![]() ![]() The characters in "The Castle of Otranto" are more like "types" than living human beings. ![]() Though imperfect in literary terms, "The Castle of Otranto" is well worth reading if for no other reason than to discover where many of the commonplaces in Gothic literature come from. Horace Walpole, who seems to have been an interesting man, must have had enormous fun writing this tone-setting book, which has had plenty of children in literature. The really attractive, entertaining and literarily important thing is the creation of stereotypes: the foul weather an ancient, dark castle full of closed halls, secret passages, corridors and doors frightening apparitions wicked tyrants desperate for fertile women virtuous and pure ladies heroic lads dark and cold forests where ghosts appear, etc. But the plot, though wild and entertaining, is the least important thing about this 1764's novel. This monstrous mishap is only the beginning of this funnily creepy tale. ![]() But there is an old prophecy which warns against such moves, and on the day of the wedding a gigantic iron helmet falls over Manfred's son's head. In "The Castle of Otranto," Manfred is a usurper who wants to consolidate his reign over Otranto by marrying his weak son off to Isabella, heir to a more legitimate prince. ![]()
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