The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost, by Oscar Wilde, is a story about forgiveness, love, and the clash of Old World and New World beliefs. Through a satirical approach, Wilde highlights the shortcomings of each set of beliefs and how the characters overcome those shortcomings to bridge the two worlds.

The story begins with Hiram Otis and Lord Canterville discussing the ghost that haunts Canterville Chase, where the Otis family will be living. When they arrive, they find a blood stain that reappears every morning in the library, where Sir Simon de Canterville murdered his wife in the sixteenth century. It is his ghost that haunts the Chase. Hiram’s oldest son, Washington, tries to remove the stain with detergent, but it keeps coming back.

Sir Simon tries to frighten the Otis family, but instead of being frightened, Hiram offers the ghost a lubrication solution to keep his chains from rattling, so that he and his family can sleep. The two youngest of the Otis family, twins referred to as Stars and Stripes, play tricks to humiliate Sir Simon, and Lucretia Otis, Hiram’s wife, offers the ghost a tincture for indigestion when she hears him cry out.

What follows is a sort of war between the twins and Sir Simon’s ghost. Over time, they continue to torment him, until he is afraid to make too much noise at night. When the Duke of Cheshire, one of Virginia Otis’ suitors, comes to visit, Sir Simon decides he will scare him, but is too frightened of the twins to go through with it.

When Virginia finds Sir Simon sulking, she agrees to help him find his way to everlasting rest—and peace—by undergoing a frightening journey with him, to cry and pray for forgiveness of his sins. She’s successful, and before he fully dies, he rewards her with a casket of jewels. Though Hiram tries to give the jewels to Lord Canterville, Lord Canterville insists that Virginia keep them.

While she’d been gone, Hiram, Washington, and Cecil (the Duke of Cheshire) all searched for her. Hiram suspected a local group of gypsies of having kidnapped her, but was proved wrong when he learned that they had gone to a fair. Four of them stayed behind to help with the search.

At the end of the story, Virginia marries the Duke of Cheshire, and they are happily in love. Sir Simon is laid to rest, and all the main characters are happy, having learned that love is the reason for existence.