![]() ![]() With its compelling blend of sinister portents, tempestuous passions and ghostly visitations, it spawned an entire literary tradition and influenced such writers as Ann Radcliffe and Bram Stoker. First published pseudonymously in 1764, purporting to be an ancient Italian text from the time of the crusades, The Castle of Otranto is a founding work of Gothic fiction. Its roots are the 'romance,' which was a tale of heroism (not love as it is now known), and the Romantic movement in literature, which focused on emotion and the sublimity of nature. But a series of terrifying supernatural omens soon threaten this unlawful union, as the curse placed on Manfred's ancestor, who usurped the lawful Prince of Otranto, begins to unfold. The Castle of Otranto is considered the first 'gothic' novel, a genre that loves melodrama, mystery, hidden places, ancestral curses, and fainting heroines. His calculating father Manfred fears that his dynasty will now come to an end and determines to marry his son's bride himself - despite the fact he is already married. Manfred, struck with sorrow and remorse, reveals that his grandfather had usurped the throne from Alfonso, and Jerome reveals that Theodore is Alfonso’s grandson. On the day of his wedding, Conrad, heir to the house of Otranto, is killed in mysterious circumstances. When Horace Walpole published The Castle of Otranto in 1764, he defined the Gothic genre as it has come down to us today, as well as influencing the. Parts of the castle walls fall down behind Manfred, and a great image of Alfonso appears, declaring that Theodore is his true heir. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |