- Summary
- Wilde Oscar
- The Canterville Ghost
An American ambassador purchases a palace in England from Lord Canterville. The ambassador's name is Hiram B. Otis. The lord tells the ambassador that there is a ghost in the castle, but Mr. Otis says that this is not a problem.
The Ambassador, along with his wife, twins, Washington, a handsome young man and fifteen-year-old daughter Virginia, move into their new home. The whole family is greeted by the middle-aged housekeeper Mrs. Umney. In the reading room, the family notices a scarlet stain, which Washington removes with stain remover. Suddenly, lightning flashes and Mrs. Umney loses consciousness, but after a couple of seconds she comes to her senses again. The morning after the storm, the family notices a bloody stain on the floor. Washington removes the stain again, but every day it appears again and again on the floor.
Suddenly at night Mr. Otis hears the creaking of chains and someone's footsteps. The ambassador left his room to find out what was happening, a little later he sees a ghost, to help him the man offered oil to lubricate the metal. Having said all this, Otis goes into the room, at that moment a pillow thrown at the poor fellow by the restless twins flies into the ghost. The ghost is very indignant and offended.
The spot in the reading room begins to change its color. Every day there is a new color, now the spot has turned green, this makes young Virginia very upset. At night, the ghost began to make noise, trying to put on knight's armor, for which the twins shoot the poor fellow with a slingshot. Hearing the ghost's terrible laughter, Mrs. Otis offered him medicine because she thought he was sick.
The ghost came up with a plan to drive this family out of the castle. He entered Washington's room, but sees another ghost there; it later turns out that it is just a scarecrow. The ghost did not appear for several days. The next attempt also fails, the ghost is offended. The ghost decides to come out when Virginia's fiancé arrives. But he is very afraid of the twins, so he doesn’t go out.
After a walk, the girl runs into the hall where the ghost sat sadly. She feels sorry for him and says that he should behave well.
The ghost shows Virginia a prophecy according to which the girl must save him. The girl agrees and helps him. For some time the ghost and the girl disappear. The whole family is looking for Virginia. Finally, the girl appears with a precious box in her hands, there are a lot of jewelry in the box, the girl leads the whole family to the closet where the scary skeleton is located. Mrs. Otis decides to return Canterville's jewelry, but he says that the jewelry is now Virginia's property.
Soon Virginia becomes a married woman. Virginia and her husband decide to come to Sir Canterville's grave. Sir Simon revealed to Virginia why Love is stronger than Death.
You can use this text for a reader's diary
About the product
Wilde’s fabulously humorous story “The Canterville Ghost” was written in 1887. The plot is based on the collision of the real and otherworldly worlds.
The work is a parody of the Gothic style, which was popular in English literature at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries.
We recommend reading online a summary of “The Canterville Ghost” chapter by chapter, and then taking a test to test your knowledge. A retelling of the book will be useful for a reading diary and preparation for a literature lesson.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Reader reviews
A fascinating story that clearly demonstrates that you will have to answer for every action. If not during life, then after death for sure. This work is a must read for everyone. It shows true mercy and selflessness. Only kindness could save the ghost.
Anna
An interesting and instructive story. Already in adulthood, she opens up from a different side. The writer did not tell in detail what exactly pushed Simon to commit a terrible act, but he received a serious punishment - eternal torment without the right to rest. Only the girl’s selflessness saved him.
Maria
A very touching and sensual story.
Virginia is the embodiment of true mercy. She was not afraid to go to the other world for the ghost and save his soul. Yes, Simon sinned a lot in his life, but he repented and received a chance for salvation. Inna
Other characters
- Mr. Otis is the American Ambassador, a sensible, sensible man.
- Mrs. Otis is the ambassador's wife, a beautiful woman.
- Washington is the eldest son of the Otises, who was predicted to have a brilliant career.
- Virginia is the daughter of the Otises, a kind, merciful girl.
- The twins are the youngest sons of the Otis couple, pranksters and hooligans.
- Lord Canterville is the owner of the castle, who sold it to the Otis family.
The plot of the work
The main characters of the novel are an American family that comes to England. The head of the family is a diplomat. Therefore, for work, he will have to settle in Foggy Albion. To live with dignity, he buys the family castle from Lord Canterville. The English aristocrat warns that there are many ghosts in the house, but the American Otis does not believe it. He is generally skeptical about everything incredible. This is the main conflict of the short story “The Canterville Ghost”.
The summary allows you to carefully follow all the twists and turns of the plot. The ambassador brings his entire family - his wife and children - to the castle. This is his son Washington, 15-year-old Virginia and the restless twins - the main miscreants.
There is already a servant living in the castle, the elderly housekeeper Mrs. Umney.
Summary
Chapter 1
When the American Ambassador Otis decided to purchase Canterville Castle, they began to dissuade him from this venture, assuring him “that there was a ghost in the castle.” However, the ambassador did not pay attention to such trifles and soon moved into a new residence with his family - his beautiful wife, eldest son Washington, fifteen-year-old daughter Virginia and twin boys, nicknamed “Stars and Stripes”, “because they were endlessly flogged.”
Noticing a “red stain darkened by time” near the fireplace, which turned out to be bloody, Mrs. Otis ordered the old maid to wipe it off. She refused out of superstition, and Washington got down to business, easily erasing it with stain remover.
Chapter 2
The day after a severe storm, “everyone again saw a terrible blood stain on the floor.” Washington brought it out again, but it stubbornly continued to appear day after day.
One night, Mr. Otis woke up to the sound of grinding metal and someone's footsteps. Going out into the corridor, he saw a terrible old man, dressed in rags and shackled. The appearance of the ghost did not at all surprise the ambassador, who calmly asked him to “grease his chains from now on,” and then went to his room. The ghost's humiliation was intensified by the pillow flying over his head, which was thrown from above by the restless twins. Deeply wounded, the ghost “plotted revenge.”
Chapter 3
The bloody stain began to change its color, and appeared in a dark red, purple, and even emerald green hue. Such changes “really amused the family.”
At night, everyone woke up from a terrible roar: a ghost tried to put on knightly armor, but to no avail. The twins immediately began shooting at him with slingshots, and Mr. Otis took aim with his revolver. The ghost burst into “his famous devilish laughter,” to which Mrs. Otis invited him to drink a medicinal potion.
The “bad manners of the twins and the crude materialism” of the rest of the family plunged the ghost into a state of deep melancholy. He planned to take cruel revenge on the new residents, but this was prevented by the appearance of a new ghost. The Canterville Ghost later found out that “he was deceived, outwitted, tricked,” and it was just a scarecrow.
Chapter 4
The next night the ghost wanted to act as “Brave Ruper, or the Headless Earl,” but the twins scared him and he abandoned his idea. The boys “ambushed him several times,” and the ghost decided not to appear in the castle corridors again.
Chapter 5
One day, Virginia went into a small closet, where she saw a ghost, whose figure “expressed hopeless despair.” The girl felt sorry for him, and she started talking with the ghost. Having learned that the ghost was forced to serve a sentence for the murder of his wife, she scolded him, but then offered to go to America and get some treatment. The ghost refused. Then the kind girl said that she would ask the Angel to have mercy on him.
Chapter 6
In gratitude for Virginia saving his soul, the ghost gave her “a box of wonderful jewels.” She took the family to a closet, where she spent the entire evening communicating with the ghost. There they saw a skeleton chained to a huge metal ring in the wall.
Chapter 7
A few days after these amazing events, a funeral ceremony was performed. Mr. Otis handed over the found jewelry to Lord Canterville, but he gave it to Virginia in gratitude “for her rare courage and dedication.”
Some time later, Virginia married her admirer, the Duke of Cheshire. After their honeymoon, the couple returned to Canterville Castle, and at the grave of Sir Simon, a former ghost, she admitted that in that closet he told her “what Life is, and what Death is, and why Love is stronger than Life and Death”...
Characters
The main character of Oscar Wilde's work is Sir Simon Canterville. He killed his own wife, for which he was cursed and doomed to eke out an existence as a ghost. The author mentioned only two reasons for such a terrible act - the chosen one was ugly and did not know how to cook at all. Sir Canterville was killed by his brothers-in-law - they starved him to death.
Some literary scholars believe that there is one detail hidden in the plot. The lord could kill his wife for treason. This is indirectly mentioned in the episode when the lord brings a dead deer from a hunt. There is no direct mention of betrayal, but clearly Canterville would not so easily go to extreme measures.
There are other characters in the work. The Otis family includes:
- Mr. Otis is the American ambassador, distinguished by his prudence and calmness.
- Mrs. Otis is the ambassador's wife.
- Washington, Virginia, twins are the couple's children.
The house was sold to the Otises by Lord Canterville, Simon's distant ancestor. The current owner immediately warned that there was a ghost in the castle, but this did not stop the Americans. They were only delighted with such a profitable acquisition.
The story of the Canterville Ghost shows what responsibility is. During his lifetime, Simon sinned and received punishment for it. For three hundred years he was deprived of peace and dreamed only of death. Only Virginia's kindness and mercy saved his soul.
You can record the following information in your reading diary:
- title of the work;
- summary of the plot;
- personal impressions.
The main idea of Wilde's work is that everyone has the right to forgiveness and atonement for their sins. Thanks to the ghost, Virginia learned what life and death are, why love is the strongest in the world.
Proverbs for the work
There was guilt, but it was forgiven.
Without repentance there is no forgiveness.
As is the sin, so is the retribution.
There is no such person who can live without sin.
A short prayer, may it save.
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The ghost and his tricks
The story began the day the family of the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Hiram B. Otis, purchased the family home from the de Canterville heirs. The scrupulous lord warned the American about the existence of a ghost, but the pragmatic esquire decided that real estate with such a tenant was a more interesting investment, and without the slightest trepidation he moved his wife and children to the castle at the end of the season.
At the first tea party, Lady Otis, the ambassador's wife, noticed a large old stain on the floor by the fireplace. She was not happy with the stains in the living room, and the housekeeper, Miss Umney, was called in. The old maid blamed the Canterville Ghost for the constant renewal of the spot. The brief content of her tragic speech was reduced to the announcement of the entire gloomy story. She said that the stain could not be wiped off - Lady Eleanor’s blood was shed on this spot three centuries ago. The head of the family, not burdened with sentimentality, quickly coped with the task of eliminating contamination using a universal stain remover.
Alarmed by the new noisy owners, the phantom resolutely got down to business, but everything did not go well. The stain was regularly removed using the latest means. It got to the point where it turned from red to green or yellow. The ghost just had to steal paints from Virginia, and the red one quickly ran out.
Wanting to show his power and revive its former glory, Sir Simon decided to walk around the castle, howling mournfully and rattling his chains. But the ghost suffered a crushing blow - no one was afraid, and the American diplomat also offered oil to lubricate the chains, since he could not sleep from the noise. No one was afraid, and the playful twins staged a real ghost hunt, which made him despondent and melancholy. Only Virginia expressed sympathy for the hapless ghost.
Having tried all the means and roles that terrified the inhabitants of the castle for three hundred years, but received in response only the deafening laughter of the harmful twins, the advice of Mr. Otis and potions from Mrs. Otis, Sir Simon fell ill and fell into depression.
"The Canterville Ghost": heroes of the novel
The work describes the events that took place in England, in one of the ancient castles. In the work "The Canterville Ghost" the characters have bright personalities. The characters are as follows: the ghost of Sir Simon Canterville and the family of the United States Ambassador to Great Britain, Hiram B. Otis. Mr. Otis was married and had four children: his eldest son, Washington, a charming daughter, Virginia, and two school-age twins. It was with their appearance in the old castle that this whole story began.
Ghost is sick
From lack of calm and self-respect, the ghost gets sick. But he doesn’t despair. Oscar Wilde in The Canterville Ghost, which is summarized in this article, sets out a plan by which the ghost hopes to frighten Americans.
At night, the old man sneaks into Washington's room, but unexpectedly meets another ghost there. At first, he decides to team up with him, but this turns out to be another mockery of the Americans. The ghost is not real, it is just a scarecrow in a white canopy.
The Canterville Ghost hides in its hideout for several days. Having gathered its strength, it appears before the twins in its most terrible form. But the mischievous boys, instead of being scared, pour water on the ghost and scare the old man themselves. In fear of the twins, the ghost does not dare to come out of its hiding place for a long time.
