Chapter one of “The Canterville Ghost” serves as the exposition (introduction) to the rest of the story, because it gives the reader key details on who the story will be about. It also briefly introduces the setting of the story and the coming conflict that will occur between those characters and that setting.

The external conflict that exists between Sir Simon the ghost and the Otis family is the main conflict in the story. Sir Simon continually comes up with new ideas to frighten and bother the Otis family with, but the Otis family repeatedly foils his attempts.

“The Canterville Ghost” ends with a conversation between Virginia Otis and her new husband, the Duke. The Duke laments to Virginia that she has been keeping a secret from him. Virginia has never explained to him what happened between her and Sir Simon’s ghost when she went missing.

‘The Canterville Ghost’ was published in segments in 1887. This short story focuses on the Otis family’s experiences living in Canterville Chase, a castle, and interacting with the castle’s ghost. One theme that arises is American versus British culture.

Sir Simon de Canterville

Otis offers Sir Simon’s ghost some oil. Mr. Otis wants Sir Simon to oil his squeaky ghost chains, so the chains won’t make so much noise at night. The ghost’s goal is to frighten the Otis family into leaving the house.

Expert Answers In Chapter Three, the ghost tries to frighten the family by wearing an antique suit of armor, which stands in the downstairs hallway. He also creeps up to Washington’s room but is confronted by an unfamiliar “specter” which, ironically, frightens the ghost away.

During his escape, he lets out a frightening groan which prompts Mrs Otis to offer him some tincture for his “indigestion.” In contrast, the only member of the family who treats the ghost with any kindness and sympathy is Virginia.

This American family was extremely annoying. But what annoyed him most was, that he had not been able to wear the suit of armour. The weight of it had made him fall and hurt his knees. For some days after this the ghost only left his room to renew the blood-stain.

‘ When the ghost laughed in his most demonic way, Mrs. On reaching his own room, the ghost was annoyed at the vulgarity of the twins and the ‘gross materialism’ of Mrs. Otis. But the reason that made him really distressed was that he could not wear the armour suit.

Expert Answers Since taking possession of Canterville Chase, the family has thwarted his attempts to frighten them and reduced him to a state of depression, as described in Chapter Four: His nerves were completely shattered, and he started at the slightest noise.

He has been an inhabitant Canterville Chase all his life and its ghost since 1584, when, for unexplained reasons, he killed his wife (leaving the infamous bloodstain on the sitting-room floor) and was subsequently murdered by his brothers-in-law, who starved him to death and left his body entombed in a secret chamber …

On the other hand Mrs Umney believed that the ghosts exist . She got afraid when she saw the blood stain in the library . And when the blood stain was being removed she got fainted by hearing the strange sound which came while it was being removed.

Mr. Mr. Otis, an American ambassador, purchases Canterville Castle, even though everyone tells him that it is haunted. His reasoning is that the United States has everything that money can buy, and if there really were ghosts in Europe, there would surely be one in a museum in America.

Otis, the American Minister, bought Canterville Chase, every one told him he was doing a very foolish thing, as there was no doubt at all that the place was haunted. Indeed, Lord Canterville himself, who was a man of the most punctilious honour, had felt it his duty to mention the fact to Mr.

The twins see the ghost as a figure they can torment and tease for their own amusement. They shoot at him with pea-shooters, set up wires to trip him, and frighten him by creating a fake ghost out of a sweeping brush and a hollow turnip.

Mr. Otis’s initial belief that ghosts don’t exist stems from his prior experiences. He has never come across a ghost in his real life or come across one on display in America; therefore, his evidence suggests that ghosts are a complete superstition of the British aristocracy.

Since he does not believe that the house is haunted by spirits and rejects every argument provided as proof of their existence, Mr. Otis does not see any threat and freely buys Canterville Chase. His reasoning for this decision is very clear, as he tells Lord Canterville: But there is no such thing, sir, as a ghost.

The story is about an American family who moved to a castle haunted by the ghost of a dead English nobleman, who killed his wife and was then walled in and starved to death by his wife’s brothers. It has been adapted for the stage and screen several times.