OTIS FAMILY AND THEIR PERSONALITY TRAITS

MISS VIRGINIA
(OTIS):
Little girl of fifteen
(pretty, large blue eyes,
loved horse riding &
had also received a TWINS:
WASHINGTON OTIS:
proposal). (2 boys)
Eldest son ( fond of
visiting casinos & an delightful
excellent dancer). &
naughty

MR. HIRAM B. OTIS:

The American Minister,
confident & pratical- minded, no
faith in supernatural (ghost,etc.),
scietific mind.
MRS. OTIS:
A lady with a distinguished
personality, middle aged, fine
eyes, suberb profile.
 THE CANTERVILLE CHASE

( Chase belonged to canterville family)

1. The Dowager Duchess

(grandaunt of Mr.
Canterville) of Bolton was
frightened into a fit after
two skeleton hands were
placed on her shoulders
when she was dressing for
dinner.

2.2.Ghost
Ghostseen
seenbyby
3.3.The
The rector
ofof the Rev
severalother
other rector Parish,
several Parish, Rev Augustus
Augustus Dampier a fellow
membersof
members ofthe
the
of king’s college, of
Dampier a Fellow
family.
family. King’s college,
Cambridge also seen the
HAUNTED Cambridge also seen the
HAUNTE ghost.
ghost.
REASONS:
D

4. Servants left 5. Lady Canterville often got

very little
less sleep
sleepatatnight
night
house in fear.
4. Servants left because of the strange
house in fear. noises from
form the corridor and
the library.
 PART-1

Purchase of Canterville Chase

 Mr. Otis wished to buy Canterville Chase a mansion belonging to Mr. Canterville.
 The Canterville Chase was haunted and hence his friends warned him not to buy it.
 Mr. Otis was practical man and didn’t believe ghosts & discarding all warnings bought
Canterville Chase
 Family of Mr. Otis
 Mr. Otis
 Mrs. Otis
 Washington
 Miss Virginia
 Twins

The Arrival of Mr. Otis

 Canterville mansion was 7 miles away from Ascot, the nearest railway station. A wagon was
there to receive Mr. Otis & his family.
 He enjoyed riding through the pine woods, a lovely July evening & the scenic beauty.
 When they neared Canterville Chase, the sky suddenly got clouded & it started raining.
 The Otis Family was welcomed by Mrs. Umney, the house keeper who offered them tea.

The First Trace of Supernatural

 Mrs. Otis noticed dull red stains on the floor in the sitting room.
 Mrs. Umney described it as indelible blood stain of the Lady Eleanore de Canterville,
who was murdered at the spot by her husband Sir Simon de Canterville in 1575. She
further added it cannot be removed.
 Washington, the eldest son of the family removed the stain with the help of Pinkerton's
Champion stain remover and Paragon detergent.
 As Washington wiped the stain off, there was lightning and thunder.
 Mrs. Umney fainted in fear.
 None of the family members took it seriously.
 On regaining her conscience, Mrs. Umney warned them that some misfortune will befall the
Otis family as a result of this removal, they assured her that they were not afraid of ghosts.

PART-2

Otis Family accepts the Presence of a Ghost:

 Next morning, the Otis family found the terrible sign of blood stain again on the floor.
 Washington rubbed it again and again but it kept reappearing.
 Otis family was now convinced of the presence of the ghost in the family.
 Mr. Otis thought that he had been too dogmatic and judgmental.
  Mrs. Otis decided to join psychical society.
 Washington decided to write a complaint letter to the detergent company.

The efforts of the Otis family to restore normalcy:

 The family went out for a drive to distract their mind.

 No one talked of anything about supernatural.
 Instead they talked about cinema, kitchen ingredients, baggage check system in railways
and accents of New York and London.
 The family returned home by 9 ‘O’ clock and after supper went to sleep at 11’O’ clock.
All was quiet.

The Appearance of the ghost:

 Mr. Otis was awakened by the clanking sound of metal and the sound of some footstep.
 In the hall he saw a ghost with burning red eyes, matted hair and heavy chains.
 Mr. Otis became irritated and offered the ghost a phial of Tammany Rising Sun
lubricator saying it would make his (ghost’s) chains smooth and promised to give
him more of the lubricant if needed.
 The ghost was shocked by the unexpected reaction and ran back. He dashed/smashed the
phial of lubricant.
 He was further attacked by the Otis twins, who threw pillows at his head.

The Ghost Recounts his past Achievements:

 He returned to his chamber and pondered over his past achievement of terrifying
housemaids and driving members of aristocracy to madness to suicide. Some of them got
brain fever other retired to church services.
 He remembered Sir William Gull, Old Dowager of Duchess, Madame de Tremouillac, the
senior Lord Canterville, the butler.

The ghost decides to take Revenge:

 Feeling insulted the ghost decided to take revenge on the Otis and started deciding his
future course of action.

Part–3

Discussion about ghost at Breakfast:

 The Otis talked about the ghost at the breakfast.

 Mr. Otis was annoyed by :
1. The ghost not using the lubricant.
2. The twins for throwing pillows at the ghost.
The changing color of the blood stain:

 Surprised by the reoccurrence of the ‘blood stain’ with their ever-changing shades. (dull
red. vermillion, purple & finally emerald green)
 The family was amused at it.
 Virginia felt depressed to see that.

Second Appearance of the Ghost:

 The ghost made up his mind to take revenge upon the Otises for their audacity.
 He decided to wear an armor to frighten them.
 Unfortunately while taking it off its stand, he dropped it and hurt his knees.
 Hearing the crash sound, the twins brought their pea shooter and fired two pellets;
Mr. Otis brought his revolver and ordered the ghost to hold up his hands.
 The angry ghost extinguished the candle and ran away.
 Reaching upstairs he tried to frighten Mrs. Otis with his devilish laughter.
 Instead of being afraid, Mrs. Otis offered him tincture (medicine) to treat his
indigestion which she thought was making him shriek in pain.
 The ghost went to his chamber injured and in pain.
 Feeling insulted the ghost wanted to transform himself into a large black dog but the
sound of approaching twins checked him and disappeared becoming faintly
phosphorescent.

The Ghost Encounter with another Ghost:

 For some days the ghost hardly steered out and was extremely ill.
 On 17th August, he made another attempt to frighten the Otis family.
 He selected a special dress and at midnight left his secret chamber.
 All prepared as he advanced towards Washington’s room, he saw a horrible ghost.
 The other ghost was bald, fat and white. His eyes streamed rays of scarlet light, he
had a placard with strange writing on his breast. He had a shining sword in his
hand.
 As Canterville Ghost had never seen another ghost before, he was very terrified. He fled
to his room.
 In his room, having recovered after a while, he thought he should go and speak to the
other ghost. After all, two ghosts are better than one and the new ghost may help him
to frighten the Otis family.
 However when he went to the ghost and seized it in his arms, his (other ghost) head
slipped and he found himself clutching only a white sheet.
 He discovered that the ghost was handiwork of the twins and they (twins) had
played a trick on him (ghost).
 The ghost became very angry, swore and decided the future course of action.
 He slipped into a lead coffin to rest. He stayed there till evening.
 PART-4

The Changed Ghost:

 The terrible experience of the last 4 weeks had drained and exhausted the ghost.
 For 5 days he never came out of his room.
 He gave up repairing the blood stain.
 If the Otis family didn’t want it, they never deserved it.
 The ghost did his duty of appearing in the corridor, but he removed his boots and oiled his
chains.

The Twins Continue their Tricks:

 The twins still played tricks on him (ghost).

 They stretched strings across the corridor over which he tripped in the dark. The
ghost slipped on the butter slide.
 This was very annoying to the ghost and he decided to teach a lesson to the twins, giving
them the fright of their lives.

The Ghost Prepares for the Grand Revenge:

 The ghost planned to appear in a grand disguise of “Headless Earl” which took about
3 hours to get ready.
 But as he stepped into the room of twins, a jug full of water toppled over him, just
missing his left shoulder and wetting him thoroughly. He got severe cold.
 The twins laughed at him and the ghost flees.

The Ghost Gives up Frightening the Family:

 The ghost gave up all hopes of frightening the Otis family.

 On 19th Sept, he went downstairs to have a last look at the blood stain.
 It was about 2 o’ clock in the morning and the ghost was pretty sure that everybody
would be asleep.
 Suddenly from a dark corner, two figures emerged moving the arms wildly and shouted
boo in his ear.
 The ghost was too frightened and in great panic he fled to his room. He made no further
appearance.

The Ghost Discovers a Relation:

 The ghost discovered a distant connection with Duke of Cheshire (Cecil, Virginia’s
lover).
 Cecil’s grand Uncle Lord Stilton had laid a bet to play dice with Canterville Ghost.
 The ghost planned to appear before Virginia’s lover but his fear of the twins forbids him
to step out of his room/stir out.
 PART-5

Virginia’s meeting with the Ghost:

 Virginia had once gone riding a pony with her lover, the Duke of Cheshire. She
happened to tear her dress while crossing a hedge. Hence, on returning home she
decided to take the back staircase as she didn’t wish to be seen in tatters.
 She noticed the Canterville ghost. He looked very miserable and lonely.
 Virginia told him to cheer up and behave himself as no one would annoy him.
 The ghost answered back that whatever he does was his only reason for existing.
 Virginia disagreed on the point & told that couldn’t be the reason for anyone’s
existence. Moreover, he was of killing his wife.

The Ghost Confides in Virginia:

 The ghost told Virginia that his wife had been careless in repair works and was
horrible at cookery. Nevertheless that reason couldn’t suffice for killing anyone.
 The ghost told Virginia that he had been starved to death by his brother-in-law.
 Virginia offered him a sandwich which the ghost declines as he never ate food as a
ghost.
 The ghost praised Virginia for being nice and accused her family saying they were rude,
vulgar and dishonest.
 Virginia got angry and she held him responsible for stealing her paint to repair the blood
stain.
 The ghost had taken the red, green, yellow to repair the blood stain. Now she had only
white and blue with which she can make only moonlight scenes.
 Virginia felt disgusted and wished to leave the room.

The Ghost seeks help from Virginia:

 He complained that he had not slept in 300 years.

 He wished to sleep in the garden of death, the churchyard.
 It was only possible if Virginia wept for him, prayed for him and then only the Angel of
Death would show mercy on him.

Virginia offers help & support:

 Virginia agreed to help & pray for the ghost.
 The ghost thanked her & kissed her hand.
 He took her across the room. Virginia saw the wall fading like a mist and a bitter cold
wind was blowing around them.
 The ghost asked Virginia to be quick he took her through the wall. They went past
the animals, strange creatures and did not halt. In a moment the wall closed
behind them and the chamber was empty.
 PART-6

The Disappearance of Virginia:

 At the time of tea, the family couldn’t find her. Mrs. Otis thought she might have gone to
the garden to get the flowers but she was not there.
 At dinner, the Otis family was really alarmed. They searched for her for hours, but she
was not found.
 Mr. Otis went to gypsy camp. He didn’t take Cecil, Duke of Cheshire with him
because he was afraid that there might be a fight.
 He and his servants found that gypsies had left in a hurry & suspected that they had
kidnapped Virginia.
 Meanwhile Duke of Cheshire came to accompany him. Mr. Otis couldn’t refuse him.
 They met gypsies on the way but Virginia was not with them. The reason for their
leaving in a hurry was that they had forgotten the date of Chorton Fair they left in
fear of being late.
 Disheartened they returned home.
 Mr. Otis ordered all to go to bed, saying that nothing could be done that night.
 He decided to telegraph Scotland Yard for some detectives in the morning.

Virginia appears mysteriously:

 As they were leaving the dining room at the last midnight stroke. Virginia came out of a
secret door. She had a little box/casket in her hand.
 Everyone had run to embrace her. The young Duke couldn’t control his emotions.
 Mr. Otis became angry for he thought that Virginia was playing trick on them.
 Virginia’s answer surprised everyone.

Virginia leads family to the Ghost’s Abode:

 Virginia told everyone that she had been with the ghost who had been dead.
 She added that the ghost was really repentant of his action of killing his wife.
 The ghost had gifted her box of family jewels.
 Then she led others down a narrow secret corridor to a little room.
 There the Otis family was shocked to see the skeleton of Sir Simon, who had been
starved to death by his wife’s brother.
 Virginia knelt down beside the skeleton and folding her hands together, began to
pray silently.
 Meanwhile, one of the twins noticed out of the window that the almond tree which
had withered had blossomed. Its flowers could be seen clearly in the moonlight.
 Virginia concluded that god had forgiven the ghost and she stood up.
 Her face illuminated in darkness. The Duke called her angel and embraced her lightly.
 PART-7

The Funeral of Sir Simon:

 Four days later the funeral procession started from Canterville Chase.
 Sir Simon’s skeleton was buried in a quiet corner of the churchyard.
 Virginia laid a large cross made of white and pink almond blossoms on the coffin.
 A nightingale began to sing.
 Virginia’s eyes were full of tears.

The Gift of Jewels:

 The next morning, the Mr. Otis talked to Sir Simon’s descendant, Sir Canterville about
the jewels the ghost had given to Virginia.
 They were so valuable that Mr. Otis had scruples about allowing his daughter to keep
them.
 But, Mr. Canterville shook his head and insisted that Virginia should keep them as
she had saved the soul of his ancestor.
 The jewels deserved to belong to her as the Canterville Ghost had gifted them to
her.

Virginia Gets Married:

 Virginia married the Duke of Cheshire in the spring of 1890.

 The jewels were admired by everyone since they were priceless & unique.
 After their honeymoon Virginia went to Canterville Chsse and on the day of their arrival,
they went to the churchyard.
 Virginia strewed some lovely rose upon the grave. Afterwards they stood by the grave
for some time & went away.
 The Duke enquired Virginia about what happened to her when she was locked up
with the ghost. She should tell him as he was her husband.
 Virginia refused to tell him angrily and added that she owed Sir Simon a great deal
as he made her see what life and death signified and why love is stronger than both.
 The Duke was happy and embraced his wife.