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The Canterville Ghost - Wikipedia Page 1 of 9
The Canterville Ghost
"He met with a severe fall" – Illustration

by Wallace Goldsmith of the effects of a
butter slide set up by the twins as part of
their campaign of practical jokes against
the ghost.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterville_Ghost 22-03-2018
The Canterville Ghost is a novella by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of

Wilde's stories to be published, appearing in two parts in The Court and
Society Review, 23 February and 2 March 1887.[1]
The story is about an American family who move to a castle haunted by

the ghost of a dead nobleman, who killed his wife and was starved to
death by his wife's brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen
several times.
Contents
Synopsis
Plot
Adaptations
In music
References
External links
Synopsis
The home of the Canterville Ghost was the ancient Canterville Chase,
which has all the accoutrements of a traditional haunted house.
Descriptions of the wainscoting, the library panelled in black oak, and
the armour in the hallway characterise the setting. Wilde mixes the
macabre with comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional English

ghost stories such as creaking floorboards, clanking chains, and ancient
prophecies.
Plot
The story begins when the American Minister Mr Otis and his family
move into Canterville Chase, despite warnings from Lord Canterville
that the house is haunted. Mr Otis says that he will take the furniture as
well as the ghost at valuation. The Otis family includes Mr and Mrs Otis,
their eldest son Washington, their daughter Virginia, and the Otis twins.
The other characters include the Canterville Ghost, the Duke of Cheshire
(who wants to marry Virginia), Mrs Umney (the housekeeper), and Rev.
Augustus Dampier. At first, none of the Otis family believe in ghosts, but
shortly after they move in, none of them can deny the presence of Sir
Simon de Canterville . The family hears clanking chains, they witness
reappearing bloodstains on the floor just by the fireplace, which are
removed every time they appear in various forms. But, humorously,
none of these scare the Otis family 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 the ghost's efforts 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 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 will be removed
with Pinkerton's 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
giving the ghost "Doctor Dobell's tincture", thinking he was screaming
due to indigestion at the family's second encounter with the ghost, 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, Suicide's 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 beat him
every time. He falls victim to tripwires, peashooters, 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 from Sir Simon's viewpoint,
he tells us the complexity of the ghost's emotions: he sees himself brave,
frightening, distressed, scared, and finally, depressed and weak. He
exposes his vulnerability during an encounter with Virginia, the Otis's
fifteen-year-old daughter. Virginia is different from everyone else in the
family, and Sir Simon recognises this. 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.
Virginia's 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".
The story ends with Virginia marrying the Duke of Cheshire after they
both come of age.
Adaptations
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1944 Hollywood movie with Charles
Laughton in the title role.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1962 BBC television drama featuring
Bernard Cribbins.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1966 ABC television musical that aired 2
November and featured Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Michael
Redgrave. Featured songs by Fiddler on the Roof songwriters Jerry
Bock and Sheldon Harnick.[2]
◾ An episode of Mystery and Imagination, which aired 12 March 1966
and featured Bruce Forsyth as the title character
◾ Кентервильское привидение, a 1970 Soviet cartoon
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1974 radio drama adapted by George
Lowthar for the CBS Radio Mystery Theater series.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a made-for-TV film aired on 10 March 1975,
in the United States, which also aired in West Germany and France.
Starred David Niven.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1985 film.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1988 animated television special.
◾ A radio dramatisation was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on New
Year's Eve 1992.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1996 film, starring Patrick Stewart.
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1997 TV film starring Ian Richardson, Celia

Imrie
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 2001 film by Burbank Films Australia.
◾ A reading of the story by Alistair McGowan was broadcast on BBC
Radio 7 in December 2007.
◾ Bhoothnath, a 2008 Bollywood movie adaptation[3]
◾ A graphic novel version published by Classical Comics in 2010
adapted by Scottish writer Sean Michael Wilson, with art by Steve
Bryant and Jason Millet
◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 2011 audiobook production by W F Howes
narrated by Rupert Degas[4]
◾ The Canterville Ghost, an upcoming animated feature film with the
voices of Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Miranda Hart, intended for
release in 2016[5]
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 about this ghost in the album Shine. The song is
preceded by an intro track named "The Canterville Prophecy".
◾ "El Fantasma de Canterville" is a song by the Argentinian musician
Charly García
◾ Canterville – The musical is a musical by Flavio Gargano, Robert
Steiner and Valentina De Paolis – Canterville – The musical
◾ Bílý pán aneb Těžko se dnes duchům straší is an opera by Czech
composer Jaroslav Křička based on Wilde's story, libretto by J. L.
Budín
◾ The Canterville Ghost opera by Gordon Getty. Debut performance

at Leipzig Opera on 9 May 2015.
◾ "Dark Depth" is a song by the Serbian thrash metal band Alister
from the album Obscurity, heavily influenced by Oscar Wilde's story.
References
1. Sherard, Robert Harborough (1906). The Life of Oscar Wilde
(https://books.google.co.uk/books?
id=wHI4AAAAYAAJ&q=canterville+%22court+and+society%22+23+2&dq=can
I4ChDoAQglMAI). New York: Mitchell Kennerley. p. 454.
2. Jones, Kenneth (28 July 2012). "Bock & Harnick TV Musical "The
Canterville Ghost" Gets NYC Screening"
(http://www.playbill.com/news/article/168511-Bock-amp-Harnick-TV-
Musical-quotThe-Canterville-Ghostquot-Gets-NYC-Screening-
Along-With-quotShe-Loves-Mequot-July-28). Playbill. Retrieved
14 May 2014.
3. Sonia Chopra. "Bhoothnath"
(http://www.sify.com/movies/bhoothnath-review-bollywood-
14670297.html). Sify.
4. The Canterville Ghost (Audiobook Review)
(http://bookloverbookreviews.com/2014/09/book-review-canterville-
ghost-oscar-wilde.html) Booklover Book Reviews
5. Bettridge, Daniel (25 October 2012). "Fry and Laurie to reunite for
The Canterville Ghost" (http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2012-10-
25/fry-and-laurie-to-reunite-for-the-canterville-ghost). Radio Times.
Retrieved 14 May 2014.
External links
◾ The full text of The Canterville Ghost at Wikisource

◾ Media related to The Canterville Ghost at Wikimedia Commons
◾ The Canterville Ghost (https://librivox.org/search?
title=The+Canterville+Ghost&author=Wilde&reader=&keywords=&genre_id=0&
public domain audiobook at LibriVox
◾
◾ The Canterville Ghost at Project Gutenberg
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

title=The_Canterville_Ghost&oldid=830442143"
This page was last edited on 14 March 2018, at 21:10.
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The Canterville Ghost - Wikipedia Page 1 of 9

The Canterville Ghost

"He met with a severe fall" – Illustration

The Canterville Ghost is a novella by Oscar Wilde. It was the first of

The story is about an American family who move to a castle haunted by

macabre with comedy, juxtaposing devices from traditional English

Wilde describes Mrs Otis as "a very handsome middle-aged woman"

The most colourful character in the story is undoubtedly the ghost

Virginia's ability to accept Sir Simon leads to her enlightenment: Sir

◾ The Canterville Ghost, a 1997 TV film starring Ian Richardson, Celia

◾ The Canterville Ghost opera by Gordon Getty. Debut performance

◾ The full text of The Canterville Ghost at Wikisource

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?

This page was last edited on 14 March 2018, at 21:10.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike

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