I get the sense of loneliness, repentance and betrayal. The scene where Matilda free Theodore and Theodore finds Isabella wondering in the woods and hid her in the cave promising that he would vow to protect her is a sublime scene because you have a dark, cold, wet cave we can see this same setting in Caleb Williams Excerpt that the Cell he was imprisoned in was small, damp no light and beneath the ground. These locations are more macabre than majestic because the settings around both stories are feeling alone or aggravating sense of discouragement. The characters in each story have their own sense of loneliness. Manfred had his own sense of loneliness after his son, Conrad, dies. He then becomes envious of Theodore for taking the throne. Manfred kills his own Daughter by accident and immediately wants to repent and be forgiving but by his past actions. Isabella is the damsel in Distress and is physically alone after she fled from the castle. Matilda has a sense of Isolation because her father wont approve of her to be betroth to Theodore. Theodore is completely isolated after he is put into the tower waiting to be killed until Matilda frees him. “The Castle of Otranto” has a Macabre spectrum because the sites and scenes are terrifying for the characters but they always seem to make the beauty out of it which also makes it majestic.
I agree that the sublime can be seen when Theodore protects Isabella is the beauty behind the environment which is the cave and how it gives off a sort of comfort.
When Conrad dies I feel as if Manfred became more greedy for power. I imagined maybe he was always jealous of Conrad marrying Isabella because I recall him saying in Chapter one, “Conrad was not w0rthy of your beauty… Think no more of him… he was a sickly puny child “. He didn’t mourn for his son’s lost but used his death to make people feel sorry for him so he would be able to get his way. The author; Walpole leaves room for questioning because maybe he did know that was Matlida and decided to kill her after all.
Perhaps Manfred actually cared for Conrad, as he showed he cared for Matilda in the end, and Conrad’s death unmasked his mask of reason.
“maybe he was always jealous of Conrad marrying Isabella ”
The comparison of Conrad and Manfred is interesting, since it is possible children have some of their parents in them, the reverse might be true and perhaps Manfred saw himself and saw that he was weak like Conrad and unbefitting of his title.
When Conrad dies I feel as if Manfred became more greedy for power. I imagined maybe he was always jealous of Conrad marrying Isabella because I recall him saying in Chapter one, “Conrad was not w0rthy of your beauty… Think no more of him… he was a sickly puny child “. He didn’t mourn for his son’s lost but used his death to make people feel sorry for him so he would be able to get his way. The author; Walpole leaves room for questioning because maybe he did know that was Matlida and decided to kill her after all.
The castle is both majestic and macabre, almost like a castle that glitters ominously, a reflection of both the horrors and existence of the human mind. Although Theodore leaves the castle, the darkness of the castle, human nature, follows him to the caves. Perhaps in the dark, free of human made imprisonments and hierarchies, analogous to the frowned upon decor found inside Catholic churches, Theodore is freer from the horrors of the castle.
The Castle itself can also be symbolic for the lonliness that is felt by all these characters in the story. This massive castle that everyone lives in, sneaks around in, marries in, and dies in can mean that this huge castle is where these types of people live their whole lives in. Being in that place; feeling smaller than ever, can make someone feel lonely and drive them crazy.
The emotional effect of the castle on its inhabitants is interesting. As was said along the lines of, “the inhabitants posess the castle but the castle also possesses them”.
The Castle of Otranto
Jerome is pleading to Manfred to spare his son’s life, he asks him to consider the blood that ties them together. “It is piety alone that can distinguish us from the dust whence we sprung and whither we must return. Truce to your sermon, said Manfred; you forget you are no longer friar Jerome, but the count of Falconara. From the earth we were risen to the earth we shall return. You came into this world with nothing, and now you’re going to die with nothing. The wealth and power you acquired while on earth does not accompany you to the afterlife. Manfred is so consumed with punishing the person he believes to be guilty for his son’s death that he refuses to heed any of Jerome’s pleads. Jerome wants him the understand that they will both share a sense of loneliness and despair if he kills his only son since Manfred had lost his son in such a brutal manner.
“Jerome wants him the understand that they will both share a sense of loneliness and despair if he kills his only son since Manfred had lost his son in such a brutal manner.”
The comparison of Jerome and Manfred as similar people is very interesting, and it is interesting that something such as despair should tie them together.
There is delight and curiosity in the exploration of the unknown, which perhaps gives the light that falls from the windows of a large hollow Gothic church an eerie yet quietly beautiful glow, the soft light contrasting with the cold assymerical stones, almost beckoning a visitor foward into the tomb-like structure, the light and its beauty much like Caravaggio’s “The Calling of St. Matthew”.
The light’s, perhaps representation of any human souls or the universe that surrounds it, soft embrace creates creation and keeps the darkness at bay, much like sighting the petals of a flower on a cold morning.
“Great sorrow filled my heart on hearing this,
because I knew of people of great worth,
who in that Borderland suspended were […]
four mighty shades I saw approaching us; their looks were neither sorrowful nor glad.
My kindly Teacher then began to say:
“Look at the one who comes with sword in hand
before the three, as if their lord he were.
Homer he is, the sovreign poet; Horace,
the satirist, the one that cometh next;
the third is Ovid, Lucan is the last.
Since each of them in common shares with me
the title which the voice of one proclaimed,
they do me honor, and therein do well.”
Thus gathered I beheld the fair assembly
of those the masters of the loftiest song,
which soareth like an eagle o’er the rest.”
-Dante’s “Inferno”
The unknown depths of the human soul and cosmos prevents one from truly knowing anything.
““The Castle of Otranto” has a Macabre spectrum because the sites and scenes are terrifying for the characters but they always seem to make the beauty out of it which also makes it majestic.”
I agree, it is as if Wallace is laughing at the sadness yet wonderful creation that is human nature.