11
On fell© whole Ann Radcliffers young heroes reseillt
Walpole*s and Reeved, but they are more romantic, braver
and mora refined. Oabart, the young lord of Athlin, ant
Valancourt are two of her most typical.
The heroine of the Gothic novel is #® rosy embodiment
of womanly beauty and virtu®,Walpole's Isabella Ms th©
accomplishments of all the heroines. After har persecutions
*
she is reaoued by the young hero, never onoe forgetting her
good reputation as a dignified woman#
Clara Heave's Sanaa is an ordinary, gentle and beautiful
girl without any remarkable adventure. After a happy childhood
she marries the hare, presenting hi®, in the quickest tine
possible with five sons and a daughter, all of which is
oarefully recorded by the author.2®
Ana Badcliffe's ideal romantic maiden ia about twenty,
of medium height, slenderly built, but extremely well-propor-
tioned, "Her face ia half-hidden by the dark hair which falls
in plaits over her bosom. Her beauty ia enhanced by the soft
and pensive melancholy which lends to her blue eyes auch an
interesting air,w29 Her heroines are accomplished and perse-
cuted.
This existence of endless persecution was now laid by
the Walpole-Reeve-Radcliffe trio in romantic surroundlnga,
2?Ibld,, p. 39# 28Ibld.. p. 41.
29Ibid,. p. 42.
