The Castle of Otranto · Theme
Ambition and Tyranny
How The Castle of Otranto develops Ambition and Tyranny.
Manfred's relentless ambition to secure his power and lineage drives him to tyrannical acts, including attempting to divorce his wife and force a marriage, demonstrating how unchecked ambition corrupts and destroys.
Where it surfaces
- Sonnet to the Right Honourable Lady Mary Coke
The poem references 'fell ambition scourg'd by fate,' linking ambition to punishment and foreshadowing the novel's central conflict.
- I
Manfred's immediate shift from grief to plotting a new marriage and divorce reveals his ruthless ambition to secure his lineage.
- Chapter III
Manfred's ambition drives him to imprison Theodore and plot to marry Isabella despite her father's claim; his tyrannical nature is evident in his treatment of Jerome and the herald.
- Chapter V
Manfred's ambition leads to murder and the accidental death of his daughter, culminating in his downfall.