The Castle of Otranto

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**The Castle of Otranto**
Author	Horace Walpole
Cover Artist	Henry Fuseli
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Gothic Novel
Publisher	Penguin Classics
Released	1764, 2001
Media Type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	101 pp (paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-14-043767-3 (paperback edition)

The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally held to be the first gothic novel, initiating a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th century and early 19th century. Thus, Castle, and Walpole by extension is arguably the forerunner to such authors as Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Daphne du Maurier, and Stephen King.

The initial 1764 edition was titled in full The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto. This first edition purported to be a translation based on a manuscript printed at Naples in 1529 and recently rediscovered in the library of "an ancient Catholic family in the north of England." The Italian manuscript's story, it was claimed, derived from a story still older, dating back perhaps as far as the Crusades. This Italian manuscript, along with alleged author "Onuphrio Muralto," were Walpole's fictional creations, and "William Marshal" his pseudonym.

In the second and subsequent editions, Walpole acknowledges authorship of his work, writing: "The favorable manner in which this little piece has been received by the public, calls upon the author to explain the grounds on which he composed it." There was some debate at the time about the function of literature, that is, whether or not works of fiction should be representative of life, or more purely imaginative (i.e. natural vs. romantic). The first edition was well received by some reviewers who understood the novel as belonging to medieval fiction, "between 1095, the era of the first crusade, and 1243, the date of the last," as the first preface states; and some referred to Walpole as an "ingenious translator." Following Walpole's admition of authorship, however, many critics were loath to lavish much praise on the work and dismissed it as absurd, fluffy, romantic fiction.

1 Plot introduction
2 Plot summary
3 Characters in "The Castle of Otranto"
4 External links

[edit] Plot introduction

Walpole's second preface describes the novel: "It was an attempt to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern. In the former all was imagination and improbability: in the latter, nature is always intended to be, and sometimes has been, copied with success... The author of the following pages thought it possible to reconcile the two kinds."

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The plot of The Castle of Otranto begins full tilt as Conrad, son of Manfred of the house of Otranto, is crushed by a giant helmet on his wedding day, also his birthday. Because of the marriage's political connections, Manfred decides to divorce his wife, Hippolita, and marry Conrad's betrothed, Isabella. Amid speculations about an "ancient prophecy" claiming "That the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it," Manfred's second union is disrupted by a series of supernatural events involving many oversized limbs, ghosts, mysterious blood, and a true prince.