The main action in The Romance of the Forest is set in an abandoned, ruined abbey. The building itself serves as a moral lesson, as well as a major setting for the action in the novel. This use of a ruined abbey, drawing on Burke's aesthetic theory of the sublime and the beautiful, establishes it a place of terror and of safety. Burke argued that the sublime was a source of awe or fear brought about by strong emotions, such as terror or mental pain. On the other end of the spectrum was the beautiful, the things that brought pleasure and safety. He argued that the sublime was to be preferred. Related to the concepts of the sublime and the beautiful is the idea of the picturesque, introduced by William Gilpin, which was thought to exist between the two extremes. The picturesque was what continued elements of the sublime and the beautiful, as the natural or uncultivated beauty in a ruin or a partially overgrown building. In The Romance of the Forest Adeline and the La Mottes live in constant fear of discovery by the police or by Adeline's father, and at times certain characters believe the castle to be haunted. Yet it also serves as a comfort, providing characters with shelter and safety. Finally, it is picturesque, in that it serves as a combination of the natural and the human. Thus Radcliffe could use architecture to draw on the aesthetic theories of the time and set the tone of the story in the minds of the reader. As with many buildings in Gothic novels, the abbey also has a series of tunnels. These serve as both a hiding place for characters and a place of secrets. This was mirrored later in the novel with Adeline hiding from the Marquis de Montalt and the secrets of the Marquis, which eventually leads to his downfall and Adeline's salvation.[13]
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