The Romance of the Forest

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death. 

The Abbey of St. Clair, situated in the Forest of Fontanville, provides a setting that comes to represent not only the dangers of Adeline’s past but also the uncertainty of her present and future circumstances. Described as a ruin with a few habitable rooms and a plethora of hidden passageways and ancient chambers, the abbey initially supplies the story with the Gothic backdrop that is characteristic of the genre, complete with a sense of decayed grandeur and ruin. This is a suitable backdrop to illustrate the change in La Motte’s fortunes, as he flees the modern, sophisticated city of Paris for this crumbling relic of a bygone age, where regret for his actions haunts him as much as the possibility of ghosts. This trace of a past time considered more stern and brutal than their present age also lends an appropriate backdrop to the Marquis’s actions, which escalate from unwanted courtship to kidnapping to murder.

The hidden aspects of the abbey, however, put Adeline in contact with her past, though she initially isn’t able to