Topics to consider and make note of for future exams, etc.
1. Although I hit the highlights of the characteristics of the
Byronic hero, be sure to read the handout in its entirety. I will
use it to create questions for the midterm.
2. The role of setting is established very nicely in Ann Radcliffe's
The Mysteries of Udolpho. Note specific instances of
imagery in the setting that act to foreshadow the danger
that hovers over Radcliffe's heroine. Examples: "Towards
the close of day, the road wound into a deep valley"; "The
sun had just sunk below the top of the mountains she was descending,
whose long shadow stretched athwart the valley, but his sloping rays, shooting through an opening of the cliffs...touched with a yellow gleam the summits of the forest...and streamed in
full splendour upon the towers and battlements of a castle...The splendour of these illumined
objects was heightened by the contrasted shade, which involved the valley below." (All of these examples are from the first paragraph alone!) Think carefully about how images such as these foreshadow what is to come in the rest of the story. How does the setting set a mood? What expectations might the reader have of what will take place later in the story?