She agreed to help him, although she was terrified of what lied ahead. He asked for her help – knowing that she had a compassionate heart – unlike the rest of her treacherous family. Viriginia, Mr Otis’ daughter found him one day and was pained to see the ghost, visibly sad and distraught – who told her that he was very tired and had not slept in three hundred years. Insulted and tired, the ghost eventually retired to his own room – feeling even more depressed. The kids attacked him pea shooters, and played elaborate pranks on him – on one occasion even scaring with a replica skeleton. Taking this as an insult to his natural scaring power, he took it upon himself to make even bigger spectacles – what went on in the following days was actually opposite to what he imagined. Never in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted. The ghost was surprised, as this was not the normal reaction he was accustomed to. The ghost finally made an appearance one night and Mr Otis was the one to see him, but instead of being scared – he requested that he put some oil into the chains so that he didn’t make so much noise while walking around in the night.

The family finally accepted there might be some truth to the rumors, but still went about their business as usual. The following days, the blood stain re-appeared – although what was noticeable was that blood stain had different hues each time. The family was far from spooked by this – rather proceeding to grab their cleaning supplies to scrub that spot right off the floor. Umney let them know that it was from when Sir Canterville brutally murdered his wife. They noticed the blood stain in the hall and Mrs. Otis moved into the castle with his wife, his son (Washington), his daughter (Virginia) and his two younger twins and were greeted by the castle housekeeper, Mrs. Sir Canterville declared this upfront to Mr Otis, who discarding the haunted castle rumors offered to buy both the castle and ghost – at valuation. The castle was not inhabited by the Canterville family for decades now, the reason being that it was believed to be haunted.

Otis, an American minister, was looking to buy Canterville Chase, a castle that belonged to Sir Canterville. The Canterville Ghost: Plot Summary and Analysis Unknown to many, this was his first published prose fiction work.Ĭontrary to what the title of the story may suggest, this is a humorous story at the core of which lies the differences in the American and British culture. The Canterville Ghost is a short story written by Oscar Wilde.

The canterville ghost online