Chapter VII of Oscar Wilde's parodic ghost story resolves the conflicts of the English and the Americans, as it concludes with the marriage of the American Virginia Otis to the Duke of Cheshire, an English aristocrat.
Wilde's tale explores American and English stereotypes. One of these is Mr. Horace B. Otis, an American businessman who is convinced of the power of the American dollar and is unimpressed with the aristocracy of England, who simply inherit...
Chapter VII of Oscar Wilde's parodic ghost story resolves the conflicts of the English and the Americans, as it concludes with the marriage of the American Virginia Otis to the Duke of Cheshire, an English aristocrat.
Wilde's tale explores American and English stereotypes. One of these is Mr. Horace B. Otis, an American businessman who is convinced of the power of the American dollar and is unimpressed with the aristocracy of England, who simply inherit land and live on the wealth of their families. Virginia is another stereotype, as she represents the Puritanical values of a simplistic right and wrong. For instance, when she encounters the ghost, she tells him that if he would behave, he would have no problems with her brothers annoying him constantly. The ghost argues,
It is absurd asking me to behave myself. . . I must rattle my chains, and groan through keyholes, and walk about at night. It is my only reason for existing.
The undaunted Virginia argues against this English decadence:
It is no reason at all for existing, and you know you have been very nasty. Mrs Umney told us that you had killed your wife.
While generations of his relatives have tolerated the ghost for three hundred years, the Otis family -- who uses Puritanical common sense to remove the blood stains and oil the creaking chains -- is able to overcome the tradition of the terror created by the ghost. Further, Virginia assists the ghost in entering the Garden of Death when she agrees to weep and pray for him so he can pass through the wall and into the churchyard.
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