READING AND TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF NON-AFRICAN PROSE: “The Castle of Otranto” by Horace Walpole

PLOT ACCOUNT

The narrative is about a vain struggle by Prince Manfred to prevent the accomplishment of an ancient prophecy which states that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit”(pp. 1-2). To prevent the realization of the prophecy, Manfred arranges to marry his only and sickly son, Conrad, to Isabella in order to have an heir in the event of the death by the sickly boy of fifteen. On the wedding day, the poor boy is killed in a mysterious circumstance. A mysterious giant helmet crushes him to death before the nuptial ceremony. Manfred is as incredulous as he is devastated. Shortly afterwards, a young peasant among the crowd of the spectators and sympathizers at the scene, later revealed as Theodore, observes that the helmet resembles the one on the statue of Alfonso the Good at St. Nicholas church nearby. This prompts some of the spectator to rush to the chapel and return not only to confirm the young man’s observation but also to add that the Alfonso’s statue is missing. Manfred becomes frantic and declares that the young peasant is a magician and sorcerer. He orders him imprisoned on charges of murder.

After recovering a bit from the shock of the tragedy, Manfred continues in his effort to prevent the accomplishment of the prophecy hanging over his household by scheming to marry Isabella, the proposed bride of Conrad. Isabella, outraged at the proposal, flees from the castle through an underground passage to St. Nicholas chapel. She is assisted by the jailed Theodore.

Father Jerome of St. Nicholas intimates Manfred and his wife, Lady Hippolita, of Isabella’s refuge in the church. Smartly sending his wife away, Manfred request the priest to assist him divorce his wife and marry Isabella. The priest not only refuses, he warns the Prince against the idea. However, in an attempt to divert Manfred’s attention, he suggests that Isabella might be in love with one who assisted her to escape. Enraged by this possibility, he orders the young man to

be brought out for execution. As the young man submits to the order and gets ready for the fatal blow, the collar of his wear falls down to reveal a birthmark which tells Father Jerome that the peasant is his son. The life of the young man is used to negotiate for the cooperation of Jerome in facilitating the Prince desires.

Fredric, the Marquis of Vicenza, arrives to challenge Manfred’s lordship of the castle and principality of Otranto. The latter proposes an alternative to fighting asa way to resolve the matter. Both agree to marry each other’s daughter so that the blood of the rightful owner and that of the usurper of the throne would have been fused in the offspring that will result from the marriage, specifically the marriage of Manfred to Isabella.

Having been assisted by Matilda to escape, Theodore makes for the convent at St Nicholas to tell his father of his escape but the priest is not around. Theodore heads for the forest where Frederic arrives later in search of Isabella. While resisting the Marquis’s attempt to gain access to the lady, he stabs him but the Marquis eventually survives.

While the negotiations of the marriage are still ongoing, a ghost appears to Frederic,warns him against any consort with Manfred. Consequently, he becomes cold and uncooperative towards Manfred. Soon after, Manfred receives information from one of his servants that a lady from the castle has been sighted “in private conference at the tomb of Alfonso in St Nicholas church” (p. 141). Thinking that the lady is Isabella trying to elope with Theodore, Manfred rushes there and kills his own daughter, Matilda, in error. It is eventually revealed that Theodore, not Fredric, is the true heir of Alfonso and the rightful claimant to the lordship of Otranto.

Dracula.Siouxsie and the Banshees. That hound of the Baskervilles scaring people out on the moors. Tim Burton’s career.Joy Division and New Order.The entire industry of black cosmetics. All these and more might not exist today had Horace Walpole not published The Castle of Otranto in 1764. Most literary experts agree that The Castle of Otranto created the genre of gothic fiction and, by extension, everything that has ever expanded outward from it.

The stimulus behind Walpole’s invention of a brand new literary genre was, as is usually the case in these things, a deep and enduring boredom with conventions popular at the time. Those conventions belong to the genre that today is referred to as Romance. Walpole’s major beef with the Romance fiction of his time was it all had come to seem ridiculously contrived and desperately uninspired. What he wanted to read himself were stories that imitated reality in a more authentic way that eschewed the insipid blandness of mere reportage. Keep in mind that much of the most popular fiction at the time Walpole starting composing The Castle of Otranto were those excruciatingly detailed books about manners that painted a portrait of reality that was

only accurate on the surface and did not even bother trying to penetrate into the psychological imperative behind the commitment to those manners.

To put it in simple terms, what Walpole set out to do with The Castle of Otranto was to transport the concept of fiction as an imitation of reality from its contemporary stagnation of merely recording how people behaved into a more imaginative exploration of reality by analyzing how people behaved. The most authentic means of getting at the raw root of behavior was to push characters out of the mundane reality of everyday life and into situations of such extraordinary conditions that the true nature of one’s character could no longer be concealed.

The result was The Castle of Otranto. Within this brand new type of novel readers would confront a gloomy and mysterious castle where the decay of age symbolized the degeneration of the humans inhabiting it. Other elements to be found in Walpole’s prototype of gothic fiction include an portentous and menacing forecast of the fates of the characters, labyrinthine corridors beneath the castle, people locked behind closed doors in difficult-to-reach rooms, a supernatural patina covering the entire narrative, apparitions, a sense of doom, pervasive dread and an overwhelming amount of scenes taking place at night or in the darkness.

In other words, all the ingredients that readers have come to expect from gothic novels as diverse Jane Eyre, The Fall of the House of Usher, Rebecca and The Haunting of Hill House and beyond.

CHARACTERISATION AND THEMES IN THE WORK

• Manfred — the lord of the Castle of Otranto. He is the father of Conrad and Matilda, and the husband of Hippolita. After his son is killed by the falling helmet, he becomes obsessed with the idea of ending his marriage with Hippolita in pursuit of the much younger Isabella, who was supposed to marry his son. Manfred serves as the prime antagonist of the novel; he is the dictatorial ruler and father that drives the plot forward in a depiction of deranged cruelty visited upon his children.
• Hippolita — the wife of Manfred and the mother of Conrad and Matilda. After having lost her son, she is left with just Matilda to combat the tyrannical turn of mind that her husband displays. Manfred intends to divorce her due to her sterility and on the grounds that their marriage is in fact false because they are actually related. Faced with the threat of divorce, Hippolita is mournful yet submissive to the wills of her husband. She acts as a sort of enabler to her husband, putting aside her morals and happiness so that her husband can get what he wants.
• Conrad — the fifteen-year-old son of Manfred and Hippolita and the younger brother of Matilda. In the first pages of the novel, he is crushed by a giant helmet on his way to his wedding with Isabella.
• Matilda — Matilda is the daughter of Hippolita and the oppressive Manfred. She falls in love with Theodore, much to her chagrin since it is a love unsanctioned by her parents. Upon the appearance of Frederic, things become even more complicated as Frederic lusts after Matilda. She serves as the forbidden woman, a facet of Gothic literature. Frederic and Manfred make plans to swap their daughters in marriage, crushing Matilda’s hope of being with Theodore. At the end of the novel, she is mistakenly stabbed by her father.
• Isabella — the daughter of Frederic and the fiancée of Conrad (at the beginning of the novel). After the death of Conrad, she makes it clear that, although she did not love Conrad, she would have far preferred being betrothed to him rather than his father, who pursues her throughout the novel. Isabella and Matilda have a brief argument concerning the fact they both have feelings for Theodore. After the death of Matilda, Theodore settles for Isabella and the two become the lord and lady of the castle.
• Theodore — at the beginning of the novel, Theodore appears to be a mere minor character, whose role is purely to point out the significance of the helmet as a link to the fulfillment of the prophecy. However, he emerges as a main character after Manfred orders him to be imprisoned within the helmet for his insolence and he escapes, only to help Isabella escape from the castle through a trapdoor. He is revealed later in the novel to be the lost son of Friar Jerome. Theodore proceeds to protect Isabella from the wanton lust of Manfred. He captures the hearts of both Isabella and Matilda, but settles for Isabella after Matilda’s death. He also later goes on to rule the Castle of Otranto.
• Friar Jerome — the friar at the monastery near the Castle of Otranto. Manfred attempts to manipulate him into both supporting his plan to divorce his wife and persuading his wife to go along with this plan. It is later discovered that he is Theodore’s father.

Frederic — the long-lost father of Isabella who appears late into the novel. He opposes     Manfred at first, until he settles on a deal to marry Matilda.

• Bianca — the servant of Matilda who serves as a comic relief of the otherwise highly melodramatic novel.
• Diego and Jaquez — these two, like Bianca, are other servants within the Castle of Otranto.

THEMES IN THE WORK

1. Lust for power.
2. Patriarchal dominance.
3. Incest
4. Crime and punishment
5. Secular power vs spiritual power.
6. Tyranny
7. Inheritance
8. Love

The Elements of a Gothic Novel in “The Castle Of Otranto”

1. Setting in a castle: The story “The Castle of Otranto” takes place in and around lord Manfreds’ castle which is filled with secret passages.
   It states in the summary that it “tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle, and his family.” Assuming that he is the protagonist the setting would presumably take place near his homestead also by looking the title itself tells the reader that a castle will be involved.
   1. An atmosphere of mystery and suspense
      The story “The Castle of Otranto” created a sense of mystery and suspense when a gigantic helmet unsuspectingly falls from overhead killing Conrad, the lord of the castles only heir.
      This is when tension begins to build up within the story causing the next elements of a gothic novel to come into play.
   1. An ancient prophecy
      There’s an ancient prophecy within the story that goes ” The castle and the lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it”.
   1. Omens, Portents, visions
      After the lords son Conrad died a gruesome death, Manfred began to fear for the end of his families line and blamed his wife for providing him with an unsuited heir. Soon after he envisions that his sons fiancee could provide him with the son he needs to keep the continuation of his family’s wealth and name.
   1. High, even overwrought emotions

Manfred went to a church with the intentions of murdering Isabella, the woman who denies to marry him.
As he gets to the church he suspects that his own daughter is Isabella and stabs her. It is at this point that the Manfred shows sincere regret about his wrong doing.

1. Woman in distress
   Isabella was Conrads betrothed. Since his passing she was put in a situation where not only was she devestated of her lovers passing but, she would now be forced to marry the man she expected to once be her father in law.
2. Women threatened by a powerful, impulsive, tyrannical male
   Marrying Manfred absolutely disgusted her therefore she ran from the castle. She fleed to the church while fearing her own life hoping they could help her from being forced into a marrige she dissaproved of. After being promised protection she is still not entirely safe seeing as Manfred is out looking for her inhopes of murdering her.
3. The mystery of gloom and horror
   Characters trapped in a room
4. The vocabulary of the gothic

LANGUAGE AND STYLE

1. Use of the Omniscient Point of View: The novelist makes use of the omniscient point of view, which is also referred to as third person point of view, in presenting his story. This technique affords the reader the opportunity to know a lot about the characters in the story, especially their motives. It also helps the reader to form a balance opinion on these characters.
2. Archaism: Although not a deliberate linguistic strategy, it should be noted that the novel makes use of some words which, in today’s English, are considered as archaic. Some of these words and their rough equivalence in today’s  English are provided below:

Ye- you

Thou- you

Ere- before

Orison- prayer

Ay-yes

Hark-wait/watch

Nay-no

Art-are

• Romance and Realism: As a gothic fiction, the novel both the elements of romance and realism. The human characters and physical setting of the story illustrate some of the realistic aspects in the novel. On other hand, we also have the deployment of non-human characters like ghosts, apparitions, giants and so on, which are features of the romance. In short, we have mixture of the natural and supernatural elements in the novel.
• Comic Relief:  The story is characterized by a very tense atmosphere from the death of Conrad to the death of Matilda, both within a period of about forty-eight hours. Somewhere along the line, comic relief is employed. This is witnessed when Manfred attempt to get intelligence about a possible affair between Isabella and Theodore Bianca.
• Irony: There is the use of irony in the novel.  The most significance in the work is seen in the murder of Matilda. Matilda turns out to be the daughter of Manfred who murders her. There is also irony in the relation and interaction between Manfred and Theodore.

GENERAL EVALUATION/ REVISION QUESTIONS

1. Describe the Manfred as a main character in the work.
2. Discuss the use of symbols in the work.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT SECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions

1. ____ is the location of the action of the plot. A. Setting B. Narrative technique C. point of view D. Characterization
2. A ballad is essentially a ____ poem. A. descriptive B. dramatic C. pastoral D. narrative
3. The first four lines of Shakespearean sonnet rhyme A. abcd. B. abba. C. abab. D. cdcd.
4. A story in which characters or actions represent abstract ideas or moral qualities is A. an epic. B. a legend. C. an allegory. D. a satire.
5. The use of imagery in prose or verse A. appeals to the senses. B. develops the plot.

C. creates confusion. D. obscures meaning.

SECTION B

Discuss the theme of love and lust in the novel.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Read up the characters in Castle of Otranto in Exam Focus.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. Describe Matilda and Theodore as characters.
2. Discuss the theme of patriarchal dominance in the novel.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENTSECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions

1. A character that develops in the course of a novel or play is described as A. flat.

B. antagonist.C. round.D. protagonist.

• A dirge is poem sung A. to send a child to sleep. B. to make workers happy. C. at a birthday party. D. at a funeral.
• In drama, the ____________ creates humour. A. hero B. clown C. villain D. chorus
• ‘Let me not love thee if I love thee not’ illustrates A. metaphor. B. proverb. C. paradox. D. meiosis.
• _________ is a literary device used to express something unpleasant in a more acceptable way. A. Epilogue B. Epigram C. Euphemism D. Eulogy.

SECTION B

Discuss the setting of Castle of Otranto.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS

1. Examine the features of the plot.
2. Discuss the plot of the plot.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT SECTION A

INSTRUCTION: Answer all questions

1. A praise poem is (a) a dirge (b) an epic (c) an ode (d) a ballad
2. Lines of regular recurrence in a poem constitutes (a) a refrain (b) an alliteration (c) an assonance (d) a theme
3. A regular group of lines in poetry constitutes (a) Stanza (b) Verse (c) Rhythm (d) Metre
4. An individual who acts , appears or is referred to as playing a part in a literary work is a (A) villain (b) character (c) clown (d)narrator
5. A bitter remark intended to wound the feeling is (a) satire (b) an allusion (c) a sarcasm (d) an ambiguity

SECTION B

Describe the main character in the work.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Read up the themesCastle of Otranto in Exam Focus.