Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Fatalism in The Castle of Otranto
The "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole revolves around fatalism such as the prophecy of the ruling families demise. Fatalism or determinalism tends to have a dark effect since as human beings we like to believe we have a will that is free. The events in the story are the mechanical workings of the higher power that operates the universe rightfully called both God and Nature. Superstitious elements enter into the story when God is given the characteristics of humanity; the will of God is quite human insofar as it concerns the morality of the human characters (punishment). Within the story, God is the effective cause of everything and even seems to be acting transiently or with abrupt and impulsive actions such is the case with the moaning statue as a reaction. By giving God human affections, Walpole creates a superstitious atmosphere, where we can and will be judged at any moment by an all powerful and vengeful God. The fatalism present within the story operates in a way that is contrary with our logic on some regards; however, the adaption of a higher power concerned with our actions conforms to our broken, egocentric logic. This I believe to be superstition.
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I agree that "The Castle of Otranto" is hugely centered around fatalism. I also like your distinction between fatalism and superstition; I think your definition for superstition is an elegant one. I'm curious to see how the treatment of superstition changes (or doesn't change) as the semester moves along.
ReplyDeleteI too am curious as to how this idea of superstition will change over the course of the semester (if at all). I think this is a fascinating interpretation of the elements of determinism within the story, and how the 'human' treatment of God/Nature helps to create an overall sense of superstition.
ReplyDeleteI also think, however, that it's important to acknowledge the individual characters as 'fated' not only by a higher being, but also by their own belief that the PAST completely affected their futures. This innate superstition within them helps the reader believe that other forms of determinism could also be in effect, and since there is nothing to prove otherwise- must simply be an inevitability of the story.
An 18th century physicist (Laplace) used the ideas of the past as directly connected to the future in his quest to prove that humans could gain 'absolute knowledge', something Nature has all-too-cleverly made impossible to prove. "We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at any given moment knew all of the forces that animate nature and the mutual positions of the beings that compose it, if this intellect were vast enough to submit the data to analysis, could condense into a single formula the movement of the greatest bodies of the universe and that of the lightest atom; for such an intellect nothing could be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes."
I like that you have separated fatalism from superstition, but I think that there is a strong tie between the superstition of the characters and the subsequent fatalism that they allow for and accept.