3 Theme of Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

The theme of love

Horace Walpole didn’t fail to employ the thing called love among his characters (both paternal and romantic). 

The strong bond between Lady Hippolita and her children were due to love undiluted while the romantic love between the likes of Theodore and Maltilda leave readers with goosebumps. They loved each other so much that they blindly took risks for love_ though they couldn’t marry each other following the untimely death of Matilda.

The theme of masculinity

The author indirectly questioned the supremacy of the male gender over the female gender. In the novel Castle of Otranto, men took rash decisions concerning women as if women were mere puppets to toil with for fun. Without seeking the opinion of Isabella, she was betrothed to Conrad. 

Matilda was also denied chance of becoming heiress or inheriting the political estate of her father. Manfred was more bullish to the feminine than masculine; undermining, divorcing, remarrying, just to mention a few. Walpole used Isabella as a character to challenge such masculine supremacy. She refused to marry Prince Manfred.

The theme of supernatural

Horace Walpole proved in the novel that some inhuman forces were capable of controlling the existence of humans. Those forces played on both objects and human emotions.

Besides other actions such the ghosts, giant, the fulfilled prophecy that the rightful heir of Otranto will possess their possession is a big evidence.