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The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Feb. 4th, 2010 07:07 pmSurprisingly (to me, at least) this book, which is attributed with creating the Gothic genre, is actually a comedy.
Princess Isabella is about to marry Conrad, the son of Manfred, the lord of Otranto, when Conrad is killed by a giant helmet that falls on him. Manfred, who is obsessed with continuing his line, decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella. Isabella sensibly says “Oh blippety blip no!” and runs away. There’s running through secret passages, hiding in monasteries, hiding in caves, secret babies, secret identities, mistaken identity, and murder. Not to mention much “Woes!” and languishing. I don’t think I spotted a kitchen sink, though.
The introduction to my edition (Dover Thrift) says that Walpole wrote this largely as a joke, and I think that shows in the writing. It’s easy, though, to see how this humorous piece ended up converted into sometimes-dark, often-romantic fiction whose audience was primarily women. While Manfred is the central character, Walpole’s attitude regarding his treatment of the women in his life is much closer to our modern opinions than we tend to associate with 18th century men, and much of the plot is driven by Isabella’s attempting to escape his control.
Princess Isabella is about to marry Conrad, the son of Manfred, the lord of Otranto, when Conrad is killed by a giant helmet that falls on him. Manfred, who is obsessed with continuing his line, decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella. Isabella sensibly says “Oh blippety blip no!” and runs away. There’s running through secret passages, hiding in monasteries, hiding in caves, secret babies, secret identities, mistaken identity, and murder. Not to mention much “Woes!” and languishing. I don’t think I spotted a kitchen sink, though.
The introduction to my edition (Dover Thrift) says that Walpole wrote this largely as a joke, and I think that shows in the writing. It’s easy, though, to see how this humorous piece ended up converted into sometimes-dark, often-romantic fiction whose audience was primarily women. While Manfred is the central character, Walpole’s attitude regarding his treatment of the women in his life is much closer to our modern opinions than we tend to associate with 18th century men, and much of the plot is driven by Isabella’s attempting to escape his control.
