Essay Questions

The life of the La Mottes following their escape is dotted with a lot of problems. Illustrate the difficulties the family goes through as they escape using Anne Radcliffe’s novel The Romance of the Forest.

After La Motte decides that escaping from his creditors and persecution of the law is a good idea, his life and that of his family is dotted with a lot of difficulties; first, following their departure, their son Louis being a servant of the regime cannot tag along. They thus have to leave him behind on their journey to safety. On their journey through desolate roads, they come to a house where they meet gangsters. The family is then told to leave with a girl named Adeline and never to come back again. As they leave through the forest, their carriage suffers a breakdown, and they have to look for somewhere to stay. Later after the family meets the Marquis and his soldiers who claim the abbey. Later, when Adeline escapes, and the marquis finds out about it, he plots to kill them both, that is, the La Mottes and Adeline. Once again, the La Mottes are in danger even after having escaped the wrath of the law and their creditors. However, they are saved by the law, which takes its toll and punishes marquis for the murder of Adeline’s father.

Illustrate how the theme of justice and injustice are presented in Anne Radcliffe’s The Romance of the Forest

Injustice in The Romance of the Country is prevalent. First, when La Motte escapes paying his creditor’s, he does an injustice to them. Additionally, the Marquis commits an injustice when he kills Adeline’s parents. Moreover, when Louis, after finding his family on leave, expresses his interest in courting Adeline, she does not give in or answer him. However, the heavy arm of the law finally takes its toll later in the novel when the Marquis is arrested and imprisoned for the murder of Adeline’s parents and even the attempted murder of Adeline herself. In being arrested and imprisoned, the La Mottes are also saved from the marquis who had earlier plotted to kill all of them for having allowed the young lady Adeline to escape. The novel-write thus explores the concepts of both justice and injustice in The Romance of the Forest.

Explore how the theme of love is brought out in this novel.

After the Pierre’s escape, their son Louis joins them on their journey and during this time, he falls in love with Adeline. On the other hand, Adeline has a lot of respect and love for Pierre as she sees him as a father figure. In this way, familial love is brought out. Additionally, romantic love is brought out through Theodore and Adeline. After she sees him, Adeline completely falls in love with him. The novel-write thus in this way presents both romantic love and familial love is brought out in this work.