What element doesn't Radcliffe use in this one? Evil step mother, domineering father, wicked Catholic Abbott, ruins galore, horrible secrets, ship wrecks, chases, banditi, multiple escapes all in the attempt to thwart the lovers and force the damesel in distress to marry against her will!
Let's not forget secret passages, secreted wives, bigamy, "terror," fainting, unexplained noises and lights.

Of course, the females are deeply religious, and suffer terrors, etc, at the hands of men: husbands, fathers, the men fathers intend to give their daughters, the Abbott, the banditi, etc. Is this a statement about the defenceless and dependent position of women in a society dominated by men?