The Castle of Otranto Essay Questions

How was Walpole's novel connected to the actual Goths and their culture?

Walpole’s novel is the first to initiate a Gothic literary revival, but what exactly was it reviving? The Goths were members of a Germanic tribe who sacked Rome and were known for their destructive tendencies. During the Renaissance, elements of the Gothic were excoriated; by the late 16th century, though, new historical findings hinted that the Goths were more sophisticated than previously allowed. They began to be seen as iconoclasts, as fighters against tyranny, as upholders of individualism and liberty. Gothic architecture was no longer eschewed, and ruins, particularly those left by the Protestants routing out vestiges of Catholicism, gained a new allure. The Germanic peoples who had conquered England, then, were violent but progressive, Protestant, and passionate. Walpole infuses his novel with this restlessness and intensity and also plays with ideas of how history and reputation are constructed.

What does the novel suggest about antiquarianism?

Antiquarianism, particularly the rescuing of English documents, was in vogue during the 18th century. Walpole himself was an antiquarian and sought to bring elements of that practice into his work. Specifically, in his first preface and first edition to the novel he fashions himself as William Marshal, a gentleman and antiquarian who putatively finds the manuscript of Otranto. He then translates it and offers it to readers with his limited commentary. He uses familiar practices like material evidence, historical context, and empiricist rhetoric; his intention is to make himself seem credible. Over the course of the preface, though, as critic Crystal Lake notes, he becomes more unreliable. He conflates fact and fiction and exploits the manuscript for political purposes. Walpole’s creation of Marshal allows him to critique this practice, for he was notably uneasy about the use of medieval manuscripts for political purposes. Lake writes that Walpole suggests “If antiquaries and politicians would make manuscripts into propagandistic fictions of the absolutist state, then Walpole’s Gothic novel would thwart such political use value of manuscripts by conditioning readers to read medieval source material for what he felt it had become—fiction.”

How is Walpole's novel an important psychological text?

For all of the incredible supernatural happenings in the novel, the story offers a lot of insight in terms of psychology. It does not allow any of the characters to get away with their violent deeds and sinful pasts; as critic Jonathan Dent writes, “Otranto marks a return of the repressed.” It utilizes dreams and visions to illuminate the violence behind the Gothic allure. As critic Nick Groom notes, “far from being an antiquarian knot of historical, political, social, and cultural theories, [the story] could instead be a metaphor for the less tangible anxieties and traumas of the human condition.” No wonder, then, that the novel has been analyzed using the work of Freud and Jung.

Where can readers find evidence of Walpole's debt to Shakespeare?

The succinct answer is: everywhere. In the second preface Walpole extols the merits of Shakespeare, particularly in the bard’s uniting of the tragic and the comedic. He uses the names of characters from Shakespeare, plot points, themes, and motifs. There are bumbling servants, women talking to secret lovers, mistaken identities, ghosts, swordfights, etc. The Tempest is alluded to in evocations of divine Providence, the ghost and the castle allude to Hamlet, warnings of ambition allude to Julius Caesar, and there is a morose diminuendo after the last lines are uttered, a la King Lear. Walpole may have started a new genre, but he was certainly indebted to the great master of English drama.

Is there any evidence of Manfred exhibiting repressed homosexuality?

There is no official, explicit evidence that Walpole was homosexual, but the rumors are manifold. Thus, it is possible to look at Otranto through this lens and try to ascertain whether or not such an interpretation is at all illuminating. There is a high degree of eroticism in the novel, and the focus on incest could be Walpole’s way of diverting his own sexual anxieties. Manfred is a perfect example of repressed homosexuality in that he always seems stunned and fascinated by Theodore, but turns those feelings into persecution. The terror of being outed is also a major component of the novel and may indicate Walpole’s own unconscious concern with being outed.