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Anne Radcliffe’s novel “The Italian” incorporates many aspects of the Gothic that can be found weaved throughout the text. Radcliffe’s novel is a combination of an exploration into a striking culture, with looming family secrets, subtle hints of supernatural forces at work and Gothic architecture everywhere. Yet perhaps the most effective use of the Gothic used in Radcliffe’s novel is her ability to keep her reader in constant suspense. Through the use …

…attention to her figure, which had a distinguished air of delicacy and grace; but her face was concealed in her veil” (5 ). The reader not having to know what a Gothic element entails has no doubt what tone Radcliffe is setting in this passage to follow throughout the rest of the novel. Vivaldi and his pursuit of the veiled woman indicate his pursuit of mystery, along with arousing the cuirousity of the reader to read further.