The Canterville Ghost: Resumen de Capítulos, Personajes y Trama de Oscar Wilde

The Canterville Ghost: resumen de la historia

Chapter 1

The plot:

This chapter presents the general situation of the story. Mr Hiram Otis, an American minister, buys an old castle in England, the Canterville Chase, even though the previous owner told him that the castle was haunted.

Here we discover the story of the Canterville ghost, Sir Simon, who feels guilty because he killed his wife, Lady Eleanor. He died and reappears before the death of any family member. Now he haunts the manor and terrifies people.

At the end of the chapter, the atmosphere is tense: at night, after the presentation of the family, they see a mysterious bloodstain on the floor. The housekeeper, Mrs Umney, says that the stain mustn't be touched, because the ghost left it there. But Washington, the son of Mr Otis, cleans it with an American detergent and, some time later, a fearful peal of thunder makes them all jump to their feet. Mrs Umney faints. It starts to rain. Fear is omnipresent in the house.

Chapter 2

The plot:

The second chapter starts when Mr Otis sees the bloodstain on the floor and thinks that the ghost really exists. Mrs Otis wants to call the Psychical Society, but the next day the family does not speak about the ghost.

One night a noise wakes Mr Otis, exactly at one o'clock. He goes out with the lubricant and sees an old man: he is the ghost of Sir Simon. The only words the American minister says to him are in this moment, when the twins leave their room and throw a pillow at the ghost.

The poor Sir Simon is very humiliated and thinks of his honourable career.

Chapter 3

The plot:

This chapter is very striking because of several interesting situations. It begins in the kitchen, where the family is having breakfast and speaking about the first apparition of the ghost. The apparition did not cause any fear, and for this reason the ghost is very angry and humiliated because the twins had thrown pillows at him.

For his second appearance, Mrs Otis makes fun of him when she offers a remedy against indigestion.

For the rest of the week the ghost does not appear, but the bloodstain changes colour several times and even becomes emerald-green, which makes Virginia cry. In the meantime, the ghost selects the day, Friday 17th of August, for his second apparition, and chooses the best clothes in his wardrobe. To teach the twins a lesson, the ghost wants to scare them one last time by going to their room at night, but they trap him: they make a fake ghost and, in the end, it is the real ghost who is scared by them! However, the ghost realizes his error when he sees the message in the library.

Chapter 4

The plot:

The ghost stops renewing the bloodstain and stays in his room for five days. He feels weak and tired. In a final attempt to scare the twins, he visits them as a headless character, but a bucket of water falls on him when he opens the twins' bedroom door: they have played another trick on him.

The ghost is more and more depressed. He is so angry that he decides to take his revenge. Sir Simon's state of mind is obvious: he has a nervous breakdown because the family keeps on tormenting him, so he cannot frighten them anymore and gives up the idea of frightening the American family. They think he has gone away for good. The ghost remembers that he is one of the young Duke's relatives, but he is too frightened to go and appear to him.

Chapter 5

The plot:

The chapter starts when Virginia comes back home and, in a small room of the chase, she sees Sir Simon, the ghost! The ghost is in extreme depression and Virginia pities him. She tries to comfort him.

Virginia and the ghost begin to chat, and Sir Simon says that he hates her family because the Otis family does not fear him. When Virginia hears this, she becomes angry and reproaches the ghost.

In the room, Sir Simon reveals his secret to Virginia: he hasn't slept for three hundred years. He says that he will only be able to sleep in the garden of death, the only place of peace for him. He hopes Virginia will go with him to this place.

Only Virginia can pray to the angel of death to save the soul of Sir Simon. Virginia is frightened, but she accepts.

In this chapter we see different moods in the characters, in particular Virginia, who in the end becomes the best friend of Sir Simon, while at the beginning she is afraid of him.

Chapter 6

The plot:

When the family was having tea, Virginia was not with them. Mr Otis went to find her, but he failed. However, he remembered that Virginia used to go to the garden at that time to pick flowers.

After an hour Mr Otis began to really worry, and he searched for Virginia in all the rooms of the chase. But this time too he failed. The family was very agitated, and the little Duke of Cheshire went with the family searching for Virginia. Mr Otis thinks that the gypsies kidnapped Virginia, but he is wrong!

He sent a telegram to the police saying that his daughter might have been kidnapped by the gypsies, and he gave them some clues to find her. When Mr Otis no longer believed he would find Virginia and thought that his daughter was dead, she came back home with a little casket in her hands. Virginia explained to her family that she had helped Sir Simon die in peace. The casket was a gift from Sir Simon to Virginia to thank her for her help.

Chapter 7

The plot:

The chapter begins with the magnificent funeral of the ghost. All the Otis family participated, as did the housemaids and Lord Canterville. After the service, Lord Canterville offered the jewels to Mr Otis, and they had a discussion, because Mr Otis could not accept them as he was not a member of the Canterville family. However, in the end Lord Canterville convinced him to accept the jewel case. Afterwards, in 1890, Virginia married the Duke of Cheshire, and her jewels were the universal theme of admiration.

The Duke and the Duchess, after their honeymoon was over, went down to Canterville Chase and walked to the lonely churchyard by the pine woods. Cecil asked Virginia what happened when she was locked in with the ghost, but she did not reveal her secret.