When we discussed Castle of Otranto in class Tuesday, Professor Garcia had asked us if we should feel sorry for Manfred. I’m sorry to say, that I cannot. This is a man who was obsessed with a curse over the house, and would do anything to lift it. The funny thing about curses, is that they are not simply “cured.” Literary writings such as Hamlet, or Oedipus tell us what is supposed to happen, will happen as it is fate. When discussing Manfred’s character, he leaves a lot to be desired. His wife and daughter, Hipolita and Matilda, love Manfred but it is not returned by him. Manfred does not care for Hipolita because she cannot bear him a healthy son. As for Matilda, he does not want a daughter because they cannot keep the legacy of the family going; that is reserved for males. For this reason, he puts all his hopes into Conrad, as he can continue the ruler-ship of their family bloodline of Otranto. When Conrad dies, this sends Manfred into a crazed frenzy to ensure the curse does not come into fruition. Manfred becomes irrational. Manfred is freely wanting to throw away his marriage to Hipolita to marry Isabella for her bloodline. Isabella is young and would be able to bear Manfred healthy sons. Walpole paints Manfred as a scary antagonist in the story, but in my opinion, he does not come off as scary. Perhaps, the message is telling us if we are following obsession by any means necessary, we become monsters. Everything that happens to Manfred, ranging from wanting to divorce his wife, Hipolita, to accidentally killing his only daughter, Matilda, is his fault for doing. On a related note, I also feel Manfred was not entirely upset that Matilda was dead, but his last shot at keeping the castle was!
-Carlos Moncada
The feelings that you felt towards Manfred was mutual! I believed him to be a very self-absorbed man because he focused so much on maintaining power and keeping the curse away, that he disregarded everyone around him. He only worried about maintaining his status, which meant that he had become this so called “monster” to get his way. Which led to his careless actions towards anyone who got in his way, without feeling true remorse but rather concern over his own fate. He was truly a selfish man throughout the entire novel.
I agree with you as Manfred displayed a complete distain for his wife, or rather his whole family. Because he never loved his son, as shown for how he reponded to his death, nor his daughter as he didnt show the reaction that I was expecting when he killed her. His obssesive nature in my opinion stems from his one fear. The fear of not having any power over anyone.
Even though we can view Mandred as ma bad guy, but isn’t he a victim of his ancestors sins, wouldn’t it be possible to assume that he is only the product of what his ancestors created.