Such passions must be repressed, for as Jean-Jacques Rousseau warns, uncontrolled feminine desire is deadly.

The sexual passions of these two women threaten masculine authority, for they represent a form of feminine power that is plural, varied and ultimately uncontrollable. Once he realises the power Signora Laurentini’s sexuality has over him, he curses her and condemns her to a form of death as well. Believing that his wife had an extra-marital affair, the Marquis feels justified in controlling her sexuality through death. He ‘saw only once afterwards, and that was, to curse her as the instigator of his crime, and to say, that he spared her life only on condition, that she passed the rest of her days in prayer and penance.’ This scene reveals the extent to which the Marquis, in particular, and men, in general, appoint themselves as guardians of female sexuality. But when he realises that the Marchioness may have been innocent, he refuses to take full responsibility for his actions. Because this threatens the Marquis’ authority over his wife, he therefore agrees to kill her for her crime. Angered at the manner in which she was replaced, Laurentini accuses the Marchioness of being unfaithful. For while the Marquis was ‘fascinated by the arts of Laurentini,’ he noticed that he ‘had been deceived in her character, and she, whom he had designed for his wife, afterwards became his mistress.’ In this way, the Marquis’ desire labels Laurentini a ‘whore’ and the Marchioness his wife.

Both women are defined in terms of the binary whore/Madonna by the passions of the same man: the Marquis de Villeroi. Signora Laurentini represents the whore, or the horrors associated with uncontrolled feminine sexuality the Marchioness represents the opposite-the Madonna. Initially, these women are described as extreme opposites. This is particularly true of The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) which has a plot that revolves around understanding the disjointed stories of two primary ghosts: Signora Laurentini, and the Marchioness de Villeroi. Ann Radcliffe employs spectres to explore the difficulties inherent to the representation of feminine passion and identity in a male dominated culture.

The mysteries of udolpho