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moondust_96 's review for:
The Castle of Otranto
by Horace Walpole
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto is such a fundamental historical text that birthed the gothic genre, anyone who’s enjoyed novels like Dracula, Frankenstein or Wuthering Heights needs to add this book to their reading list (also the Monk by Matthew Lewis and The Vampyre by John Polidori) as they were so influential to this genre. I find it so funny that it was first published pseudonymously, as he was worried about the critical response he would receive, when the novel was a massive success!! - Walpole should have believed in himself! Manfred the King’s son is due to marry the beautiful and pure Isabella, but on the day of his wedding he dies in a tragic accident. Concerned that this is the beginning of an ancient prophecy "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 tried to rape Isabella and force her to marry him instead to guarantee his bloodline (his wife had only given him one sickly son - so she’s obviously useless.) After a terrifying chase through the haunted castle, Isabella escapes and hides in the church thanks to the help of Theodore (who Manfred is blaming his son’s tragic death on). Turns out, the friar Jerome is Theo’s dad! They have a wholesome reunion until Isabella’s dad Fredric turns up, turns out they have a stronger claim to the castle and he wants to know where she is. Manfred’s daughter Matilda and Theo go to find her, and he accidentally fights her dad, thinking she’s under attack. They try to sort things out, Frederic wants to marry Matilda and agrees in turn to Manfred marrying Isabelle, until a haunted skeleton warns him not to. Manfred mistakes Isabelle for his own daughter, and decides to stab her (so Shakespeare). Theodore turns out to be the true Prince of Otranto, and a haunting apparition reveals himself again to declare the prophecy fulfilled. Manfred and his poor wife Hippolita decided to devote their lives to religion, and Theodore ends up marrying Isabella, because they understand another’s pain.
I loved the comparison between male and female gothic fear techniques displayed here, and the gendered difference between fear and terror. I did get a bit lost half way through as I kept having to put down the novel, but this wouldn’t have happened if I had been able to commit myself to some uninterrupted reading time. Honestly it is a master piece and such an important text, definitely worth the short read!!
I loved the comparison between male and female gothic fear techniques displayed here, and the gendered difference between fear and terror. I did get a bit lost half way through as I kept having to put down the novel, but this wouldn’t have happened if I had been able to commit myself to some uninterrupted reading time. Honestly it is a master piece and such an important text, definitely worth the short read!!