The Castle of Otranto Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Carol M. Dole

Critical Essay by Carol M. Dole

SOURCE: "Three Tyrants in The Castle of Otranto," English Language Notes, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, September, 1988, pp. 26-35.

In the following essay, Dole suggests that Walpole borrowed a number of Shakespearean characters, themes, and motifs in writing The Castle of Otranto in response to current political events.

Horace Walpole's well-known account of the genesis of The Castle of Otranto indicates that he wrote the first Gothic romance in an effort to distract himself from disturbing political events:

I waked one morning in the beginning of last June from a dream, of which all I could recover was, that I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for a head filled like mine with Gothic story) and that on the uppermost bannister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the evening I sat down and began to write, without knowing...
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