The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpote

The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole

The document we're going to present happens to be an extract from “The Castle of Otranto”, written by Horace Walpole in 1764.

Horace Walpole was born in 1717 and died in 1797 in London. He was the son of a british prime minister, Robert Walpole. Like his father, he was a politician but also a writer. He gave birth to the gothic style with his first novel “ The Castle of Otranto”.

The action takes place in Otranto, of course, in the south of Italy. The novel begins with the death of Conrad, the son of the prince of Otranto, Manfred, on his wedding day with Isabella. He was killed by the fall of a helmet. His father, Manfred, is desperate to get a new heir to his kingdom, so he decide to reject his own wife, Hippolita, to marry an other, Isabella, his son's widowed. She don't want to be marry to him and she try to escape but she fail, so she finally have to accept to marry Manfred. But, fortunately, someone rescue her.

So, our extract is entitled “Alone in so dismal a place”. In this part, we are at the moment where Manfred is determined to marry Isabella. He tells her that she can't refuse, and at the same instant, the portrait of his grand-father move. He turns his attention to the portrait, so Isabella takes advantage of that to try to escape. During this moment, Manfred doesn't know what to do, because he sees his grand-father's portrait moving and his fiancee leaving the room. He's confused. After a moment, he decides to follow Isabella. About her, she decides to go through a subterraneous passage which goes from the castle of Otranto to the Church of St.Nicolas. In this subterraneous passage, she hears strange noise, like some murmurs, the wind. She faces to strange events, like doors which open alone and supernatural apparitions.

There is a strange atmosphere of mystery. We don't what can be hide in the dark. It's terrific. We share Isabella's anxiety. We feel what she feels.

We can notice the apparitions of some strange creatures. Ghosts, maybe. Isabella doesn't really see these creatures, so we can't be sure. In fact, she only sees a human form.

We can affirm that this novel is gothic because it contains many elements which prove it. The action takes place in an impressive castle, and on the extract, there is a scene in a subterraneous passage. There are pursuits, a villain ( Manfred), a young, innocent and beautiful heroine. The atmosphere is very mysterious, weird and horrific. We feel what the heroine feels. There is ghosts, some creatures which don't seem to be human. The wind reinforces the mystery.

Moreover, we can notice some words interesting : “invisible hand” (l.24), “anxiety” (l.41), “cavern” ( l.42), “darkness” ( l.45), “horror” (l.64), “agony” (l.67).

All those elements are typical of gothic litterature.

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