Gothic Horror Novel Review: "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole

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This opens with a wedding: Prince Manfred is about to marry off his beloved only son Conrad to the Princess Isabella. This will help insure not only his dynastic future, but help him maintain his hold on the principality of Otranto. Where is that boy? The domestics start talking. Seems there’s a to-do in the courtyard. Finally, someone brings Manfred the bad news. Conrad has been killed, crushed beneath a gigantic helmet. Yes, I said gigantic helmet. This sends the boy’s mother, Hippolita and his older sister, Matilda into mourning. Isabella, though she’s sorry for poor Conrad, really doesn’t mind getting out of this marriage. Manfred, however, who once doted on the fifteen-year-old boy simply dismisses him. He was weak. He’s got to perpetuate the family line and decides to divorce his wife and marry Isabella himself. Yeah, that’d work. In the middle of all this, a young peasant lad points out that the helmet looks a lot like the one on the statue of Alfonso the Good, one of their former princes, in the church of St. Nicholas. This sends Manfred into a tizzy. “Villain! What sayest thou?” He grabs the peasant by the collar. “How darest thou utter such treason? Thy life shall pay for it.” He imprisons the peasant under the helmet. Published in 1764, this is considered the first gothic work. The first edition claimed to be a translation from the Italian of a work “rediscovered” in an English library and published under a pseudonym. After it was favorably received, author Horace Walpole, a member of Parliament, ‘fessed up. It was then regarded as a silly “romance.” Set in Italy during the Crusades, it is packed chock full of lost heirs, lost parents, avenging sprits, dark prophecies and fainting women. Chaste women flee pursuing footfalls of lecherous men. Kindly monks offer shelter. Servants provide some comic relief, pulling on the beard of the tyrant Manfred ever so gently. And the expressions of piety—good lord, how did Walpole write them with a straight face? I can’t say this make for easy reading. Unless the reader has an interest in gothic novels or history, this one will probably not go down easily. Everything is over the top. The language—not just the dialogue—is stilted and unnatural. The characters are either villains or good guys with little chance to develop. An extreme example is poor Conrad who doesn’t even make an entrance before he gets crushed. Not that the whole book is without redemption. After a huge helmet drops out of wherever, it’s kind of fun reading along just to see what will happen next. This is available for download at Project Gutenberg and as an audiobook from Librivox: _____ Title: The Castle of Otranto Author: Horace Walpole (1717-1797) First published: Dec. 1764