The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
The Castle of Otranto, a novel by Horace Walpole, published under a pseudonym in 1764 (although the first editions are dated the following year). It is considered the first Gothic novel in the English language, and it is often said that it founded the horror story as a legitimate literary form.
Walpole presents The Castle of Otranto as the English translation of a recently discovered manuscript. The preface to the first edition suggests that the manuscript was written sometime between 1095 and 1243 (during the Crusades), "or shortly after", and subsequently printed in Naples in 1529. The manuscript tells the story of Manfred, a prince of Otranto. . At the beginning of the story, Manfred eagerly awaits the marriage of his sickly son, Conrad, to Princess Isabella. Manfred's subjects notice his impatience. They suspect that Manfred has arranged the marriage in hopes of avoiding an ancient prophecy that predicted that his castle and his governorate of Otranto "would pass from the present family, provided the royal owner grew too large to inhabit."
The wedding date is set for Conrad's birthday. However, on their wedding day, Manfred's son is nowhere to be found. In the courtyard, a servant discovers that a huge helmet fell from the sky and crushed Conrad to death. Realizing that his only male heir is dead and his wife can no longer have children, Manfred decides to marry Isabella. He approaches Isabella with this proposal. When she refuses to marry him, Manfred grabs her, apparently with the intention of raping her. Fortunately, a series of supernatural events, including the appearance of his grandfather's ghost, distracts Manfred, and Isabella manages to break free. As she escapes to the nearby Saint Nicholas Church (with the help of a peasant named Theodore), Manfred confronts his guards, who claim to have seen a giant armored leg in the gallery. Later, he and his guards are joined by a group of knights who seek Isabel on behalf of her father, the Marquis of Vicenza.
Outside the castle grounds, Theodore bravely defends Isabella from a knight. She hurts the knight and discovers, to her dismay, that the wounded knight is actually Isabella's father, Frederic. Together, Theodore, Frederic, and Isabella return to the castle. Frederic recovers and explains to Manfred's wife, Hippolita, how exactly he came to be in Otranto: while he was at war, Frederic had a vision that warned him that his daughter was in danger. The vision directed him to a forest where he met a hermit. The hermit directed him towards a gigantic sword with an inscribed prophecy:
Manfred, suddenly noticing the resemblance between Theodore and the hero Alfonso, tries again to secure Isabella's hand in marriage. This time he proposes to Frederic that they marry the other's daughters. At first, Frederic agrees, but the ghost of the forest hermit haunts him and he finally decides not to go through with the double marriage.
Manfred is furious, and even more so when he learns that Theodore meets a lady at Alfonso's grave. Manfred convinced that Isabella is having an affair with Theodore, sneaks into the grave and fatally stabs the lady. Horrified, Manfred realizes that she has not killed Isabella but her own daughter, Matilda. Moments after Matilda's death, the castle wall behind Manfred collapses, revealing a gigantic vision of Alfonso. Alfonso's image declares that his grandson, Theodore, is the true heir of Otranto. Manfred then reveals that his grandfather poisoned Alfonso and usurped his throne. In an attempt to atone for his wrongdoing, Manfred agrees to abdicate the throne. The novel ends with Frederic offering Isabella's hand in marriage to Theodore. Although he eventually agrees to marry Isabella, Theodore mourns the loss of his true love, Matilda, for many years.
