The Romance of the Forest

I was happy to finish Romance of the Forest. It was really hard to get through the long and lengthy descriptions that set up the scene for the action that happened in the last couple of chapters. Because it was long and lengthy, it was hard for me to keep my attention on what was happening to the heroine, Adeline, and follow the damsel in distress' adventures.

Even though this novel was very hard for me to read, I understand, and can see how it is an important novel to the Female Gothic Era. Through this novel, I learned a lot about Gothic Literature, and about the audience of these novels. Romance of the Forest clearly outlined the typical heroine usually found in the Gothic Era, which was played by Adeline. It is typical to this era that in a heroine's weakness, we find her most attractive. This is found everywhere throughout the novel.

For example, on page 6, Adeline is clearly described as beautiful only because she is weak: "La Motte now turned his eyes upon his unfortunate companion, who, pale and exhausted, leaned for support against the wall. Her features, which were delicately beautiful, had gained from distress an expression of captivating sweetness".

This reveals a lot about who the readers of the Female Gothic era were. It is hard to imagine a time when these novels were the only form of entertainment to the people. Because we have advanced so much in technology, we now have infinite forms of entertainment, but to the people in the 18th century, these novels became a main outlet for entertainment in their lives. They had time to get lost in the wordy descriptions of the lives these heroines lived, such as Adeline's.

That is the beauty of the Romantic era versus the Realistic era. Anything can happen, and reader's imagination can thrive while reading the text.