of the couch.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni, Barnardine
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 348
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“Do you indeed live,” said Emily, at length, “or is this but a terrible apparition?” She received no answer, and again she snatched up the hand. “This is substance,” she exclaimed, “but it is cold—cold as marble!” She let it fall. “O, if you really live, speak!” said Emily, in a voice of desperation, “that I may not lose my senses—say you know me!”

“I do live,” replied Madame Montoni, “but—I feel that I am about to die.”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), St. Aubert, Montoni
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 364
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

“How—how, ma’amselle, could you leave France, and leave Mons. Valancourt, too?” said Annette, sobbing. “I—I—am sure, if Ludovico had been in France, I would never have left it.”

“Why do you lament quitting France, then?” said Emily, trying to smile, “since, if you had remained there, you would not have found Ludovico.”

“Ah, ma’amselle! I only wish I was out of this frightful castle, serving you in France, and I would care about nothing else!”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), Annette (speaker), Valancourt, St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Ludovico
Page Number: 383
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 13 Quotes

“Alas!” observed the Count, “it is difficult to believe that, which will make us wretched. But I will not sooth you by flattering and false hopes. We all know how fascinating the vice of gaming is, and how difficult it is, also, to conquer habits; the Chevalier might, perhaps, reform for a while, but he would soon relapse into dissipation—for I fear, not only the bonds of habit would be powerful, but that his morals are corrupted. And—why should I conceal from you, that play is not his only vice? he appears to have a taste for every vicious pleasure.”

Related Characters: Count De Villefort (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni
Page Number: 507
Explanation and Analysis:
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Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni Quotes in The Mysteries of Udolpho

The The Mysteries of Udolpho quotes below are all either spoken by Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni or refer to Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Marriage, Love, and Inheritance Theme Icon
).
Volume 1, Chapter 10 Quotes

“Who is that young man?” said her aunt, in an accent which equally implied inquisitiveness and censure. “Some idle admirer of yours I suppose; but I believed niece you had a greater sense of propriety, than to have received the visits of any young man in your present unfriended situation. Let me tell you the world will observe those things, and it will talk, aye and very freely too.”

Related Characters: Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, St. Aubert, Montoni, Cavigni
Page Number: 110
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 1, Chapter 13 Quotes

Madame Cheron’s avarice at length yielded to her vanity. Some very splendid entertainments, which Madame Clairval had given, and the general adulation, which was paid her, made the former more anxious than before to secure an alliance, that would so much exalt her in her own opinion and in that of the world.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Madame Clairval
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 2 Quotes

“How delightful,” said she, “to live amidst the coral bowers and crystal caverns of the ocean, with my sister nymphs, and listen to the sounding waters above, and to the soft shells of the tritons! and then, after sunset, to skim on the surface of the waves round wild rocks and along sequestered shores, where, perhaps, some pensive wanderer comes to weep! Then would I soothe his sorrows with my sweet music, and offer him from a shell some of the delicious fruit that hangs round Neptune’s palace.”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni
Page Number: 178
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 5 Quotes

Passing the light hastily over several other pictures, she came to one concealed by a veil of black silk. The singularity of the circumstance struck her, and she stopped before it, wishing to remove the veil, and examine what could thus carefully be concealed, but somewhat wanting courage.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni, Annette
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 233
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 2, Chapter 9 Quotes

“You know not what you advise,” said her aunt. “Do you understand, that these estates will descend to you at my death, if I persist in a refusal?”

Related Characters: Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Montoni
Page Number: 308
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 1 Quotes

It seemed to conceal a recess of the chamber; she wished, yet dreaded, to lift it, and to discover what it veiled: twice she was withheld by a recollection of the terrible spectacle her daring hand had formerly unveiled in an apartment of the castle, till, suddenly conjecturing, that it concealed the body of her murdered aunt, she seized it, in a fit of desperation, and drew it aside. Beyond, appeared a corpse, stretched on a kind of low couch, which was crimsoned with human blood, as was the floor beneath. The features, deformed by death, were ghastly and horrible, and more than one livid wound appeared in the face. Emily, bending over the body, gazed, for a moment, with an eager, frenzied eye; but, in the next, the lamp dropped from her hand, and she fell senseless at the foot of the couch.

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Montoni, Barnardine
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 348
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 3 Quotes

“Do you indeed live,” said Emily, at length, “or is this but a terrible apparition?” She received no answer, and again she snatched up the hand. “This is substance,” she exclaimed, “but it is cold—cold as marble!” She let it fall. “O, if you really live, speak!” said Emily, in a voice of desperation, “that I may not lose my senses—say you know me!”

“I do live,” replied Madame Montoni, “but—I feel that I am about to die.”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni (speaker), St. Aubert, Montoni
Related Symbols: Black Veil
Page Number: 364
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 5 Quotes

“How—how, ma’amselle, could you leave France, and leave Mons. Valancourt, too?” said Annette, sobbing. “I—I—am sure, if Ludovico had been in France, I would never have left it.”

“Why do you lament quitting France, then?” said Emily, trying to smile, “since, if you had remained there, you would not have found Ludovico.”

“Ah, ma’amselle! I only wish I was out of this frightful castle, serving you in France, and I would care about nothing else!”

Related Characters: Emily St. Aubert (speaker), Annette (speaker), Valancourt, St. Aubert, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni, Ludovico
Page Number: 383
Explanation and Analysis:
Volume 3, Chapter 13 Quotes

“Alas!” observed the Count, “it is difficult to believe that, which will make us wretched. But I will not sooth you by flattering and false hopes. We all know how fascinating the vice of gaming is, and how difficult it is, also, to conquer habits; the Chevalier might, perhaps, reform for a while, but he would soon relapse into dissipation—for I fear, not only the bonds of habit would be powerful, but that his morals are corrupted. And—why should I conceal from you, that play is not his only vice? he appears to have a taste for every vicious pleasure.”

Related Characters: Count De Villefort (speaker), Emily St. Aubert, Valancourt, Madame Cheron/Madame Montoni
Page Number: 507
Explanation and Analysis: