What is the genre of The Canterville Ghost?
" The Canterville Ghost" is a humorous short story by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887.
What is the significance of the ghost of Simon de Canterville?
The ghost of Simon de Canterville, though mocked and ridiculed in the beginning due to the attitude of the American family that moves in the Centerville Chase, is able to stir the impressionable mind of Virginia who goes out of the way who tries to go to the angel of death and ask for mercy.
What happens to The Canterville Ghost in the Great Gatsby?
Frustrated, humiliated, and at last cowed, the Canterville Ghost sinks into a dark depression. His expectations undermined by the audience’s lack of interest, the Ghost realizes (as Wilde himself eventually would) that he must reconsider his roles, search for new masks, and renovate his performances.
What is the humor in The Canterville Ghost by William Shakespeare?
The twins have upstaged his performance, creating an apparition of their own, seemingly a parody of a ghost. The poor Canterville Ghost is “frightened witless,” and “never having seen a ghost before” he retreats hastily. Naturally, the humor of this passage comes from seeing a ghost being frightened by a ghost.
Is The Canterville Ghost a real story?
The story is about an American family who moved to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead English nobleman, who killed his wife and was then walled in and starved to death by his wife's brothers....The Canterville GhostGenre(s)Horror Fantasy FamilyMedia typePrint (hardback & paperback)4 more rows
What is the conclusion of The Canterville Ghost?
However, at the conclusion of the story, when Virginia confesses to her husband the effect the ghost, Sir Simon, had on her, this effect contrasts with her father's teachings. She tells her husband that because of Sir Simon, she ''sees what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.
What does the story The Canterville Ghost teach you?
The story teaches that we shouldn't label beings who seem different from us as monsters. We also shouldn't subject them to cruel jokes. Instead, we should try to understand their needs and treat them with kindness and compassion.
What is the meaning of Canterville Chase?
A chase is a hunting or game preserve. Canterville Hall or Canterville Chase is called a chase because it was once, and probably still is, a place where upper-class people would gather to hunt. It would have been stocked with game, such as pheasants or deer, and a popular activity...
How did Virginia help the ghost?
Answer: In Chapter Five of "The Canterville Ghost," Virginia helps the ghost by enabling him to enter the Garden of Death. She does this by accompanying the ghost through the wall of the Tapestry Chamber and helping him to receive divine forgiveness for his earthly sins.
Who wrote Canterville ghost?
Oscar WildeThe Canterville Ghost / AuthorOscar Wilde was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and a bonafide cultural icon. 'The Canterville Ghost' was his first published story, and is now one of his most popular, having been adapted many times.
What is the main conflict in The Canterville Ghost?
The main conflict in The Canterville Ghost is the conflict between Sir Simon, a ghost and the Otis family. The Otis family continually outsmarts Sir Simon and forces him to retreat.
What is the setting of The Canterville Ghost?
The Canterville Ghost was published in and likely set around 1887. It's set in Canterville Chase, an old fictional manor in England that once belonged to the Canterville family. The manor is in rural England, where these types of historic family estates are typically found.
What is the theme of the novel ghost?
A major theme of the book is facing one's fears. Coach confides to Castle how he also had to overcome tremendous obstacles. Ghost has to learn to reconcile with his traumatic past, face bullies, own up to his mistakes and his fear of failure on the track.
Who is Lord Canterville?
Lord Canterville was the previous owner of Canterville Chase, prior to its sale to Mr. Otis. He inherited the home from his grandaunt, the Dowager Duchess.
How old is the Canterville Ghost?
"The Canterville Ghost" is a short story by the Irish author Oscar Wilde which contains elements of both horror and comedy. It was first published in two parts in the February 23 and March 2, 1887 issues of the British magazine The Court and Society Review.
How did The Canterville Ghost want to be?
He plans to take revenge at the end. Till now, the ghost was only trying to make his presence felt and was trying to scare the newcomers but now, in his rage, he plans to truly terrify them and disrupt their lives.
What is the ghost in Canterville Chase?
The story begins with Hiram Otis and Lord Canterville discussing the ghost that haunts Canterville Chase, where the Otis family will be living. When they arrive, they find a blood stain that reappears every morning in the library, where Sir Simon de Canterville murdered his wife in the sixteenth century. It is his ghost that haunts the Chase. Hiram’s oldest son, Washington, tries to remove the stain with detergent, but it keeps coming back.
What is the ghost in the Chase?
When they arrive, they find a blood stain that reappears every morning in the library, where Sir Simon de Canterville murdered his wife in the sixteenth century. It is his ghost that haunts the Chase. Hiram’s oldest son, Washington, tries to remove the stain with detergent, but it keeps coming back.
What is the war between the twins and Sir Simon's ghost?
What follows is a sort of war between the twins and Sir Simon’s ghost. Over time, they continue to torment him, until he is afraid to make too much noise at night. When the Duke of Cheshire, one of Virginia Otis’ suitors, comes to visit, Sir Simon decides he will scare him, but is too frightened of the twins to go through with it.
Who played the ghost in Canterville?
In this version, set in World War II, Charles Laughton plays a cowardly ghost who meets a cowardly descendent played by Robert Young. Directed by Jules Dassin, released by MGM, the film is available from MGM/United Artists Home Entertainment.
When was the Canterville Ghost published?
”The Canterville Ghost” was first published serially in 1887 in Court and Society Review, a magazine for the leisured upper classes. The story did not immediately receive much critical attention, and indeed Wilde was not viewed as an important author until the publication, during the 1890s, of his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) and of several well-received plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest (1895). In 1891, “The Canterville Ghost” was republished in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, and Other Stories.
What does the ghost do in Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator?
As a practical American, Mr. Otis suggests to the Ghost that Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator will quiet his chains. The Ghost, stunned by this effrontery, is further insulted as the young Otis twin boys throw pillows at his head. The Ghost retires to his chamber and ponders his past glories of terrifying housemaids and driving members of the aristocracy to madness and suicide. Refusing to be intimidated by upstart Americans, the Ghost plans his revenge. Meanwhile, the Otises discuss the Ghost and note the changing hues of the sitting-room bloodstain. Only the beautiful fifteen-year-old Virginia Otis cannot laugh as the stain mutates from red, to purple, to bright emerald green. When the Ghost next appears, the twins shoot pellets at it. But more insulting is that after the Ghost tries to scare the family with a hideous laugh, Mrs. Otis offers him Dr. Dobell’s tincture to cure his indigestion.
What is the inspiration for Wilde's Canterville Ghost?
In “The Canterville Ghost,” Wilde draws upon fairy tales, Gothic novels, and stories of Americans abroad to shape his comic ghost story. Though Wilde offers a comic treatment, he finds inspiration for Sir Simon’s character in Alfred Tennyson’s serious poem “Maud,” as well as in the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge ’s “Christabel.” Critics also point to the possible influence of Henry James’s Portrait of a Lady (1881) on “The Canterville Ghost.”
Why do the Otis believe in bad weather?
The Otises do not understand the aesthetics of the Ghost. Mr. Otis believes that bad English weather is due to overcrowding, that there is not enough
Why did Simon Canterville die?
The Ghost, or Sir Simon Canterville, has haunted Canterville Chase since he was starved to death in 1584 by his dead wife’s brothers. They murdered him because he had murdered his wife for the trivial reasons that she was plain and a bad housekeeper. For three hundred years, Sir Simon has frightened the inhabitants of Canterville Chase and has relished his role as resident ghost. He has appeared as “The Headless Earl,” “The Corpse-Snatcher of Chertsey Barn,” and “The Blood-sucker of Bexley
What happened to Virginia in The Ghost?
She explains that she has been with the Ghost and has brought him eternal rest. Sir Simon, in turn, has given her a box of jewels. Virginia leads her family into a secret room where they find the skeletal remains of Sir Simon. Four days later, Sir Simon, with much ceremony, is buried. A few years later, Virginia marries the young Duke, who was struck by her kindness to the Ghost. Even after marriage, however, Virginia resists her husband’s entreaties and refuses to reveal what happened when she disappeared into the wall with Sir Simon. But she states simply that the Ghost taught her the meaning of Life, Death, and Love.
Storyline
Follows a tech billionaire who buys Canterville Chase, unaware that the contents include a malevolent family ghost, who has been haunting the premises for centuries.
Did you know
During the race in the first In the episode, Ginny can be seen riding high, obviously standing on stirrups even though she is supposed to be riding bare back. The saddle must have been deleted in post-production.
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Author Biography
Plot Summary
- Purchasing Canterville Chase
As the story opens, Horace B. Otis, the brusque American minister, ignores the warnings of several English friends and buys the haunted Canterville Chase. Lord Canterville desires to sell the home but feels honor-bound to tell Otis stories of skeleton hands and mysterious noises. Ho… - The Persistent Blood Stain
The Otis family moves into the Chase, a Tudor mansion. Mrs. Lucretia Otis, disturbed by a blood stain in the sitting-room, orders that it be removed at once. But the housekeeper, Mrs. Umney, explains that the blood stain dates back to 1575, the day Lady Eleanore de Canterville was murd…
Characters
- Sir Simon Canterville
SeeGhost - Cecil
SeeDuke of Cheshire
Themes
- Culture Clash
From the beginning of “The Canterville Ghost,” Wilde compares the behavior of the American Otises with that of the British upper classes. Lord Canterville warns Mr. Horace B. Otis that the presence of a ghost has made Canterville Chase uninhabitable. Mr. Otis, however, remains a sk… - Aesthetics
The Otises do not understand the aesthetics of the Ghost. Mr. Otis believes that bad English weather is due to overcrowding, that there is not enough
Style
- Setting
“The Canterville Ghost” is set in the English countryside in the late nineteenth century. Canterville Chase, where most of the story takes place, is described in Gothic terms. It is an old mansion with secret rooms and passageways, long corridors, carved gargoyles, stained glasswindows, and o… - Stereotypes
Oscar Wilde explores several stereotypes in the story. Canterville Chase boasts the comic book attributes of a haunted house and would be immediately recognized as such by its contemporary audience. Similarly Mr. Horace B. Otis, as an outspoken republican who rejects European ascen…
Historical Context
- Oscar Wilde wrote at the end of the Victorian period, named for Queen Victoria. This period marked the rise of a growing middle class in Great Britain. This middle class had gained wealth through the technological advances of the Industrial Revolution, as well as a result of Britain’s expanding empire. The values of this class stood in marked contrast to the values of an older ari…
Critical Overview
- Even before the scandal of Wilde’s trial for homosexuality and subsequent imprisonment (1895-1897), critics had a difficult time separating Wilde’s life from his works. Indeed, Wilde’s credo of “life for art’s sake,” or sometimes “art for art’s sake,” encouraged the comparison. Proponents of this school of thought believed that the creation of beauty is the moral purpose for both life and a…
Criticism
- Kimberly Lutz
Lutz is currently teaching writing at the New YorkUniversity School of Continuing Education. In the following essay, she examines the importance of masks and performances in “The Canterville Ghost.” Many critics of Oscar Wilde’s “The Canterville Ghost” find dark and profound meanings … - What Do I Read Next?
1. The Turn of the Screw,expatriate American writer Henry James’s 1898 short novel, is a densely symbolic ghost story. A young governess tries to save her charges from the ghosts of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint. But do the ghosts exist only in her mind? 2. An earlier Henry James novel, Th…
Sources
- Shewan, Rodney. “Fiction as Ingratiation—First Attempts at a Social Pastoral: ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, “The Canterville Ghost, “Lady Alroy, “The Model Millionaire,’” in his Oscar Wilde: Art and Egotism,Macmillan, 1977, pp. 32-5. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray,1891. Reprint. New York: Penguin Books, 1985.
Further Reading
- Ellmann, Richard. “Introduction,” in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Other Writings,Bantam Books, 1982, pp. ix-xix. Raby, Peter. Oscar Wilde, Cambridge UniversityPress, 1988, pp. 1-11, 54-6.