Main ideas/themes of the novel-(Briana Estrada)
In Horace Walpole’s classic gothic fiction novel, The castle of Otranto; there are many themes and concepts that give the meaning of gothic literature a new idea to readers who may have only viewed the term “gothic” in one way.
In the novel we are introduced to these characters such as the main antagonist Manfred who is a man of power and his only son Conrad suddenly dies before getting to marry Isabella, who which is like a daughter to Manfred. With this being a complete let down for Manfred due to him not having a son to now take the thrown, he decides that he would divorce his wife and marry Isabella. With Manfred’s selfish and controlling behavior this demonstrates Walpole’s theme of women and power which was never a conjunction, because women had no power; relatively in gothic literature women are portrayed and treated like property. Young Isabella was being forced to marry Manfred without consent.
Essentially this idea of women having to be submissive,owned and powerless is a common theme in The castle of Otranto and something we are going to see a lot in the pieces of literature we will be reading in class. I also think this introduces a new meaning of the term gothic for a lot of us who may have only thought of it as a lifestyle or certain beliefs. Now that I think of what is gothic, I view it more as a common central idea that surrounds us in our everyday lives.
