Previous
Foreshadowing
Genre
Explanation and Analysis:
While "The Canterville Ghost" is known as a satirical short story, it equally falls into the comedy genre, employing its themes to humorous effect. Wilde is generally known for writing on subjects reminiscent of earlier Restoration-era comedies of manners, which comment on the traditions and idiosyncracies of the aristocracy. "The Canterville Ghost" is a less pointed version of such works, focusing on the foibles of both the British aristocracy and the wealthy American upper classes. Wilde's observations about social life and culture in both countries, while pointed, feel more incidental to the entire focus of the work, which is quite clearly Gothic satire.
While "The Canterville Ghost" does employ a wide variety of traditional Gothic tropes, including fearsome and foreboding elements both natural and supernatural. Wilde's short story does not engage with these genre-specific tropes as a means of uncritically replicating them. On the contrary, Wilde's use of the Gothic includes drawing attention to its various foibles, both simply as a means of generating humor (i.e. art for art's sake) and to create a narrative structure conducive to comparing European superstition with American pragmatism. Somewhat ironically, though the American Otis family does not buy into the rules of the old European Gothic, they do have their own form of worship and supernatural engagement: modern medicine and consumerism.
Related Themes:
