Castle of Otranto, The, a Gothic Story

The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature | 2003 | 700+ words | Copyright

Castle of Otranto, The, a Gothic Story, by Horace Walpole, published 1765.

The first of the true ‘Gothic’ novels, this was an immediate success, and has run to over 150 editions since its original publication. Walpole wrote of its composition, ‘I gave rein to my imagination; visions and passions choked me.’ The narrative is filled with ghosts, vaults, giants, living statues, mysterious appearances and violent emotions of terror, anguish, and love. Walpole's fear of ridicule led him to publish the first edition anonymously, with an elaborate preface describing the author as ‘Onuphrio Muralto’, an Italian canon of Otranto, writing somewhere between the 11th and 13th cents.

The principal characters are Manfred, the tyrant of Otranto; his devoted wife Hippolita; his son Conrad (who is crushed to death by a black-plumed helmet); and Isabella, first betrothed to Conrad, then wooed by Manfred, and finally won by Theodore, a mysterious stranger who is eventually revealed as the rightful Prince of Vicenza.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Castle of Otranto, The, a Gothic Story." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 30 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Castle of Otranto, The, a Gothic Story." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 30, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-CastleofOtrantoThGthcStry.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Castle of Otranto, The, a Gothic Story." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 30, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-CastleofOtrantoThGthcStry.html

Learn more about citation styles