A Sicilian Romance

Select a specific passage from the novel where Radcliffe uses vivid imagery and figurative language to describe the landscape. In what way does this scene romanticize the natural world?

Explore the representation of at least two female characters in the novel. In what ways do their characters represent the period in which A Sicilian Romance was written, and in what ways are similar ideas about women present or absent in current society?

Radcliffe writes of Cornelia, “[a]s she spoke she raised her eyes, which beamed with truth and meek assurance to heaven; and the fine devotional suffusion of her countenance seemed to characterize the beauty of an inspired saint” (106). To what extent does the author present purity as synonymous with truth and beauty, here and throughout the novel? What impact does this have on the development of the novel’s themes?