Bungay Castle (novel): Difference between revisions
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[[File:Daughters of King George III.jpg|thumb|alt=a Georgian painting of three young girls in elaborage clothes, playing with small dogs in a fanciful pastoral setting|''The Three Youngest Daughters of [[George III]]'' by J. S. Copley (1785), a painting very similar to the portrait of the De Mornay daughters in ''Bungay Castle'', reinforcing metaphorical links between the family and the government of Britain]] |
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| ⚫ | When Bonhôte began her novel, castles were a common setting, verging on the stereotypical. The preface to ''Bungay Castle'' describes her dissatisfaction with novels that are overly fanciful and set in foreign or imaginary castles. Bonhôte lived directly next to the ruins of the real |
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''Bungay Castle'' is considered a political conservative novel, as reflected in several aspects of its plot and setting. Bonhote emphasizes in her preface that she does not want to write about politics, but the novel itself frequently compares parental governance to political governance. By praising the good household management of a father who is the ruler of his family, she expresses approval for the general idea of good governance by a virtuous king.<ref name="Georgieva 122">{{Cite book |last=Georgieva |first=Margarita |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9781137306074 |title=The Gothic Child |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-45502-7 |location=London |pages=122 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137306074}}</ref> One parallel between the De Morney family and the monarchy is a painting described in the novel, of the three daughters playing with a dog, which resembles a painting of [[George III]]'s daughters.<ref name="Georgieva 134">{{Cite book |last=Georgieva |first=Margarita |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1057/9781137306074 |title=The Gothic Child |date=2013 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-1-349-45502-7 |location=London |pages=134 |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137306074}}</ref> |
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| ⚫ | Bonhote's conservative and pro-monarchical views are also reflected in her use of the real [[Bungay Castle]] as her setting, When Bonhôte began her novel, castles were a common setting, verging on the stereotypical. The preface to ''Bungay Castle'' describes her dissatisfaction with novels that are overly fanciful and set in foreign or imaginary castles. Bonhôte lived directly next to the ruins of the real Bungay Castle in Suffolk, and used this setting to introduce more [[Realism (arts)|realism]] to her novel.<ref name="Townshend ch3">{{Cite book |last=Townshend |first=Dale |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1119614410 |title=Gothic antiquity: history, romance, and the architectural imagination, 1760-1840 |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-258442-7 |location=Oxford |pages=157-158 |oclc=1119614410}}</ref> She also chose her historical time period to recapture the castle's days of greatest glory. During her lifetime, the ruins of the castle had been partly converted into cottages for the rural poor, which she saw as a sad waste of a building which had once been highly desired by barons and kings. Her emphasis on the restoration of Bungay Castle to its medieval glories therefore reflects a general emphasis on conservative and pro-monarchist politics in the novel.<ref name="Townshend ch6">{{Cite book |last=Townshend |first=Dale |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1119614410 |title=Gothic antiquity: history, romance, and the architectural imagination, 1760-1840 |date=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-258442-7 |location=Oxford |pages=272-273 |oclc=1119614410}}</ref> |
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Like many [[Eighteenth-century Gothic novel|eighteenth-century Gothic novels]], ''Bungay Castle'' depicts [[Convent|convents]] as predatory institutions which imprison women against their will.<ref name=":0" /> This depiction of convents is in keeping with the novel's overall anti-Catholic sentiments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoeveler |first=Diane |title=Anti-Catholicism and the Gothic Imaginary: The Historical and Literary Contexts |journal=Religion in the Age of Enlightenment |volume=3 |year=2012 |pages=1-31}}</ref> |
Like many [[Eighteenth-century Gothic novel|eighteenth-century Gothic novels]], ''Bungay Castle'' depicts [[Convent|convents]] as predatory institutions which imprison women against their will.<ref name=":0" /> This depiction of convents is in keeping with the novel's overall anti-Catholic sentiments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoeveler |first=Diane |title=Anti-Catholicism and the Gothic Imaginary: The Historical and Literary Contexts |journal=Religion in the Age of Enlightenment |volume=3 |year=2012 |pages=1-31}}</ref> |
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Revision as of 20:44, 25 March 2022
Bungay Castle is a gothic novel by Elizabeth Bonhôte, first published in 1796. It is set loosely in the thirteenth century around the First Barons' War, and follows the fortunes of the De Morney family at Bungay Castle in Suffolk. It was published by William Lane's Minerva Press.[1]
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Summary
Roseline and Edwin De Morney live with their father, Sir Philip De Morney, at Bungay Castle, which is near the convent of Saint Mary's. While a student at the convent, Roseline befriends a young novice there, Madeline, and brings her home to Bungay Castle. Madeline and Edwin fall in love. While Sir Philip is away, Roseline, Edwin, and Madeline explore the castle, which they suspect to be haunted, and find a gentleman, Walter, locked in a hidden apartment with his servant Albert. Albert is a ventriloquist, and the source of all the haunted sound effects. Walter and Roseline fall in love. However, Sir Philip has arranged for Roseline to marry Baron Fitzosborne, a wealthy older widower. The Baron is eager to marry in part so he can leave Bungay Castle, where he believes he is haunted by his late wife. Roseline dislikes the Baron but agrees to obey her father. However, the wedding is interrupted by Walter, who follows a secret tunnel between the castle and Saint Mary's to appear with a sword. Baron Fitzosborne realises that Walter is in fact his son, believed dead due to a scheme by his late wife and her brother. The Baron agrees that Roseline can marry his son instead of him. First, however, he introduces Walter to society in London. Walter accidentally becomes entangled with the daughter of a brothel-keeper, who attempts to trick him into marriage. He flees London for Bungay Castle to reunite with Roseline, and at last plans go forward for Walter and Roseline's wedding. Meanwhile, Madeline and Edwin have eloped. They disappeared shortly after Roseline's attempted wedding with the Baron, escaping the convent through the same tunnel used by Walter. They are rescued from poverty by Walter, and both Edwin and Madeline eventually reconcile with their fathers. Sir Philip's other two children, Bertha and Edeliza, make their own suitable marriages, as does the Baron, and the novel ends with optimism for everyone's futures.
Major themes
Bungay Castle is considered a political conservative novel, as reflected in several aspects of its plot and setting. Bonhote emphasizes in her preface that she does not want to write about politics, but the novel itself frequently compares parental governance to political governance. By praising the good household management of a father who is the ruler of his family, she expresses approval for the general idea of good governance by a virtuous king.[2] One parallel between the De Morney family and the monarchy is a painting described in the novel, of the three daughters playing with a dog, which resembles a painting of George III's daughters.[3]
Bonhote's conservative and pro-monarchical views are also reflected in her use of the real Bungay Castle as her setting, When Bonhôte began her novel, castles were a common setting, verging on the stereotypical. The preface to Bungay Castle describes her dissatisfaction with novels that are overly fanciful and set in foreign or imaginary castles. Bonhôte lived directly next to the ruins of the real Bungay Castle in Suffolk, and used this setting to introduce more realism to her novel.[4] She also chose her historical time period to recapture the castle's days of greatest glory. During her lifetime, the ruins of the castle had been partly converted into cottages for the rural poor, which she saw as a sad waste of a building which had once been highly desired by barons and kings. Her emphasis on the restoration of Bungay Castle to its medieval glories therefore reflects a general emphasis on conservative and pro-monarchist politics in the novel.[5]
Like many eighteenth-century Gothic novels, Bungay Castle depicts convents as predatory institutions which imprison women against their will.[1] This depiction of convents is in keeping with the novel's overall anti-Catholic sentiments.[6]
Reception
When it was published, a review in The Critical Review was lukewarm. The reviewer praised Bonhôte's prose and described the hero, Walter, as "a being somewhat different from his predecessors in the dungeons," but found the plot too repetitive and the dialogue "very tame and insipid."[7]
Editions
- Curt Herr (editor). Bungay Castle: A Novel, Zittaw Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0976721253
References
- ^ a b Mary Ellen Snodgrass (Jan 1, 2009). "Dungeons and prisons". Encyclopedia of Gothic Literature. Infobase Publishing. Pg. 97
- ^ Georgieva, Margarita (2013). The Gothic Child. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 122. doi:10.1057/9781137306074. ISBN 978-1-349-45502-7.
- ^ Georgieva, Margarita (2013). The Gothic Child. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 134. doi:10.1057/9781137306074. ISBN 978-1-349-45502-7.
- ^ Townshend, Dale (2019). Gothic antiquity: history, romance, and the architectural imagination, 1760-1840. Oxford. pp. 157–158. ISBN 978-0-19-258442-7. OCLC 1119614410.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Townshend, Dale (2019). Gothic antiquity: history, romance, and the architectural imagination, 1760-1840. Oxford. pp. 272–273. ISBN 978-0-19-258442-7. OCLC 1119614410.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Hoeveler, Diane (2012). "Anti-Catholicism and the Gothic Imaginary: The Historical and Literary Contexts". Religion in the Age of Enlightenment. 3: 1–31.
- ^ "Bungay Castle: a Novel". The Critical Review. October 1797. pp. 234–235.
External links
- Bungay Castle at Internet Archive (scanned books original editions)
- Bungay Castle at Project Gutenberg
Bungay Castle public domain audiobook at LibriVox- Plot synopsis at the Corvey Project
