For my final paper, I have decided to explore the role of women throughout the 18^th Century. It has occurred to me that most of the books that were read in class had issues about women, sex, and marriage. Therefore, I wanted to go more in depth in exploring what roles the women had during the time period of the 18^th Century. I decided to link together the roles of women during the 18^th Century to the novel of The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.

Having been the first Gothic novel written, The Castle of Otranto depicts a story of the king of Otranto named Manfred. When a giant helmet from the sky kills his son Conrad, Manfred is left with no heir to the throne. This leads him to make the most unimaginable decision in a reader’s point of view. He decides to end his current marriage with his wife, Hippolita, and marry Isabella whom Conrad was supposed to marry. This brings up a question of the role of women in the novel of how they are treated.

Throughout most of the novels that we have read in class, women were depicted as an object of sex and overpowered by men. This idea that women should be submission towards men is depicted more and exaggerated more in The Castle of Otranto. The women characters in The Castle of Otranto are also portrayed as weak compared to the other novels we have read. I felt that the main female characters in Roxana and Pamela who sort of knew how to manipulate the men for some of their own advantage. What is it about the women in The Castle of Otranto that make it seem like the women are more weaker. Is it because the situations that they are in are different from the other novels? I would like to understand exactly how women were supposed to act during the 18^th Century and compare it to the women’s role in The Castle of Otranto. To me it was interesting and shocking to understand how Manfred ended up killing his daughter yet the daughter does not blame the father for killing her.

I would like to focus my easy on the topic of the role of women during the 18^th Century and the novel The Castle of Otranto. However, I am having a difficult time coming up with a central question. Maybe my research topic could be that women throughout The Castle of Otranto were thought of as commodities rather than as a human being and compare that idea with another novel that we had read in class, which could be Pamela. It would actually be an interesting comparison to compare the role of women in the two novels because in The Castle of Otranto the women are of high class and in Pamela the main character is a servant girl. Thus, the paper will be focusing on the topic of whether or not women of a lower class were treated more like commodities than the women of higher class during the 18^th Century.

In chapter 32 of volume three of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, it is a scene where Tristram’s great grandmother talks about his great grandfather’s nose. “—-‘Because,’ quoth my great grandmother, repeating the words again, —-‘you have little or no nose, Sir’—-“ (Sterne, 174). The great grandmother of Tristram complains about how her husband does not have a great nose at all. From the start of this novel and throughout the whole entire book, there seems to be a thing about the nose. What is it about noses that it has to be a reoccurring object?

Once Tristram’s great grandmother started to criticize her husband’s nose, he gets all offended and starts defending himself. “”S’death! Cried my great grandfather, clapping his hand upon his nose, — ‘tis not so small as that comes to; — ‘tis a full inch longer than my father’s” (Sterne, 174). However, throughout the passage, Tristram goes on to explain to the reader that his great grandfather’s nose was actually flat. Tristram alludes to the story of Pantagruel when trying to help illustrate to the reader how flat of a nose his great grandfather had. From the footnote it is said that Pantagruel was a “gigantic son of the giant Gargantua” (Sterne, 565), who had traveled to Ennasin. The footnote also included that the inhabitants of Ennasin had “noses shaped like the ace of clubs” (Sterne, 565). If one does not understand what an ace of clubs look like, just picture it as a four-leaf clover with a stem, except it only has three leaves.

Going back to the topic of noses and why Tristram keeps on referring back to it. It also reminds that reader why Tristram keeps on referring back to the shape of his nose and how it got injured to how his penis also got injured. It seems as if though the two objects are related and produces a symbolism in the novel. Whenever the subject about the nose is brought up, it alludes to the fact that Tristram is in fact talking about the penis. Additionally, what is interesting about the ace of clubs is that it sort of looks like a penis if one uses their imagination further. It is not that story of Pantagruel and his adventure to Ennasin that is important. What is more important is the fact that the people’s noses that lived on Ennasin were shaped like the ace of clubs. It helps the reader understand that the Tristram’s great grandmother is possibly complaining about the size of her husband’s penis because as said earlier nose is a reference to penis. Also, the ace of clubs is a reference to penis. Everything makes so much sense when it one realizes the fact that nose is a reference to penis. It is a reoccurring symbolism throughout the novel. Therefore, this passage and the footnote opens up a whole different perspective into understanding that noses aren’t just noses in this novel, it is in fact a penis. One needs to think outside of the box when reading the footnotes and the passages for this novel.

After reading the Preface to Clara Reeve’s The Old English Baron, it brought back to the helmet that fell on Conrad. Clara Reeve talked about conceiving an idea. The kind of ideas where one can imagine while reading a book and picturing it in his or her mind. However, she goes on to saying that there is a point where that idea one can envision in the mind can only go so far. “For instance, we can conceive, and allow of, the appearance of a ghost; we can even dispense with an enchanted sword and helmet; but then they must keep within certain limits or credibility…When your expectation is wound up to the highest pitch, these circumstances take it down with a witness, destroy the work of imagination, and, instead of attention, excite laughter” (Preface, The Old English Baron). Reeve is noting that sometimes a writer should not go too far into exaggerating an idea. Like the helmet that fell on Conrad. It was not just a regular helmet, it was “a hundred times more larger than any casque ever made for human being” (28, Walpole). The helmet is enormous that it not only makes Manfred taken aback, but also the reader.  In a way it ruins the reader trying to imagine in their minds because it is just too funny and ridiculous of an idea that a helmet that big fell out of no where and crushes Conrad. Therefore, the point is, too much imagination and fantasy may take away from how a reader will envision an idea that is being read because it might just be too much.