Resumen
Resumen de The Castle of Otranto
Para quién es
For readers who love haunted houses, old curses and the roots of horror stories, and anyone curious about how the Gothic began.
De qué trata este libro
A prince's son is crushed by a giant helmet on his wedding morning. That is how The Castle of Otranto begins, and the Gothic novel begins with it. Horace Walpole, an English politician and collector who rebuilt his house into a small make-believe castle, first printed it in 1764. He presented it as an old Italian book whose date of writing was uncertain. In a second edition he admitted he wrote it himself. He wanted to join the old tales of wonder with the new novel of everyday life.
En este resumen
- 1A giant helmet ruins a weddingFree
- 2Manfred decides to marry the bride himself
- 3A friar and a princess take Isabella's side
- 4Ghostly signs grow louder in the castle
- 5What the story says about guilt and power
- 6How Walpole built the first Gothic tale
Idea clave 1 de 6
A giant helmet ruins a wedding
Manfred, prince of Otranto, has arranged for his sickly son Conrad to marry Isabella, the young daughter of the Marquis of Vicenza. On the wedding day Conrad does not come to the chapel. A servant points toward the courtyard in terror.
There lies Conrad, crushed beneath an enormous helmet topped with nodding black plumes. No one can say where it came from. Manfred shows little grief. He is angry, and he looks for someone to blame.
Behind it all sits an old prophecy. The castle will pass from Manfred's family when the true owner grows too large to live in it. Manfred knows his family's claim is not clean. His fear of losing everything drives his desperate plans.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Who’s who
- Manfred
- The prince of Otranto is Hippolita's husband and a demanding father determined to preserve his family's power.
- Isabella
- A young noblewoman promised to Conrad, she resists his father Manfred's plans and seeks protection from him.
- Theodore
- A courageous young peasant, he challenges Manfred and helps Isabella escape the prince's control.
- Hippolita
- Manfred's gentle and devout wife is the mother of Conrad and Matilda, devoted to her troubled family.
- Matilda
- Manfred and Hippolita's kind daughter struggles between obedience to her father and her own feelings.
- Father Jerome
- A principled friar, he shelters Isabella and opposes Manfred's demands with the authority of the Church.
- Frederic
- Isabella's father, the Marquis of Vicenza, comes to claim his daughter and considers an arrangement with Manfred.
- Conrad
- Manfred and Hippolita's sickly son is Matilda's brother and the intended husband of Isabella.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 37,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 2 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about The Castle of Otranto
What is The Castle of Otranto about?
It tells of Manfred, a prince whose son is killed by a giant helmet on his wedding day. Haunted by a prophecy that he will lose his castle, Manfred pursues his son's bride while ghostly signs multiply.
Why is The Castle of Otranto called the first Gothic novel?
It first combined a medieval castle, a tyrant, a threatened young woman, secret passages and openly supernatural events in one novel. Later Gothic writers, including Ann Radcliffe and Mary Shelley, built on this pattern.
Is The Castle of Otranto a true story?
No. Horace Walpole invented it and published it in 1764. He first pretended it was a medieval Italian manuscript he had found and translated, but he admitted in the second edition that it was his own work.
Is The Castle of Otranto hard to read?
The book is fast. The five chapters move quickly, and the story is easy to follow.
What is the main message of The Castle of Otranto?
The book suggests that crimes of the past come back to punish later generations, and that tyranny over others, especially within a family, brings its own ruin. It also praises courage and honour over rank.