Oscar Wilde

The Canterville Ghost Oscar Wilde

Horace B. Otis, a wealthy American, purchases Canterville Chase, an ancient English manor-house, despite warnings that the house is known to be haunted. He moves into the house accompanied by his wife, his eldest son Washington, his daughter Virginia, and his two younger twin sons. Immediately upon arrival, the family is confronted by a bloodstain in a sitting room. The housekeeper, Mrs. Umney, explains that the stain has been there since 1575 and is the result of Lady Eleanore de Canterville having been brutally murdered by her husband, Sir Simon de Canterville.




The Otis family takes a pragmatic perspective and scrubs the stain away; they repeat the process when the stain continues to reappear every morning. The stubborn reappearance of the stain, as well as other strange occurrences around the house, leads them to consider that the rumor of the ghost may not be totally unfounded. These ideas are confirmed when one night, the sound of clanking chains wakes Mr Otis from his sleep. He gets out of bed and confronts a terrifying ghost, but responds only by recommending that the ghost oil his chains so that he does not cause so much noise when he is walking around at night.




Mr. Otis is not the only family member who is not afraid of the ghost: the young twins enjoy tormenting the ghost with pranks. The ghost is very proud of his tradition of terrifying visitors for hundreds of years, and he is determined to strike fear into the American family. However, the more and more terrifying he tries to be, the more they either make fun of or ignore him. Things hit rock bottom for the Canterville Ghost when the twins actually create a fake ghost of their own to scare the real ghost. He accepts that he has lost his status and power, and he begins to become depressed and pine away.