two often being compared – even by the authors themselves. Even as recently as 2005, writers such as Vartan Messier compare their styles: "The contrast between the two writers is obvious in their approach to the Gothic, and more particularly, in the explicitness of content and in their use of certain Gothic conventions." Unlike the characters in Lewis’ novel, reviewers observed that Radcliffe illustrated that guilt and depravity can be constructed upon the desire for absolute power rather than mere sexuality, and their source is ultimately human rather than demonic. The direction in which Gothic literature was moving, from terror to horror, may have inhibited Radcliffe from continuing her career. A gender comparison can also be seen between The Italian and The Monk; Radcliffe indirectly depicts the desires that Lewis investigates explicitly. Shakespearean influence There are few scholarly texts commenting on the direct influence of William Shakespeare on the stories and rhetoric of Radcliffe. It would only take a casual reader of both writers, however, to spot the similarities between The Italian and many of Shakespeare’s works: “When one author not only makes allusions to the work of another, but also frequently directly quotes him, the case for influence can be firmly established. That Ann Radcliffe had a thorough knowledge of Shakespeare can be deduced from her use of his quotations as chapter headings to foretell succinctly the action of her novels. Even in the texts of the novels, phrases from Shakespeare appear, and these are not always the well-known phrases”. The plays were also acted quite frequently in Radcliffe’s day, so it is probable that “Radcliffe had seen Shakespeare’s dramas performed”. Radcliffe also referenced the plays of Shakespeare, including Hamlet and The Tempest, in her personal journal. The “sameness” of her plots, a major criticism of Radcliffe, can also be attributed to her following the Romantic comedy model of Shakespeare. “In [The Italian], her last critically acclaimed novel, she leaned heavily on the plots of Shakespeare”. The plot follows the three stages of the romantic comedy model and parallels many of Shakespeare’s plays including “the thwarted love” present in Romeo and Juliet, the villa scene where Vivaldi overhears Ellena nearly a facsimile of the balcony scene; Olivia’s reappearance after years of faking her death mirroring the character Hermione, and Olivia’s daughter Ellena being brought up in a lower class than her birth mirroring the Hermione’s daughter Perdita in The