The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto Synopsis

"He was persuaded he could know no happiness but in the society of one with whom he could for ever indulge the melancholy that had taken possession of his soul."

The Castle of Otranto is a macabre tale that revolves around a haunted castle. Manfred, the lord of Otranto, finds his son, Conrad, smashed by an enormous helmet on his wedding day. It is soon revealed that according to an ancient ambiguous prophecy Conrad's death might have been an ominous event that signifies the end of his lordship. To rectify the situation Manfred decides to marry his son's bride despite having a wife. Will Manfred plot succeed? Is he indeed a true prince of the castle?

Walpole got the inspiration for this bizarre story from a dream. He gave his novel a very authentic embellishment using the plan of Strawberry Hill castle for the set in the novel. He also went as far as to make a believable spoof in the Preface to the first edition that the novel was recovered and translated from an old Italian manuscript. Not as culturally present and talked about a title as other Gothic classics like Frankenstein or Dracula, Otranto became the cornerstone text of the genre. The echoings of Otranto are even noticeable in more contemporary gothic tales such as Toni Morrison's Beloved where a building is more than a location but an entire mysterious entity in itself.

The Legend Classics series:
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Importance of Being Earnest
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
The Metamorphosis
The Railway Children
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Frankenstein
Wuthering Heights
Three Men in a Boat
The Time Machine
Little Women
Anne of Green Gables
The Jungle Book
The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories
Dracula
A Study in Scarlet
Leaves of Grass
The Secret Garden
The War of the Worlds
A Christmas Carol
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Heart of Darkness
The Scarlet Letter
This Side of Paradise
Oliver Twist
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Treasure Island
The Turn of the Screw
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Emma
The Trial
A Selection of Short Stories by Edgar Allan Poe
Grimm Fairy Tales
The Awakening
Mrs Dalloway
Gulliver's Travels
The Castle of Otranto
Silas Marner
Hard Times

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