|
|
There are 14 critical essays on The Castle of Otranto.
Critical Essays on The Castle of Otranto
 from source:
 Critical Essay by Devendra P. Varma
13,349 words, approx. 45 pages
 In the following excerpt from The Gothic Flame (1957), Varma conjectures about the impetuses to Walpole's composing The Castle of Otranto and discusses its strong and lasting influence on the Gothic and other genres.
from source:
Critical Essay by Karl J. Holzknecht
6,495 words, approx. 22 pages
In this essay, Holzknecht reevaluates Walpole's importance to the historical development of drama by examining the romantic elements of The Castle of Otranto alongside the unacted drama The Mysterious Mother.
from source:
Critical Essay by Ian P. Watt
6,277 words, approx. 21 pages
In this essay, Watt contends that the elements of the "imaginative matrices" of The Castle of Otranto that particularly structure the Gothic tradition are Walpole's treatment of time and the family.
from source:
Critical Essay by Frederick S. Frank
5,606 words, approx. 19 pages
In the essay that follows, Frank explores the iconography of The Castle of Otranto as a fully developed Gothic inversion of positive value systems.
from source:
from source:
Critical Essay by Walter Scott
4,347 words, approx. 15 pages
In the following introduction to the 1811 edition of The Castle of Otranto, Scott cites Walpole's originality in initiating Gothic literature.
from source:
Critical Essay by Carol M. Dole
3,955 words, approx. 13 pages
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.
from source:
Critical Essay by Montague Summers
3,303 words, approx. 11 pages
In this excerpt, Summers describes the importance of Walpole's extravagant residence, Strawberry Hill, to understanding The Castle of Otranto and briefly surveys the critical reaction to the novel.
from source:
from source:
Critical Essay by Edith Birkhead
2,305 words, approx. 8 pages
In this excerpt, Birkhead enumerates the qualities of The Castle of Otranto that appealed to the popular taste of Walpole's contemporaries and briefly describes its legacy for later romances.
from source:
Critical Essay by Horace Walpole
2,056 words, approx. 7 pages
In this preface, written in 1765, alpole explains his intentions in writing the book: "to blend the two kinds of romance, the ancient and the modern."
from source:
from source:
Critical Essay by John Dunlop
443 words, approx. 2 pages
In the following excerpt from The History of Fiction (1814, 1816), Dunlop declares The Castle of Otranto to be true to its Gothicism but a failure at meeting Walpole's intentions.
from source:
View More Articles on The Castle of Otranto
|
