"The Divided Self": Characterization, Identities, and the Supernatural A cursory first reading of Horace Walpole's Otranto might yield an impression that its characters are thoroughly superficial, shallow, and flat, almost to the point of being laughably so. A single character mold seems to have been applied to each character: Manfred is the incestuous tyrant, Hippolita is the helplessly devoted wife, Matilda is the picture of “tenderness and duty” (38), and Theodore is the chivalrous protector
Romance and The Castle of Otranto In eighteenth century novels, a common means of discussing the role of women in society is through the characterization of two good sisters. The heroine of such a novel is a pure, kind young woman who also has a streak of spunkiness. Her sister may be more good and kind, but she is more submissive and reserved. I would like to look at these sisters (and their mothers) in Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance , and The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. It is
to a certain extent Jackson is right. however the “very act of speaking about these socially unspeakable is an ambiguous gesture (Punter p.417).” This is where the element of superstition and the paranormal come in. In Horace Walpole’s The Castle Otranto and Matthew Lewis’ The Monk this element of paranormal and superstition gives way or embodies the contradiction of society which Jackson speaks of, or at least some of them. Its is important to recognise however, that though the message or the plot
first gothic novel The Castle of Otranto in 1764 features the now well known convention of the tyrannical father. The tyrannical father is often described as a man with complete power and authority who misuses his status in order to oppress and exact cruelty on others, most often his own family and more specifically his children. This convention is personified within Walpole’s novel in the form of Manfred, the primary antagonist and lord of the Castle of Otranto, whose actions revolve around his
century. The main characters of the book include: Manfred, the illegitimate Prince of Otranto; Hippolita, Manfred's wife; Matilda, 18, Manfred's daughter; Conrad, 15, Manfred's son - "the darling of his father"; Isabella, Conrad's fiance; Father Jerome, a priest; Theodore, a young peasant and the actual Prince of Otranto; and the Knight of the Gigantic Saber, Isabella's father. Manfred, the illegal prince of Otranto, arranged a marriage between his young son, Conrad, and the daughter of the Marquis
The Castle of Otranto is an immensely nationalistic text, which focuses on and discusses inheritance laws. The story denotes an ancient prophecy and law, saying that the castle ‘should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit
Incongruous Corpus: Ambiguities in the Textual Body of The Castle of Otranto While the relationship of the Gothic to the Romantic is debatable, the persistent desire of some critics to see it as pre-Romantic should not disguise the possibility that the genre is “actually sending out very contradictory impulses about its own intentions, [and] adopting certain strategies that thwart the very perceptions it seems to be on the brink of achieving” (Napier, 4). This uncertainty in form and intent has
Walpole (1717-1797) invented the Gothic novel in his attempt to blend wildness and imagination of the old romance, in his own words "an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern'' in one step altogether, the Castle of Otranto. A novel he claimed to have written immediately after being inspired by a dream, "I waked one morning...from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle...I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening
However, another aspect that seems to surface in gothic literature is whenever there is a woman who is not following the social norms, they seem to be the driving conflict behind the plotline and ultimately lead to any present happy ending. Castle of Otranto provides a prime example of the contrasting roles of the women. Multiple times Hippolita is described as and acts in a way that reflects the ideal submissive woman. Hippolita does as Manfred says no matter what she is asked, even to the point where
Homoerotic and Homophobic Possibilities in The Castle of Otranto Eve Sedgwick describes the gothic novel as a “dialectic between the homosexual and homophobic” (92). Homosexuality was first recognized in the eighteenth century and resulted in far reaching social responses. With the establishment of the term “homosexuality”, social tensions appeared. These tensions found their way into novels as fears of sexuality and the struggle for sexual expression. Sedgwick terms this emerging homoeroticism
thinks of duty, all these words come to mind. Never would anyone consider duty to be the cause of death, destruction, dishonesty, and cruelty. Although striving to fulfill one’s duty is seen as a noble and honorable, the gothic novel, “The Castle of Otranto” has shown that striving to fulfill one’s duty can be everything but honorable from what Manfred, Hippolita, Matilda, Isabella, and Jerome did in order to accomplish their duties. As a result, the stress that each character went through, in addition
Castle of Otranto was the first Gothic novel and the above aspects, which he used as tropes, defines the genre. The story of The Castle of Otranto follows the downfall of the protagonist, Manfred, beginning with him as a Prince, then having to sign his abdication and working at a convent. Prophecy, incest, irony, usurpation, dethroning, and murder are some of the themes that appear in both Horace Warpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Oedipus The King by Sophocles. The Castle of Otranto opens with
The description of the eighteenth century gothic as ?a confused and contradictory form, ambivalent or unsure about its own aims and implications? (Kilgour 5) is an entirely fitting one for Otranto - especially with regard to domestic and gender ideology. Valdine Clemens tells us that at the time of Otranto?s publication, ?cultural conditions [?] were highly repressive for women? (31). Women were vulnerable and defenseless, unable to exercise control in most areas of their lives. Men were allowed
Taking The Castle of Otranto as your example, outline the main conventions of the Gothic novel, and show how your knowledge of Taking The Castle of Otranto as your example, outline the main conventions of the Gothic novel, and show how your knowledge of these conventions affects your reading of Northanger Abbey. Is Northanger Abbey most accurately described as parody of the Gothic genre, or is there a more complicated relationship going on? Gothic novels purport to revive old stories and
Setting his work in the Middle Ages in a remote castle with horror and fantastic elements, Horace Walpole popularized the Gothic Romance genre with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. He was the vanguard in bring thrills to readers with ancient prophecies, mysterious deaths, specters and supernatural events in his novel. However, the Gothic genre reaches a climax in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), which is marked by its intensity of emotions and artistic subtlety. Wuthering Heights is
Gothic Fiction: The Representation of Evil in Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel written by Horace Walpole. It is regarded as the first Gothic novel, initiating a new literary genre which became extremely popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Gothic literature’s desire to explore the unknown, the unexplainable, inexplicable and the terrifying can be seen as a reaction to the Enlightenment’s emphasis on the rational and knowable. The Enlightenment
discuss how one scene from the typical gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, and a scene from Jane Austen’s parody of the gothic novel in Northanger Abbey contrast in many different ways to illustrate gothic tropes as well as Austen’s perspective view on the subject of the gothic through the use of, diction, setting, character and tone. The diction in each novel is very different for both. In The Castle of Otranto, Walpole uses words like, “curdled”, “terror”, and “darkness” which
Gothic literature just continues to get better and better! Since the first gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto in 1764, gothic literature has persistently flourished and has been altered over time. The changes are prominent in the excerpts from Vathek, The Italian, Frankenstein, and Wuthering Heights. Over many years, the expansion of gothic literature has displayed an increase in the amount of modern vocabulary, the literature itself has become darker and more unnatural, and the literature has incorporated
Castle of Otranto in 1764. Walpole single-handedly sparked a new style of literature, gothic fiction. Walpole also coined the word seredipidy. The Castle of Otranto is referred as the the start of gothic fiction as a genre. What is gothic fiction exactly? How does gothic fiction use characters to enrich the work? What function does setting and architecture play in gothic fiction? How does gothic fiction create immense emotions within the reader? Finally, if Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is the
The Gothic elements expressed in Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto were so new and controversial during the Romantic period that it caused an extreme rise in reputation amongst Romantic writers and readers, creating a ground-breaking genre that would remain popular within entertainment today. These literary elements, alongside the turning of a literary age and the unofficial fight for recognition between the Romantic and Gothic writers, were the key turning points that would maintain the Gothic’s