The illuminations of the word sublime provided by Edmund Burke in A Philosophical Inquiry Into The Origin Of Our Ideas Of The Sublime And Beautiful imbues me with an entirely new way of observing some of the actions and situations that our protagonist, Theodore, is involved in in the Gothic Novel The Castle of Otranto by Henry Walpole.

Burke relates to us: “The passion caused by the great and sublime in nature, when those causes operate most powerfully, is Astonishment; and astonishment is that state of the soul, in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror” (132). With this quote, I now turn to page 30 in Otranto, where our young peasant Theodore has just arrived at the scene of a most grim death of a boy named Conrad. Unfortunately for Theodore, his quick observation of the possible origins for the object that caused this death earns the quick contempt of Conrad’s father, Manfred. Suspicious over Theodore’s claims relating to the death, Manfred immediately begins to lay blame on Theodore, even grappling Theodore with a great haste; “The young peasant himself  was still more astonished, not conceiving how he had offended the prince: yet, recollecting himself, … he disengaged himself from Manfred’s grip”  (Walpole 30). This moment captures perfectly what Burke means by astonishment, Theodore is, but for a moment, overcome by either fear or disbelief at the sudden actions of Manfred, and unable to immediately act against his aggressor without first recollecting himself.

Burke also explores another topic within his essay, and that is the effect of obscurity on the mind and the powerful feelings associated with the possibility that something could be, when one is unable to completely verify the authenticity of it or the danger it might posses; “To make any things very terrible, obscurity seems in general to be necessary. When we know the full extent of any danger … a great deal of the apprehension vanishes” (133). To elucidate my connection with this to Otranto, let us turn to page 47 – 48, where Manfred’s daughter, Matilda, is conversing about the days horrific events with her servant, Bianca. Yet in the midst of this conversation, an odd voice can be heard, much to confusion of both Matilda and Bianca. With further deduction, they soon locate the voice to what would be an otherwise unoccupied chamber beneath them. With the obscurity of the origins for the voice gripping Bianca’s mind, she soon falls victim to the wildest thoughts of the supernatural and surrenders herself to the paralysis that would prevent her from discovering the true answer behind it. “”Oh! dear lady, I would not speak to a ghost for the world!” cried Bianca (Walpole 48). Fortunately for Bianca, Matilda is brave enough to call to the ghost and ascertain it’s true identity, a young peasent by the name of Theodore, resolving the obscurity and putting Bianca’s fears to rest. With this use of obscurity to create tension and apprehension, Walpole makes a great case for the ideas presented by Burke. Because Bianca is left to dwell on her thoughts to the mystery of the voice, obscurity grows and her fears coalesce to the dread of a possible ghost.