The Romance of the Forest

In a work that heavily relies on suspense, an author incorporates foreshadowing, or hints at how future action might unfold. Especially in early chapters, Radcliffe sows frequent occurrences that seem a mystery at the time but have significance later. In La Motte’s first exploration of the abbey, for instance, he finds the older rooms that Adeline will later explore and will prove to be central to the crime surrounding Henry, the previous Marquis. The skeleton that La Motte finds and the blood-stained dagger recovered by Adeline remind one of the rumored crime, which will be clarified later. Adeline’s dream is both a revelation of this crime and foreshadowing that she has some connection to the murdered man. When Louis explores the grounds of the abbey, he finds the tomb and initially thinks he sees someone emerging from it. While at the time this is intended to frighten, he likely sees his father. The action as a whole presages Adeline’s later kidnapping when she hides in the tomb trying to escape the Marquis.

During their travels in the south of France, when Adeline hears the mournful music from shore, that music foreshadows her reunion with Monsieur Verneuil and, shortly thereafter, with Louis, who bears news of Theodore. Throughout the book, the heavy emphasis on Adeline’s graceful manner foreshadows the revelation about her birth as a nobleman’s daughter. While several parts of the book rely on sheer coincidence—Peter is from the same village as Theodore’s father, for instance—foreshadowing serves to connect narrative events and give the book a sense of coherence overall.

Bursts of humor or absurdity are a frequent device in tragedy, used to relieve the high drama but at the same time further the plot. Radcliffe occasionally introduces moments of comic relief into her tale to punctuate scenes of more stirring action and, in some uses, draw out suspense.

Peter often functions as comic relief as he is essentially a clown figure, the rustic servant who provides a foil to the higher classes and comments on their habits and manners. Peter is the lifeline for the La Mottes and Adeline when they are isolated at the abbey, as he is responsible for procuring supplies and also repairing the abbey to make it habitable. The episode where he reports on his fight in the village hints that their new home may not be a hospitable place. The later conversation where he reveals that a stranger was inquiring about the whereabouts of La Motte—and where Peter thinks he has protected his employer while he has confirmed his location—elevates the suspense as Peter takes some time to explain himself. Similar conversations where he tries to apprise Adeline of her danger but is too worried about being observed to speak directly, provide further moments of humorous suspense. In all, these moments of comedy help balance the more anxious emotions of the narrative.