The Castle of Otranto
- Downloads
- 100+
- First published
- 1764
- Pages
- 106
Listen to The Castle of Otranto Audiobook Free
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Preface
9:12 -
Chapter 01
47:33 -
Chapter 02
48:27 -
Chapter 03
48:40 -
Chapter 04
43:44 -
Chapter 05
40:31
The Castle of Otranto (1764) is a public domain work.
The audio edition streams in the page. There is no audio file to download.
About this book
When a giant helmet mysteriously crushes his son to death on his wedding day, the tyrannical Prince Manfred schemes to secure his crumbling dynasty amid supernatural omens, ancient prophecies, and a haunted castle. Walpole's short, feverish tale of doom and the supernatural was the very first Gothic novel, inventing the genre of brooding castles, ghostly apparitions, and imperiled heroines that would flourish for centuries after. Wild, melodramatic, and hugely influential, it opened the door to Radcliffe, Shelley, Poe, and all of Gothic fiction. A foundational work of horror and Romanticism, The Castle of Otranto is where the haunted-castle tradition began.
From the opening pages
Manfred, Prince of Otranto, had one son and one daughter: the latter, a most beautiful virgin, aged eighteen, was called Matilda. Conrad, the son, was three years younger, a homely youth, sickly, and of no promising disposition; yet he was the darling of his father, who never showed any symptoms of affection to Matilda. Manfred had contracted a marriage for his son with the Marquis of Vicenza’s daughter, Isabella; and she had already been delivered by her guardians into the hands of Manfred, that he might celebrate the wedding as soon as Conrad’s infirm state of health would permit.
Manfred’s impatience for this ceremonial was remarked by his family and neighbours. The former, indeed, apprehending the severity of their Prince’s disposition, did not dare to utter their surmises on this precipitation. Hippolita, his wife, an amiable lady, did sometimes venture to represent the danger of marrying their only son so early, considering his great youth, and greater infirmities; but she never received any other answer than reflections on her own sterility, who had given him but one heir. His tenants and subjects were less cautious in their discourses. They attributed this hasty wedding to the Prince’s dread of seeing accomplished an ancient prophecy, which was said to have pronounced that the castle and lordship of Otranto “should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it.” It was difficult to make any sense of this prophecy; and still less easy to conceive what it had to do with the marriage in question. Yet these mysteries, or contradictions, did not make the populace adhere the less to their opinion.
Young Conrad’s birthday was fixed for his espousals. The company was assembled in the chapel of the Castle, and everything ready for beginning the divine office, when Conrad himself was missing. Manfred, impatient of the least delay, and who had not observed his son retire, despatched one of his attendants to summon the young Prince. The servant, who had not stayed long enough to have crossed the court to Conrad’s apartment, came running back breathless, in a frantic manner, his eyes staring, and foaming at the mouth. He said nothing, but pointed to the court.
Contents
About the author
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- P The Poor ClareThe Poor Clare
- S The Secret of KralitzThe Secret of Kralitz
- L The Lost DoorThe Lost Door
- D The Doom of the GriffithsThe Doom of the Griffiths
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Book facts
- Author
- Horace Walpole
- First published
- 1764
- Reading time
- About 3 hours
- Pages
- 106
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Gothic Horror
- Formats
- PDF, EPUB, Read online, Audiobook
- Audio read by
- Great Plains