CASTLE OF OTRANTO

1. Good vs. Evil

As it is a medieval story, the motto was “the good always wins”. It was also prompted by
the Church, as they want people to believe, whatever happens, the good souls will reach
heaven. So I think the novel was written from that perspective. Firstly we are introduced
to our main hero, Manfred, which is a motivated evil villain and a selfish one. We learn
that he is a usurper, so this kind of bad acting should be punished. On the other hand, we
have two good and innocent women, Manfred’s daughter Mathilda, and daughter-in-law
Isabella. They, as women, also seems symbolic, because the women have been seen as
the angels of the stories. Theodoro, a young gentleman, is also another good character in
the novel. So in the story, we see Manfred is full of passionate men, even his son died on
his wedding day, he only thinks about his throne. He says he will going to marry Isabella,
which is a very brutal thing to do for both his family and for the girl. As he thinks that the
prophecy of his family’s destruction surrounds him, he just focused on that. As the story
goes, Manfred imprisons Theodore only by claiming that he is a magician. When Isabella
heard Manfred’s plan she tried to escape not knowingly to the Church, and it also
symbolizes salvation. God protects you from everything. So in short, Theodore succeeded
to escape from the helmet, and he guided on the way of Isabella’s escaping. Manfred
learns that Isabella ignores him, so he gets rageful and wanted to kill her. On the other
hand, his daughter Mathilda had seen Theodore and fall in love with him. She also
included the events and goes to the church. Assuming that Isabella will meet Theodore in
the church, Manfred goes there with a knife, and unknowingly kills his own daughter
Mathilda. She was there because wanted to see and meet Theodore to declare her love
for him. When events happened liked that, Manfred be horrified and the endless grief
followed him until he explodes his all sins in exile. Our innocent girl Isabella achieved to
escape from the castle and founded peace. Theodore lasts the only one who can claim
the throne, so he gets married to Isabella as two good people. Everything is restored in
the end, and good wins again…

2. Deception(Deceiving)- Disguise

3. Supernatural/ Supersititions Elements

The novel was made in Catholic England in medieval times. It triggers lots of mystery
as Catholicism is against rationalism. Those are the times of the darkest ages of
Christianity. There is a prophecy towards the Manfred family, that says his reign will be
finished and none of them wouldn’t stay in the castle, and it tells us that there is
something bad will happen. The prophecy shows its signs at the very beginning of the
story that Manfred’s son has died under a giant helmet. So Manfred thinks he is shaped
over necromancy and it is the beginning of his destruction.
The Gothic type is represented in the play primarily by its setting, which consisted of
a huge castle with dark underground passages, door creaks, a giant in a room, and then
with supernatural elements like a gigantic helmet, the ghost, extinguished torch,
unknown sounds and chasing and escaping.
 After his son died Manfred still thinks to break this prophet so he tells his former
daughter-in-law Isabella that they are going to marry. This made Isabella fearful so she
tries to escape from the castle. Her way of escaping is made up of lots of supernatural
elements. Firstly, when Manfred tells his opinions, the pictures on the wall belonging to
Manfred’s ancestor’s liven up and whisper in condemnation. She began to run away and
Manfred chases. Manfred says the castle belongs to him, he knows everywhere so she
can't escape, but when he told that Isabella passes a door and an unseen ghost closes
the door after her. As Isabella becomes alone then other things happened. The blowing
wind gritted the doors and rusty hinges. Her torch of fire is extinguished on the way to
the church. An unknown person with sounds of footsteps is guided her on the way. She
screamed when she entered the ruined room and seen a shadow on the walls, assuming
it was Conrad’s soul or ghost. But it was actually Theodore, whom Manfred thinks that a
magician, has necromancy because Manfred imprisoned him under the gigantic helmet
after talking about his son’s death. But we see he is hearing so it seems at first that he is
interested in necromancy. So the story is basically shaped with these tools and it greets
the tension of horror, which fulfills the requirements of the gothic story.

 Walpole claimed he had a dream one night at his Gothic mansion, Strawberry Hill, which
compelled him to write the novel. He then practiced automatic writing and parsed his
dreams as he wrote the manuscript over the next two months.

4. Setting
 Dark passage, wild nature, castles.
 Going underground passage
 Windy noises and fears
 labyrinthine corridors beneath the castle
 apparitions, a sense of doom, pervasive dread, and a multitude of scenes taking place at
night or in the darkness

 The novel was written in the effection of neoclassicism as Walpole dissatisfied with
the popular conventions styles of literature. He is sickened with the realist fiction so
he made it authentically. He wanted to move beyond the realist nature of novels of
his day, exemplified by the writings of Tobias Smollett, Henry Fielding, and Samuel
Richardson.
5. Church of Catholicism
 Castle represents secular power
 Church represents God and holy power
 Manfred is an evil villain, like satan. His every action is against the church’s will.
 Father Jerome is the savior.
 Isabella is like a pure angel

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THE MONK
1. Criticism of Church and Christianity
The author questions the values of traditional Christianity beliefs and through the novel’s
point of view, we can say that he humiliates the stereotypes and relationships of the belief.
Through the greatest sins and their reflections on the soul or body, Lewis uses “The Monk” as
our main hero, named Ambrosio. But this hero has weaknesses and immorality in himself
that he rejects what he built on his entire life, which is the holy trinity, and we see that even
the man of the church is deceived by Satan.
When we look into the story, Ambrosio is introduced to us as the greatest holy man in
that era. We see his sermon always overflowed with lots of people. He is like a God on the
earth. Everyone follows him. But at this point, we see the author implies that this is an
illusion. God has never existed. Because even this man is tempted by a woman in the disguise
of Satan. According to him, human nature is weak, we are deceiving ourselves. The soul
cannot be saved. Because when Ambrosio faces non-divine or worldly pleasures, he is
defeated by his passions. In the garden of the monastery, which is an allusion to the Bible
story of Adam and Eve, Ambrosio meets with the masked man, which appealed to be a
woman that says she loves Ambrosio. Although he resists at first, he is tempted by that
woman, Mathilda. This quotation from the novel demonstrates all the ideas above: “drunk
with desire, he pressed his lips to those which sought them; his kisses vied with Matilda’s in
warmth and passion: he clasped her rapturously in his arms; he forgot his vows, his sanctity,
and his fame; he remembered nothing but the pleasure and opportunity.” 
The message, in the end, is seen in the beginning as a contrary. It is like that, the novel
starts with Ambrosio’s Indulgence, that a man came to him and says he has raped his
nephew. He says God will forgive if he becomes to repent his actions, but if it would be him
he would never forget him, Ambrosio says. Then we also see that a nun, named Agnes, got
pregnant in the monastery. They say it is against the will of God in the house of God, thus she
is sent to be punished. Ambrosio does not feel pity. So let’s come to our satanic monk;
Ambrosio first slept with Mathilda, but it was just a beginning. After that, he saw Antonia in
one of his sermons. So his only purpose became to a sleepover with her. He is the
appearance went their home to cure Antonia’s mother, but his purpose was to engage with
her. After getting some help from Satan, Mathilda, he reached for his desires. He slept with
Antonia and then in the fear of catching, he killed Antonia's mother, which revealed that she
was also Ambrosio’s mother, which also means Ambrosio slept over with his sister. It is much
more sinful from the beginning. He made what he cursed. The point is that after he did those
things, he thinks it is God’s will. He left himself to God. What a nice thing. This shows the
hypocrisy of the holy church that every sin could be forgotten.
 2. Gothic Elements in novel

The novel contains lots of supernatural elements and events that make the novel can be seen
as a gothic novel. The settings like a castle, graveyard, and wild support the gothic features.
Usually, in the gothic genre, there are creatures or events likewise ghosts, prophecies, angels or
demons, or we see a villain character and on the contrary generally a beautiful and innocent
young woman. The horror, tension, and terror trigger the reader and they all contribute to the
gothic genre.

The introduction of a new monk, whose face is covered with a cloth. This mysterious man is
brought tension to the story as it is an unordinary event. So the other monks and the reader
become curious about this person. Then Rosario revealed as a woman named Mathilda. At first,
nothing seems bad but she seduces Ambrosio and had an affair with him. She is interested in
necromancy, as she can cure Ambrosio’s mind, and the wound. Evidently, we doubt her
appearance and as we learned later she is in the guise of a Satan. Later on, Matilda takes
Ambrosio to the graveyard. The place belongs to her, she goes into the crypts and telling
Ambrosio not to come. It creates more horror in the story. The other element is the magician
flower branch that Mathilda –or the Satan- gave Ambrosio, to open all doors to reach Antonia,
whom Ambrosio desires to be with. Thus he reaches his purpose with this sort of necromancy.
Another example is where Agnes appeared to be pregnant and punished by brutal prioress into
the convent. She was imprisoned in it and left without food or water. Those types of violence
terrify the reader. Finally, we also see at the end that the monastery asks Ambrosio to repent,
but the devils don't let him do and Ambrosio left in vast to be the bait to the crows.

2. Comparisons of two Novels

Both of the novels are the primary examples of the gothic genre, respectively The
Castle of Otranto and The Monk. Both share supernatural and gothic elements, necromancy,
and even the same name as a character, Mathilda. Before that our main heroes are Manfred,
in Castle of Otranto, and Ambrosio, in The Monk. On a hand, Manfred is a typical motivated
kind of villain that he only thinks his need, he is selfish and naturally brutal. On the other
hand, Ambrosio is introduced to us as a gentle, kind, and man of guide in society. He is a
monk in a monastery that although he is too young, everybody respects him and lots of
people come to hear and see him. But he is tempted by evil forces in the novel. So we have
two villains differently. The Mathildas are also different as we said. In the Castle of Otranto,
Mathilda is the daughter of Manfred, and she is purely innocent. We feel pity and sympathy
towards her throughout the novel. She deserves more than she dwelled. On the other hand,
in the Monk, Mathilda is a hypocritical character. She is disguised in the shape of a monk and
then revealed to be a Satan. She is purely evil and tempted the good Ambrosio into evil like
her. The other thing is religion. Both stories have religious elements. In the Otranto, the
church is seen as salvation by Isabella, who tries to escape from trouble. But in the Monk, the
monastery is a place of chaos and wickedness. Lewis criticizes so harshly Christianity. They
both share necromancy and wild setting like castles. We face too many deaths in both novels.
Both of the heroes killed women in the stories. But both of them happened unknowingly.
Manfred killed his daughter, and Ambrosio killed his mother. They were both punished in the
end. But there is a difference that Manfred repent and regretted all of his actions at the end,
but Ambrosio did not.
*Monk is more descriptive than the castle of Otranto. In the castle of Otranto characters and
characteristic are successful

The sublime

metonymy

Gothic elements

There are supernatural references in the book and incidents that make it possible to see the
novel as a gothic novel. Settings such as a palace, cemetery, and woods support the gothic
elements. There are normally monsters or incidents in the Gothic genre, as well as ghosts,
prophecies, angels or devils, or we see a villain character and on the other hand, a lovely and
naive young woman in general. The reader is caused by horror, suspense, and terror and they
both add to the theme of goth.

The arrival of a new monk, with a cloth covering his forehead. As it is an unprecedented
occurrence, this enigmatic man adds suspense to the plot. So about this guy, the other
monks and the reader become interested. Rosario then introduced herself as a woman
named Mathilda. Nothing seems to be evil at first but she seduces Ambrosio and has an affair
with him. Since she can heal Ambrosio's mind and the wound, she is involved in necromancy. 

We doubt her appearance, obviously, and as we learned later, she's in Satan's guise. Matilda
takes Ambrosio to the graveyard later on. She goes into the crypts and begs Ambrosio not to
come. The place belongs to her. In the story, it generates more horror. The other aspect is
the mystical flower branch that Ambrosio gave Mathilda-or the Satan-to open all doors to
meet Antonia, with whom Ambrosio wants to be. Thus, with this sort of necromancy, he
completes his aim. Another example is that Agnes seemed to be pregnant and penalized in
the convent by a cruel prioress. In it she was trapped and left with no food or water. The
reader is frightened by such forms of violence. Finally at the end, we also see that the
monastery begs Ambrosio to pray, but the demons do not let him do so, leaving Ambrosio to
be the bait of the crows in immensity.

Setting in a castle or monastery

An atmosphere of mystery and suspense. ...

An ancient prophecy is connected with the castle or its inhabitants (either former or
present).

Omens, portents, visions. ...

Supernatural or otherwise inexplicable events. ...

High, even overwrought emotion. ...

Women in distress.