The Canterville Ghost
1887
When the American Otis family purchases Canterville Chase, they dismiss the warnings about its legendary ghost with characteristic pragmatism: Mr. Otis offers the specter lubricant for his chains, while Mrs. Otis suggests atmospheric wallpaper. For Sir Simon de Canterville, who has terrified generations of British aristocrats, this casual indifference is far more unnerving than any screaming match. The family refuses to believe in him, and their modern American attitudes reduce centuries of haunting to an annoyance. Only young Virginia, the gentle youngest daughter, sees past the ghost's bluster to his ancient sorrow. Wilde transforms what begins as a clever comedy of cultural collision into something unexpectedly moving: a story about loneliness, the hunger for redemption, and the kind of compassion that transcends the grave. The satire cuts both ways, Wilde mocks the pompous British nobility and the materialistic Americans with equal precision, yet the tale's heart belongs to Virginia, whose kindness finally gives the ghost what centuries of fear could not.
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“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace. You can help me. You can open for me the portals of death's house, for love is always with you, and love is stronger than death is.””
— Oscar Wilde
“He made me see what Life is, and what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both.””
— Oscar Wilde
“You can have your secret as long as I have your heart[.]””
— Oscar Wilde
“We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.””
— Oscar Wilde
“When a golden girl can winPrayer from out the lips of sin,When the barren almond bears,And a little child gives away its tears,Then shall all the house be stillAnd peace come to Canterville.””
— Oscar Wilde
“Far away beyond the pine-woods,' he answered, in a low dreamy voice, 'there is a little garden. There the grass grows long and deep, there are the great white stars of the hemlock flower, there the nightingale sings all night long. All night long he sings, and the cold, crystal moon looks down, and the yew-tree spreads out its giant arms over the sleepers.””
— Oscar Wilde
“It is very wrong to kill any one[.]""Oh, I hate the cheap severity of abstract ethics!””
— Oscar Wilde
“the Garden of Death""Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the softbrown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, andlisten to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. Toforget time, to forget life, to be at peace. You can help me.You can open for me the portals of death's house, for love isalways with you, and love is stronger than death is.””
— Oscar Wilde
