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Sir Simon de Canterville
Mr. Otis is an American minister who purchases Canterville Chase from Lord Canterville. He is the husband of Mrs. Otis and father of Washington, Virginia, and the Otis twins. During the haunting of the Canterville estate, Mr. Otis displays remarkable calm and poise, giving Sir Simon some leeway in adjusting to the home’s new residents (that is, once Mr. Otis recognizes that the ghost exists at all). He also chastises his twin sons for behaving rudely towards Sir Simon. In this, however, he proves himself an ineffectual father—for the twins merely laugh at him and continue their behavior unabated. When Sir Simon knocks over a suit of armor in the middle of the night, however, Mr. Otis, believing his family to be in acute physical danger, is quickly on the scene with a gun, demanding that the ghost put his hands in the air. Mostly, however, Mr. Otis is simply an American in a slightly stereotypical and exaggerated way. He gave his children patriotic American names like Washington and Virginia, talks about how superior America is to England whenever he has the chance (even in such mundane ways as the weather), carries a handgun with him, and actively advocates for all British citizens to immigrate to America. This quintessential “Americanness” appears in stark relief to the Lord Canterville’s equally prototypical “Britishness,” making the symbolism of Canterville Chase’s sale especially poignant.
Mr. Hirsham B. Otis Quotes in The Canterville Ghost
The The Canterville Ghost quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Hirsham B. Otis or refer to Mr. Hirsham B. Otis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy […] I reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we’d have it at home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show.
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Chapter 2
Quotes
On reaching a small secret chamber in the left wing, he leaned up against a moonbeam to recover his breath, and began to try and realize his position. Never in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted.
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And after all this some wretched Americans were to come and offer him the Rising Sun Lubricator, and throw pillows at his head! It was quite unbearable. Besides, no ghost in history had ever been treated in this manner. Accordingly, he determined to have vengeance, and remained till daylight in an attitude of deep thought.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
I have no wish […] to do the ghost any personal injury, and I must say that, considering the length of time he has been in the house, I don’t think it is at all polite to throw pillows at him[…] [u]pon the other hand […] if he really does decline to use the Rising Sun Lubricator, we shall have to take his chains from him.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
"I don't think I should like America."
"I suppose because we have no ruins and no curiosities,"
said Virginia, satirically.
"No ruins no curiosities!" answered the Ghost; "you have
your navy and your manners."
"Good evening; I will go and ask papa to get the twins an extra week's holiday."
"Please don't go, Miss Virginia," he cried; “I am so lonely and so unhappy, and I really don't know what to do. I want to go to sleep and I cannot."
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Under these circumstances, Lord Canterville, I feel sure that you will recognize how impossible it would be for me to allow them to remain in the possession of any member of my family; and, indeed, all such vain gauds and toys, however suitable or necessary to the dignity of the British aristocracy, would be completely out of place among those who have been brought up on the severe, and I believe immortal, principles of Republican simplicity.
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Mr. Hirsham B. Otis Quotes in The Canterville Ghost
The The Canterville Ghost quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Hirsham B. Otis or refer to Mr. Hirsham B. Otis. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
I have come from a modern country, where we have everything that money can buy […] I reckon that if there were such a thing as a ghost in Europe, we’d have it at home in a very short time in one of our public museums, or on the road as a show.
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Chapter 2
Quotes
On reaching a small secret chamber in the left wing, he leaned up against a moonbeam to recover his breath, and began to try and realize his position. Never in a brilliant and uninterrupted career of three hundred years, had he been so grossly insulted.
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And after all this some wretched Americans were to come and offer him the Rising Sun Lubricator, and throw pillows at his head! It was quite unbearable. Besides, no ghost in history had ever been treated in this manner. Accordingly, he determined to have vengeance, and remained till daylight in an attitude of deep thought.
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Chapter 3
Quotes
I have no wish […] to do the ghost any personal injury, and I must say that, considering the length of time he has been in the house, I don’t think it is at all polite to throw pillows at him[…] [u]pon the other hand […] if he really does decline to use the Rising Sun Lubricator, we shall have to take his chains from him.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
"I don't think I should like America."
"I suppose because we have no ruins and no curiosities,"
said Virginia, satirically.
"No ruins no curiosities!" answered the Ghost; "you have
your navy and your manners."
"Good evening; I will go and ask papa to get the twins an extra week's holiday."
"Please don't go, Miss Virginia," he cried; “I am so lonely and so unhappy, and I really don't know what to do. I want to go to sleep and I cannot."
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Under these circumstances, Lord Canterville, I feel sure that you will recognize how impossible it would be for me to allow them to remain in the possession of any member of my family; and, indeed, all such vain gauds and toys, however suitable or necessary to the dignity of the British aristocracy, would be completely out of place among those who have been brought up on the severe, and I believe immortal, principles of Republican simplicity.
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