Destiny
The Lady Montbarry from the beginning of the novel, or later Countess Narona, believes that her destiny and the destiny of the woman whose husband she’d taken are irreversibly connected from the moment she sets her eyes on her. She believes that Lady Agnes will be her judgement and punishment, she senses that their fates will be intertwined until her very end.
Supernatural
The supernatural element is prevalent in the novel in the form of ghostly apparitions and dreams. The novel itself ends with the supernatural element left ambiguous, and the events in the hotel room number fourteen largely unexplained.
Letters and writing
Letters and writing in general play an important role in the novel as a form of disclosure of the truth that is too difficult to be put into spoken words. Examples of it are the letter that was addressed to Mrs. Ferrari after her husband’s death which is going to play an important part in the revelation of the mystery surrounding his death, as well as the frantic writing of Countess Narona at the end wishing to reveal the truth in the form of a play after having gone crazy from guilty consciousness.
The room fourteen
The room fourteen of the Palace Hotel is symbolic in that it serves as a form of evidence of what happened to the late Lord Montbarry and his courier Mr. Ferrari. From a supernatural view the room contains the energy of the wronged individuals who are eager to let the living world know what happened. The haunted room is a classic trope of a supernatural novel, so it’s no surprise that it was used here.
