SECTION F: NON-AFRICAN PROSE THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO - HORACE WALPOLE Examine the relationship between Manfred and Hippolita

Answer Details

The relationship between Manfred and his wife Hippolita in Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto is one of the novel's most telling contrasts. It sets the tyranny and self-interest of the husband against the piety and self-sacrifice of the wife, and it illustrates the plight of the virtuous woman within a corrupt household.

An unequal union. Manfred is the domineering Prince of Otranto, ruled by ambition, fear and passion. Hippolita is his gentle, devout and long-suffering wife. From the outset the relationship is unequal: Manfred commands and Hippolita submits, valuing duty and religion above her own desires.

Manfred's cruelty and betrayal. After the death of their son Conrad, Manfred, desperate for a male heir, resolves to divorce Hippolita and marry the young Isabella. He treats his faithful wife with cold contempt, dismissing years of marriage for the sake of his dynasty. His conduct exposes his selfishness and lack of natural affection.

Hippolita's piety and obedience. Hippolita responds not with rebellion but with saintly resignation. So complete is her sense of wifely duty that she is even willing to consent to the divorce if it is God's will and her husband's command, and she counsels her daughter Matilda to obedience. Her patience and religious devotion make her a model of virtue, though her submissiveness borders on the excessive.

Significance of the contrast. The relationship dramatises the opposition between vice and virtue that runs through the Gothic novel. Manfred's mistreatment of so good a wife deepens the reader's sense of his guilt, while Hippolita's constancy heightens the pathos and points to the eventual triumph of justice over the tyrant.

In conclusion, the relationship between Manfred and Hippolita is that of a cruel, ambitious husband and a pious, submissive wife. It reveals Manfred's moral corruption, exalts Hippolita's virtue, and reinforces the novel's themes of tyranny, suffering and retribution.