Horace Walpole - The Castle of Otranto

The Castle of Otranto

The biggest challenge I experienced while reading this book, was to understand the language. At first I hated the “old English style” since it took me a great number of pages and time to get used to it. Looking back at that problem, I am glad it was written in that way since it goes great along with the Gothic style; even the way of writing was putting me in the mystic surrounding.

The Castle of Otranto ends up being a sad story, but the surprise element of how it all disentangles at the end completely reasons why it had to be a sad ending story. As predicted and according to the Gothic style there is a hero, Theodore  with all the characteristics of a Gothic hero, discovered to be a noble blood by the end of the novel: “…the steady and composed manner in which he answered, and the gallantry of his last reply….interested her [Matilda]in his favor.”
”His person was noble, handsome, and commanding…”(The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole,p.49)

“Behold in Theodore, the true heir of Alfonso!”(The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole, p.100)

What intrigued me was the symbolism of number three. It appears in the whole novel and the whole plot is spinning around three days. That element is taken from the Bible, whereas number three represents the “holy number”, (holy Trinity, Jesus resurrected on a third day, etc. http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/3.html). However, even though the plot ends on the third day, the author gives us a short insight in the future of his characters presenting their life in couple of finishing sentences.

At first I did not appreciate how Horace Walpole involves a lot of dragging conversations that looked more of a page filling material. Later on I came to realize the dragging conversations created the tension of the expectancy. Even his characters shared with the reader the anxiety to know what happened: 

“Grant me patience! said Manfred, will this wench never come to the point?” (The Castle of Otranto, Horace Walpole, p.92)

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