The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

3. The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

3.1 The author
Walpole Horace, 4th earl of Orford, original name Horatio Walpole (b. Sept. 24, 1717, London - d. March 2, 1797), English writer, connoisseur, and collector who famous in his medieval horror tale The Castle of Otranto, which initiated the Gothic romances.  He is remembered today as perhaps the most assiduous letter writer in English language.
The youngest son of the prime minister Sir Robert Walpole, he was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.  In 1739 he embarked with his Eton schoolmate, the poet Thomas Gray (later to write An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard), on a grand tour of France and Italy.  On his return to England in 1741 Walpole entered Parliament, where his career was undistinguished, although he attended debates regularly until 1768.  In 1791 he inherited the peerage from a nephew, a grandson of Robert Walpole.  He remained unmarried, and on his death the earldom became extinct.
The most absorbing interests of his life were his relations with friends and a small villa that he acquired at Twickenham in 1747 and transformed into a pseudo-Gothic showplace known as Strawberry Hill.  Over the years he added cloisters, turrets and battlements, filled the interior with pictures and curiousities, and amassed a valuable library.  He established a private press on grounds, where he printed his own works and those of his friends, notably Gray's Odes of 1757.  Strawberry Hill was the stimulus for the Gothic revival in English domestic architecture.
Walpole's literary output was extremely various.  The Castle of Otranto (1765) succeeded in restoring the element of free invention to contemporary fiction.  In it he furnished the machinery for a genre of fiction wherein the wildest fancies found refuge.  He also wrote The Mysterious Mother (1768), a tragedy with the theme of incest; amateur historical speculations such as Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard the Third (1768); and a genuine contribution to art history, Anecdotes of Painting in England, 4 vol. (1762-71).
His most important works were intended for posthumous publication.  His private correspondence of more than 3,000 letters constituted a survey of the history, manners, and taste of his age.  Walpole also left Memories (first published 1822-59) of the reignes of George II and III, a record of political events of his time.

3.2 The plot of the novel
The plot of the first chapter is the following.  Manfred is eager to marry his only son, Conrad, to Marquis of Vicenza's daughter, Isabella.  At the last moment the marriage is broken up by the interference of the supernatural power.  Conrad is killed with an enormous helmet fallen on him from nowhere.
Then Manfred offers Isabella, instead of his departed son, himself, a man in the prime of his age who knows how to value her beauties.  Isabella refuses and runs with a blinking candle along dark passages.  The supernatural interferes again by means of a revived picture in order to assist Isabella to flee successfully from Manfred.  But Manfred proves himself to be a brave and decisive man, following the spectre from the picture.
The second chapter begins with the appearance of a young sad man, Theodore, who seems to be some prince in disguise, a man of gentle birth, judging from his noble phrases, moreover he is the exact resemblance of Alfonso the Good.
Manfred accuses Theodore of stealing the helmet and killing the prince with it.  Manfred orders for Theodore's head to be cut off.  But the execution is interrupted.  Theodore turns out to be a long-lost child of Friar Jerome, who in his turn proves to be the Count of Falconara.  Manfred forgets his anger in his astonishment, but to be on the safe side he puts Theodore to the top of the black tower.
The third chapter begins with the arrival of Knight of The Gigantic Sable, Frederic, Marquis of Vicenza, the father of Isabella.  The demands of the Marquis are, the first - Isabella, the second - the resignation of the principality of Otranto.  The offers of Manfred are hospitality, refreshments, accommodation and full satisfaction according to the law of arms.
Theodore is released and armed with the help of Matilda, the daughter of Manfred.  The hearts of the both sank so deeply of a passion, which they both then tasted for the first time.
In order to achieve his object, Manfred uses Frederic's passion towards Matilda, he gives his consent to their marriage but he also attaches a condition that it is to be a double marriage, Frederic marries Matilda and Manfred marries Isabella.

Manfred is informed about a private conference between two people at the tomb of Alfonso.  He thinks that they are Theodore and Isabella, his emotions get out of control, he does a thing, that can't be accounted for - he slays the woman.
The end of the novel is hardly worth reading.  We discover that Manfred actually killed his daughter taking her for Isabella.  The both, Manfred and Theodore, were so upset that they tried to commit a suicide.  We also learn that Theodore is a lawful owner of Otranto, as he is a grandson of Alfonso.  This news was told by a monstrous vision, which destroyed the castle.  Manfred had no energy to contradict, he resigned.  Theodore and Isabella got married, and they were to live happily ever after.

3.3 The main themes of the novel

3.3.1 Malediction
The chief theme of the novel is that of malediction.
... they attributed this hasty wedding to the prince's dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced, 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.  It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; ...1
The plot is based on an unchristian  doctrine that "the sins of fathers are visited on their children to the 3rd and 4th generation."2  Manfred had to be responsible for the crimes of his grandfather.  On the other hand, his son could have taken the charge off him.
This is one hidden reason why Manfred is "mad for sons" - not only will a son secure the domain but a son will receive the promised doom.  The son must die so that the old man may live.3

3.3.2 The theme of revolt and chase
Actually, there are two plot lines of chase.  Isabella flees from Manfred.  It would be quite understandable nowadays, that a girl should not be forced by her parents to get married, but in the 12th, 16th, or 18th centuries such a disobedience was a kind of revolt.  The second plot line of escape is Manfred's attempt to avoid the retribution, this is an uprising against fate. 
The idea is not to win the battle with fate, that seems to be impossible, but just not to be inactive under its blows.  Manfred is a courageous man and so he wins some sympathy of the reader.
As he [Manfred] would have entered the chamber, the door was clapped to with violence by an invisible hand.  The prince, collecting courage from this delay, would have forcibly burst open the door with his foot, but found that it resisted his utmost efforts.
`Since hell will not satisfy my curiosity,' said Manfred, `I will use the human means in my power for preserving my race;...'4

3.4 Central characters

I've paid my dues -
Time after time -
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
/Freddie Mercury/

3.4.1 Manfred
Being a real protagonist of the novel, it is first of all the character of Manfred that illustrates Walpole's attempt to blend the two "kind of romances, the ancient and the modern."
The first kind originated in the tragedy of classical antiquity.  Greek tragedy was heroic.  It didn't thrill so much by an unexpected turn of events as by the logic of these events.  The message of the whole lay not in the unavoidable and fateful denouement but in the hero's actions.  What was happening was important, but how it was happening was just more important.  The hero acted within the boundaries of the inevitable.  He was powerless to prevent the imminent, but he acted all the same, and his actions were the main cause of the development of the plot.  He was free in his action, even if he realised that his death was inevitable. 
The second pattern for Walpole's novel is the mediaeval tragedy, with the motive of martyrdom as its main theme.  The tragedy in the Middle Ages appealed to all who were unhappy in their passion: be consoled for unfaithfulness and injustice, in your disappointments and misfortunes, in all sufferings; be consoled, for others suffer more and are tormented more cruelly even though they deserve it even less than you do.  So is the will of God.  Mediaeval man explained the world through the divine.  In the Middle Ages the miraculous, the supernatural and the inevitable were replaced by arbitrary rule of Providence.
The both traditions can be traced in Manfred's actions. At first he courageously kept on challenging the prophecy, but suddenly (in chapter v) he conformed to it.
Although, nothing seemed to threaten him, because Frederic's claim to Otranto was a groundless one, and the only foundation to it was wanderings of a hermit in agony.  Although, he was in a position to defend his estate, to persuade Hippolita to go to convent, to execute Theodore, to marry Isabella or any other lady, and to have many children.  But he ceased fighting.

3.4.2 Theodore
In the middle 19th century the main themes of prose and poetry were the misunderstood artist and the unhappy lover.  But Walpole had made his contribution to it by creation of image of Theodore.
`Suppose, tomorrow morning, he was to send for you to the great council chamber, and there you should find at his elbow a lovely young prince, with large black eyes, a smooth with forehead, and many curling locks like jet.' [Bianca's words]5
Although he is also against the whole world, but his resistance is in the form of unacceptance.  He doesn't call for a rebellion, but when he is going to be executed he says a kind of his motto, this is a bad world, nor have I had cause to leave it with regret.
He is of gentle birth, but he is in disguise, and has an air of mystery all over him.  Besides, his behaviour is governed rather by natural feelings and emotions, than by reason or profit.
Professor Raleigh says that "the man that Lord Byron tried to be was the invention of Mrs. Radcliffe," but surely we must go back a little further, and give Walpole credit for the first sketch of the dark, handsome, melancholy, passionate, mysterious hero of the Byronic poems.6

3.5 Other characters
The second row of characters comprises female characters in the novel, Isabella and Matilda.  They begin the line of sentimental characters, including the Gothic heroine.
Just as the Gothic heroine was the idealised image of beauty, so was she the image of sublimated sexual fantasy.7
Characters of the third row are unimportant for the plot.  But they are sometimes a bit satirical.
For example, Frederic is a travesty of a knight, he lacks character, has no will, he fails to stand for his principles.
Frederic is merely an instrument in the hands of destiny.  He was told by a dream to go to a wood near Joppa, where he was told by a hermit to dig under the 7th tree, where he discovered an enormous sable with the following lines written on it -
Where're a casque that suits this sword is found,
With perils is thy daughter compass'd round.
Friar Jerome was so frightened of the malediction over Manfred's house, that he didn't allow Theodore to cherish Matilda, in spite of the fact that it was Matilda who had rescued him from the tower, but he was also so frightened of Manfred himself that he did whatever he was told as long as Manfred could check it.
He was himself a supporter of Calvinistic idea and he also tried to make Manfred give in.
`If it is the will of the Most High that Manfred's name must perish, resign yourself, my lord, to its decrees: and thus deserve a crown that can never pass away' [Friar Jerome's words]8
Hippolita had no will of her own but only that of her Lord and the Church.  "Heaven, our fathers, and our husbands must decide for us," was her motto.  She obeyed Manfred in everything.  Moreover, it was her idea to avert the destruction by the union of the rival houses, and to tender Matilda to Frederic for this purpose.
All the servants belong to the fourth row.  They are just funny.

3.6 Language and style of the novel
The novel The Castle of Otranto testifies that Horace Walpole was very good at showing not only horror but all other human emotions as well.  By creating the novel rich in puzzles and surprises, sorrow and jokes, hopes and disappointment, temptation and aversion, naivety and intrigues, betrayal and honour, Walpole challenges the cult of reason in the fiction of Enlightenment, and refreshes the traditions of Italian Renaissance, foreshadows Romanticism.
Pity and terror have an exciting influence on reader's imagination, while the absurdity of the contents paralyses his reason.  The reader's feelings wind up till they become for a moment identified with those of a rude age.  The reader throws away the weight of his/her education.  The cumulative effect of these two things is that the moral conventions die away.  Good and evil become relative, moreover the reader is tempted to sympathise with evil.
In order to show how scared the heroine may be Gothic novel introduced the technique of description in fiction.  For example, Walpole outlines the flight of Isabella as follows:
... she seized a lamp that burned at the foot of the staircase, and hurried towards the secret passage.
The lower part of the castle was hollowed into several intricate cloisters; and it was not easy for one under so much anxiety to find the door that opened into the cavern. An awful silence reigned throughout those subterraneous regions, except now and then some blasts of wind that shook the doors she had passed, and which, grating on the rusty hinges, were re-echoed through that long labyrinth of darkness.  Every murmur struck her with new terror; yet more she  dreaded to hear the wrathful voice of Manfred urging his domestics to pursue her.9
The extract contains the description of the castle (the secret passage, intricate cloisters, the cavern, subterraneous regions), and the description how the heroine percepts the setting through sight and hearing (darkness, silence, to grate, to reecho, murmur).  The author uses epithets (awful, wrathful), and a metaphor (a long labyrinth of darkness).  To improve the terrifying effect, the extract ends with the emphatic construction (... yet more ...).
Walpole brightly expresses the state of mind of his heroine:
Alone in so dismal a place, her mind imprinted with all the terrible events of the day, hopeless of escaping, expecting every moment the arrival of Manfred, and far from tranquil on knowing she was within reach of somebody, she knew not whom, who for some cause seemed concealed thereabouts; all these thoughts crowded on her distracted mind, and she was ready to sink under her apprehensions.10 (my underlines)

3.6.1 The role of the horrible in the novel
The action in the novel is accompanied by the corresponding sensation of intensifying supernatural awe, but the horrible is not a self-important idea of Walpole's novel, and it actually serves two purposes.
The first is to wind up the emotions of the reader at the expense of his common sense.  Thus, the death of Conrad (chapter i) is a nominally tragic episode.  But since we haven't known Conrad at all, we are ready to sympathise with Manfred in his sorrow, rather than to feel sorry for Conrad himself.
The second aim is to create the emotional background of the whole novel.  For example, the fearful flight of Isabella (chapter i) emphasises the misfortune that faces Manfred.  As Isabella tries to escape Manfred, so tries Manfred to escape the terrible prophecy threatening his line.

3.6.2 The role of the mysterious in the novel
The main aim of the mysterious in the novel is exactly the same as that of the horrible, to help the reader get rid of the domination of the common sense.  The absurdity of the events makes the reader drop the rules of reason, and give in to his imagination and feelings.
The novel begins with the fall of a gigantic helmet, but neither the reader nor the author himself knows the origin of the helmet and the reason of its fall, moreover nor anybody is interested in them.
Sharing the opinion of Walter Scott, we should believe the novel to be a true story, otherwise it would hardly be worth reading, because the whole process of communication, based on a convention between the author and the reader would be completely broken.

3.6.3 The role of the comical in the novel
It is needless to say that the main aim of the comical in the novel is similar.  But it must be said that the role of the comical in Walpole's novel is nearly as big as that of the horrible.  The tragic and comic scenes take turns during the whole action.
The novel is full of entertainment, amazement, funny episodes, jokes and laughter.  The author keeps on sneering at everything.  But his jokes are not insulting, as they could seem.  They are typical of Walpole's way of looking at things.
The base of jokes is that we are forgetting that every thing has two sides, and the jokes, turning everything upside-down, remind us of this fact.  Walpole's jokes contribute much to the profound exposition of the scenes described in the novel.
We will give an example of a humorous scene.  The third chapter begins with the arrival of Knight of The Gigantic Sable, Frederic, Marquis of Vicenza.  The humorous effect is based on exaggeration.
In a few minutes the cavalcade arrived; first came two harbingers with wands, next a herald, followed by two pages and two trumpets, then a hundred foot-guards, attended by as many horses, after them fifty footmen, then a led horse, two heralds on each side of a gentleman on horseback, two more pages, the knight's confessor, fifty more footmen, two Knights, comrades to the  principal knight, the squires of the two knights, the knight's own squire, a hundred gentlemen bearing an enormous sword, the Knight himself, fifty foot-guards with drums and trumpets closed the procession.11
Another example of irony is Manfred's ingenious speech to his unwelcome guests (chapter iii).  The guests are very silent, but Manfred, on the contrary, is very verbose, as he has to speak for the both parties participating.  He puts questions in narrative and answers them himself, juggling with facts and cheating.
`You must know - your lord knows, that I enjoy the principality of Otranto from my father Don Manuel, as he received it from his father Don Ricardo.  Alfonso, their predecessor, dying childless in the Holy Land, bequeathed his estates to my grand-father Don Ricardo, in consideration of his faithful services.'12
`Sirs, he held this estates; he held it by his good sword, and by the favour of St. Nicholas - so did my father; and so, sirs, will I, come what come will.'
`I am too warm, but suppose yourselves in my situation; as ye are stout knights, would it not move your choler, to have your own, and the honour of your ancestors, called in question?'13
Finally, most of the dialogues of the novel could be a credit to any comedy.  For example, the brilliant dialogue between Matilda and Bianca (chapter ii) is very ironic of love.
There is a common opinion, that Germany is a birth-place of Romantic irony.  This opinion appeared due to the intense development of Romanticism in Germany in the 19th century, and subsequently, did the block of literary critics dealing with the German Romantic fiction.  Nevertheless, Walpole's novel possesses all the necessary signs of Romantic irony.

3.7 Specifics
We are aware that the whole World of the story has been created by the imagination of the author, and we can't reproach the author for showing incidents not exactly in the way they took place.  The novel is only a reconstruction of the chivalrous epoch.  The author has really done his best, but tempora mutantur, et nos mutantur in illis.
According to historians, the chivalrous epoch was indeed an extremely nasty and rude one.  Anyway, it is no fault of Walpole.

3.8 General comments
The Castle of Otranto is considered to be a novel that set a new trend in fiction.  Walpole himself was well aware of its novelty and exceptionality, this fact can be proved by his own announcement that he composed it in defiance of rules, of critics, and of philosophers.  He strongly disapproved the fiction of his time, the dominant genre of which was didactical novel, with the cult of cold common sense.
But he never intended to initiate a new movement in fiction and least of all to initiate Gothic novel.  He meant to revive the tradition of Shakespeare and Italian chivalry romances of the 16th century.  He wanted to prevent imagination from losing its position in fiction, and so he strove to create a novel, aiming at amusing the reader and stimulating his imagination, rather then frightening him.  The fearful and the horrible were for him only a device to accomplish that aim.