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Volume 4, Chapter 14
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Mysteries of Udolpho, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marriage, Love, and Inheritance
The Wonders of Nature
Mystery and Superstition
Mortality
The Value of Education and Art
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Count De Villefort and the others arrive at La Vallée, raising Emily’s spirits. She is less happy, however, when the Count starts insisting that Emily consider the affections of Du Pont again.
Emily’s reservations about Valancourt don’t cause her to feel any more positively about Du Pont. Unlike female characters like Madame Montoni, for instance, Emily isn’t desperate to find just anyone to marry.
Themes
That evening, Emily receives an invitation to the convent. When she arrives, she learns that there is going to be a mass for Agnes, who is on the verge of dying. Emily feels pity for Agnes but has to leave. She composes a poem about the wind.
Emily remains haunted by Agnes’s wild state earlier and by the things Agnes said about sin, and so Emily’s poem about wind perhaps reflects the tormented nature of Agnes the last time Emily saw her.
Themes
