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The Canterville Ghost
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"He met with a severe fall" - Illustration by Wallace Goldsmith of the effects of a butter slideset up by the twins as part of
their campaign of practical jokes against the ghost.
"The Canterville Ghost" is a popular short story by Oscar Wilde, widely adapted for the screen and stage.
It was the first of Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in the magazine The Court and Society
Review in February 1887. It was later included in a collection of short stories entitled Lord Arthur Savile's
Crime and Other Stories in 1891.
Contents
[hide]
1 Setting
2 Plot
3 Story
4 Wit and Humor
5 Film and television adaptations
6 In music
7 References
8 External links
[edit]Setting
The story of the Canterville Ghost takes place in an old English country house, Canterville Chase, which
has all the accoutrements of a traditional haunted house. Descriptions of the wainscotting, the library
paneled in black oak, and the armor in the hallway characterize the Gothic setting and help Wilde clash the
Old World with the New. Typical of the style of the English Decadents,
[citation needed]
the gothic atmosphere
reveals the authors fascination with the macabre. Yet he mixes the macabre with comedy, juxtaposing
devices from traditional English ghost stories such as creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient
prophecies with symbols of modern American consumerism. Wildes Gothic setting helps emphasize the
contrast between culturessetting modern Americans in what could arguably be a classic symbol of British
historyand underscores the "modern" thinking of the house's mismatched residents, the Otises.
[edit]Plot


Illustrations by Frederick Henry Townsend from The Court and Society Review, February 23 and March 2, 1887.
The story begins when Mr Otis's family shifted to Canterville Chase, despite warnings from Lord Canterville
that the house is haunted. The Otis family includes Mr. and Mrs. Otis, their daughter Virginia, twin boys
(often referred to as "Stars and Stripes") and their oldest son Washington. At first, not one member of the
Otis family believes in ghosts, but shortly after they move in, none of them can deny the presence of Sir
Simon (The Ghost). The family hears clanking chains, they witness re-appearing bloodstains "on the floor
just by the fireplace", and they see strange apparitions in various forms. But, humorously, none of these
scare the Otises in the least. In fact, upon hearing the clanking noises in the hallway, Mr. Otis promptly gets
out of bed and pragmatically offers the ghost Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains.
Despite Sir Simons attempts to appear in the most gruesome guises, the family refuses to be frightened,
and Sir Simon feels increasingly helpless and humiliated. When Mrs. Otis notices a mysterious red mark on
the floor, she simply replies that she does not at all care for blood stains in the sitting room. When Mrs.
Umney, the housekeeper, informs Mrs. Otis that the blood stain is indeed evidence of the ghost and cannot
be removed, Washington Otis, the eldest son, suggests that the stain be removed with Pinkertons
Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent: A quick fix, like the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator,
and a practical way of dealing with the problem.
Wilde describes Mrs. Otis as a very handsome middle-aged woman who has been a celebrated New
York belle. Her expression of "modern" American culture surfaces when she immediately resorts to using
the commercial stain remover to obliterate the bloodstains and when she expresses an interest in joining
the Psychical Society to help her understand the ghost. Mrs. Otis is given Wilde's highest praise when he
says: "Indeed, in many respects, she was quite English..."
The most colourful character in the story is undoubtedly the ghost himself, Sir Simon, who goes about his
duties with theatrical panache and flair. He assumes a series of dramatic roles in his failed attempts to
impress and terrify the Otises, making it easy to imagine him as a comical character in a stage play. The
ghost has the ability to change forms, so he taps into his repertoire of tricks. He takes the role of ghostly
apparitions such as a Headless Earl, a Strangled Babe, the Blood-Sucker of Bexley Moor, Jonas the
Graveless, Suicides Skeleton, and the Corpse-Snatcher of Chertsey Barn, all having succeeded in
horrifying previous castle residents over the centuries. But none of them works with these Americans. Sir
Simon schemes, but even as his costumes become increasingly gruesome, his antics do nothing to scare
his house guests, and the Otises succeed in failing him every time. He falls victim to trip wires, pea
shooters, butter-slides, and falling buckets of water. In a particularly comical scene, he is frightened by the
sight of a ghost, rigged up by the mischievous twins.
During the course of the story, as narrated by Sir Simon, we come to understand the complexity of the
ghosts emotions. We see him brave, frightening, distressed, scared, and finally, depressed and weak. He
exposes his vulnerability during an encounter with Virginia, Mr. Otis fifteen-year-old daughter. Virginia is
different from everyone else in the family, and Sir Simon recognizes this fact. He tells her that he has not
slept in three hundred years and wants desperately to do so. The ghost reveals to Virginia the tragic tale of
his wife, Lady Eleanor de Canterville.
Unlike the rest of her family, Virginia does not dismiss the ghost. She takes him seriously; she listens to
him and learns an important lesson, as well as the true meaning behind a riddle. Sir Simon de Canterville
says that she must weep for him for he has no tears, she must pray for him for he has no faith and then she
must accompany him to the angel of death and beg for Death's mercy upon Sir Simon. She does weep for
him and pray for him, and she disappears with Sir Simon through the wainscoting and goes with him to the
Garden of Death and bids the ghost farewell. Then she reappears at midnight, through a panel in the wall,
carrying jewels and news that Sir Simon has passed on to the next world and no longer resides in the
house. Virginias ability to accept Sir Simon leads to her enlightenment; Sir Simon, she tells her husband
several years later, helped her understand what Life is, what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger
than both.
[edit]Story

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has
insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more
precise citations. (December 2010)
The Canterville Ghost is a study in contrasts. Wilde takes an American family, places them in a British
setting, then, through a series of mishaps, pits one culture against the other. He creates stereotypical
characters that represent both England and the United States, and he presents each of these characters as
comical figures, satirizing both the unrefined tastes of Americans and the determination of the British to
guard their traditions. Sir Simon is not a symbol of England, as perhaps Mrs. Umney is, but rather a
paragon of British culture. In this sense, he stands in perfect contrast to the Otises. Sir Simon
misunderstands the Otises just as they misunderstand him, and, by pitting them against each other, Wilde
clearly wishes to emphasize the culture clash between England and the United States.
The story illustrates Wildes tendency to reverse situations into their opposites as the Otises gain the upper
hand and succeed in terrorizing the ghost rather than be terrorized by him. Wilde pairs this reversal of
situations with a reversal of perspective. This ghost story is told not from the perspective of the castle
occupants, as in traditional tales, but from the perspective of the ghost, Sir Simon. In this sense, Sir Simon
could logically be labeled the protagonist in this story, as it is he who faces the challenge of overcoming
adversity and bettering his life.
Though Wilde tells a humorous tale, it appears that he also has a message, and he uses fifteen-year-old
Virginia to convey it. Virginia says that the ghost helped her see the significance of life and death, and why
love is stronger than both. This is certainly not the first time an author has used the traditional ghost story
and the theme of life and death to examine the issue of forgiveness; ghosts, after all, presumably remain in
this realm because, for some reason, they are unable to move on. Wildes ghost, Sir Simon, had been very
wicked, Virginia tells her father after she returns to the castle. But he was really sorry for all that he had
done. God has forgiven him, Virginia tells her father, and because of that forgiveness, in the end, Sir
Simon de Canterville can rest in peace.
[edit]Wit and Humor
Humor is the most powerful weapon used by Wilde to defuse the tension and scary atmosphere that would
have resulted in such a ghost story. Phantoms, apparitions, blood stains, haunting of the ghost in the
corridors are all treated with humor. The persistent blood stain is wiped with Pinkerton's stain remover, Mrs.
Umney's fainting fit are to be charged like breakages, the ghost appears in a miserable state that shocks no
one. Mr. Otis scolds the ghost and offers him Lubricator to oil his chains, when the ghost laughs
demoniacally, Mrs. Otis accuses him of indigestion and offers him tincture. The ghost feels duty bound and
says, "I must rattle my chains, groan through keyholes, walk about at night." Oscar Wilde treats even
murder non-seriously. Sir Simon murdered his wife because she was not a good cook nor could do repair
work. Mrs. Otis does not pretend to be stick as part of 'European Refinement', she is 'handsome'. The
ghost becomes frustated because the Otises are incapabe of appreciaing the symbolic value of apparitions,
blood stains, development of astral bodies and do not have any importance to his solomn duty to haunt the
castle. All the tricks played on the ghost are funny, the best being, having to encounter another ghost,
which frightens the Canterville ghost.
[edit]Film and television adaptations
The Canterville Ghost, a 1944 film.
The Canterville Ghost, a 1985 film.
The Canterville Ghost, a 1986 film.
The Canterville Ghost, a 1995 film.
The Canterville Ghost, a 1962 BBC television drama
featuring Bernard Cribbins.
A graphic novel (long, mature style, comic book) version came out in
2010 from the publisher Classical Comics
[1]
, a publisher much praised
by teachers and librarians for their high quality versions of classic
novels. The graphic novel is 110 pages and stays close to the original
Story by Wilde. It was adapted by Scottish writer Sean Michael
Wilson
[2]
, with art by Steve Bryant and Jason Millet.
The Canterville Ghost, an upcoming animated feature film featuring
the voices of Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie with an intended release
date of Christmas 2014.
[3]

[edit]In music
" The Canterville Ghost" is an opera by the Russian
composer Alexander Knaifel to a libretto by Tatiana Kramarova based
on Wilde's story.
"The Canterville Ghost" is a song by the Austrian Symphonic
Metal band Edenbridge which is about this ghost; the song appears in
the album Shine and it's preceded by its intro track named "The
Canterville Prophecy".
"El Fantasma de Canterville" is a song by the Argentinian
musician Nito Mestre
[edit]References
1. ^ http://www.classicalcomics.com/
2. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Michael_Wilson
3. ^ http://www.twitter.com/stephenfry/status/202308440931049473
[edit]External links

Wikisource has original text
related to this article:
The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde portal

Literature portal
The Canterville Ghost public domain audiobook from LibriVox
The Canterville Ghost at Project Gutenberg
Joshua Williams The Canterville Ghost a ca. 2000 stage musical.
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Categories:
1887 short stories
Works by Oscar Wilde
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British supernatural television programmes
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Works originally published in The Court and Society Review
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