Mrs. Lucretia R. Otis Character Analysis

Mrs. Otis, born Miss Lucretia R. Tappan, was considered a “celebrated belle” back in New York City. Now in middle age, Mrs. Otis is the wife of Mr. Otis and mother to Washington, Virginia, and the Otis twins. Though American by birth, Mrs. Otis has taken quite well to life in England. She truly is English in many of her behaviors and mannerisms, “an excellent example of the fact that [the English] have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.” Mrs. Otis appears only briefly throughout The Canterville Ghost and always in tandem with Mr. Otis. In her single interaction with Sir Simon, Mrs. Otis offers the ghost stomach medicine, mistaking his demoniacal laughter for indigestion.