It’s about time I wrote a post solely centered on the very first Gothic novel. I’m aiming for this to be the first in a new series of posts, much like my Gothic Tropes series. In this new Classics series, I will be discussing classic works from the original Gothic literary movement in greater depth, providing plot summaries, context, and a discussion of the work’s influence on the genre. And where better to start than at the very beginning? The Castle of Otranto was the very first novel to adopt the mantle of “Gothic.” Published in 1764 by English author and art historian Horace Walpole, the novel initially tried to pass itself off as a newly discovered Italian manuscript of far older origin. With its second edition, the story was acknowledged to be a modern creation and was subtitled “A Gothic Story,” thus giving a name to the genre it would soon inspire.
The Castle of Otranto tells the story of young Isabella, a noblewoman engaged to marry Conrad, the son of Manfred, lord of the Castle of Otranto. However, on the day of the wedding, a giant helmet falls out of the sky and crushes Conrad. With his son no longer able to marry Isabella and continue the family line, Manfred decides that he wants to put his wife aside and marry the young woman himself. When he makes his intentions known to Isabella, she flees through the castle, escapes out a secret passage, and takes refuge in a monastery. Meanwhile, Manfred’s daughter Matilda falls in love with a peasant boy named Theodore who is imprisoned in the castle after daring to suggest that the giant helmet belongs to the ancient prince Alfonso the Good and is thus an ominous omen to Manfred’s reign. Isabella’s long-lost father Frederic arrives at the castle and questions Manfred’s legitimacy to the throne. However, when Frederic falls in love with Matilda, Manfred convinces him to enter a scheme to marry each other’s daughters. Things fall apart when Manfred mistakenly believes that Isabella is having a tryst with Theodore in the church and kills her in a jealous rage, only to discover that the girl he killed was actually his daughter, Matilda. Recognizing his sin, Manfred gives up his claim to the throne and his intentions to marry Isabella. Theodore is revealed to be a secret descendant of Alphonso the Good and the true heir to the castle. He becomes king and marries Isabella after they bond over their shared grief for Matilda.
As the very first Gothic novel, there’s almost too much to say about The Castle of Otranto‘s influence on the genre. It served as the model for many later works and formed the basis of the genre’s identifying characteristics. One way it did this was through establishing the prototypical Gothic plot, settings, and characters. The image of an innocent young woman fleeing through secret passageways to get away from a tyrannical and lustful man is one that would be replicated in many other works, or else deliberately departed from. Isabella inspired other female victim-protagonists such as Emily St. Aubert in The Mysteries of Udolpho and Antonia in The Monk. Manfred resembles other villains, such as Montoni and Ambrosio of those respective tales. And of course castles, monasteries, and other medieval structures of Gothic architecture became the iconic settings of the genre, giving us everything from Udolpho to Castle Dracula.
Apart from establishing the basic backbone of the genre, The Castle of Otranto also introduced its core themes and tropes. One theme that is present throughout all Gothic literature is the idea of the past haunting the present. Otranto invokes this theme through a common trope: prophecy. From the very first page of the story, we are introduced to a legend, which states; “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.” This prophecy is set into motion with the appearance of the giant helmet, a very literal example of the real owner—Alfonso the Good—having grown “too large.” Another prophecy is later revealed to have been engraved on the giant sword, which Frederic finds while fighting abroad during the Crusades. A different sense in which the past often haunts the present in Gothic novels is through long-ago wrongs finally being made right. At the end of The Castle of Otranto, Manfred—whose family had usurped the throne generations ago—steps aside and allows Alfonso’s heir to rule.
One last key aspect of the Gothic that The Castle of Otranto exemplifies is the inclusion of supernatural elements. In later works, this aspect will be explored in many different ways, from the supernatural explained (in which seemingly supernatural events turn out later to have rational explanations, as often happens in the works of Ann Radcliffe) to the ambiguous supernatural (as in Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, where it’s unclear whether ghosts truly exists or the apparitions are figments of the narrator’s imagination). But in The Castle of Otranto, the supernatural is bold and unapologetically real. The most obvious example is the long-dead prince’s armor showing up in giant proportion throughout the story, most memorably resulting in Conrad’s death. Another notable scene is when a portrait of Manfred’s grandfather comes to life and leaves its frame in an effort to deter him from pursuing Isabella (a scene that very well may have influenced J.K. Rowling’s conception of a castle filled with living portraits). Finally, there is a scene toward the end when Frederic enters the chapel intending to convince Hippolita to give in to his and Manfred’s scheme. Instead of Hippolita, however, he finds a gruesome skeleton who scolds him for pursuing carnal pleasure rather than his mission to restore the proper heir to the throne. These blatant and inexplicable examples of the supernatural were met with confusion and disdain from much of Horace Walpole’s contemporary audience, but they helped to lay the groundwork for a core feature of the ensuing genre.
If you want to learn more about The Castle of Otranto, you can check out these other posts where I’ve talked about it: The History of Horror | Gothic Tropes: Absent Mothers | The Roots of Gothic Literature. You can also buy a copy for yourself online from this Bookshop.org affiliate link.
Stay tuned for future posts in this Classics series, and feel free to comment with suggestions of which work you would like me to cover next!
Excellent background for us Gothic writers. Thanks for the support.