What do you think?
Rate this book
The Castle Spectre
The Castle Spectre is a Gothic play written by Matthew G. Lewis. The story is set in medieval times and follows the tragic tale of a young woman named Angela, who is imprisoned in a castle by her cruel father, Earl Osmond. Angela is in love with a young knight named Percy, but her father forbids their marriage. In an attempt to escape her father's clutches, Angela enlists the help of a mysterious stranger who promises to help her flee the castle.As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the stranger is not what he seems, and that he has a dark and sinister agenda. The play is filled with supernatural elements, including ghosts and apparitions, and explores themes of love, betrayal, and revenge.The Castle Spectre was first performed in 1797 and was an instant success. It is considered one of the most important works of Gothic literature and has been adapted for the stage and screen numerous times. The play is known for its vivid imagery, suspenseful plot, and memorable characters, and remains a popular work of Gothic fiction to this day.F. PHIL. Nonsense! nonsense!--Why, pr'ythee, Alice, do you think that your Lady's ghost would get up at night only to sing Lullaby for your amusement?--Besides, how should a spirit, which is nothing but air, play upon an instrument of material wood and cat gut?This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
76 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1797
1 person is currently reading
272 people want to read
About the author
Matthew Gregory Lewis
232 books311 followersMatthew Gregory Lewis was an English novelist and dramatist, often referred to as "Monk" Lewis, because of the success of his classic Gothic novel, The Monk.
Matthew Gregory Lewis was the firstborn child of Matthew and Frances Maria Sewell Lewis. Both his parents' families had connections with Jamaica. Lewis' father owned considerable property in Jamaica, within four miles of Savanna-la-Mer, or Savanna-la-Mar, which was hit by a devastating earthquake and hurricane in 1779. Lewis would later inherit this property.
In addition to Matthew Gregory Lewis, Matthew and Frances had three other children: Maria, Barrington, and Sophia Elizabeth. On 23 July 1781, when Matthew was six and his youngest sister was one and a half years old, Frances left her husband, taking the music master, Samuel Harrison, as her lover. During their estrangement, Frances lived under a different name, Langley, in order to hide her location from her husband. He still, however, knew her whereabouts. On 3 July 1782, Frances gave birth to a child. That same day, hearing of the birth, her estranged husband returned. Afterwards, he began to arrange a legal separation from his wife. After formally accusing his wife of adultery through the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London on 27 February 1783, he petitioned the House of Lords for permission to bring about a bill of divorce. However, as these bills were rarely granted, it was rejected when brought to voting. Consequently, Matthew and Frances remained married until his death in 1812. Frances, though withdrawing from society and temporarily moving to France, was always supported financially by her husband and then later, her son. She later returned to London and then finally finished her days at Leatherhead, rejoining society and even becoming a lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Wales. Frances and her son remained quite close, with her taking on the responsibility of helping him with his literary career. She even became a published author, much to her son’s dislike.
Matthew Gregory Lewis began his education at a preparatory school under Reverend Dr. John Fountain, Dean of York at Marylebone Seminary, a friend of both the Lewis and Sewell families. Here, Lewis learned Latin, Greek, French, writing, arithmetic, drawing, dancing, and fencing. Throughout the school day, he and his classmates were only permitted to converse in French. Like many of his classmates, Lewis used the Marylebone Seminary as a stepping stone, proceeding from there to the Westminster School, like his father, at age eight. Here, he acted in the Town Boys’ Play as Falconbridge in King John and then My Lord Duke in High Life Below Stairs. Later, again like his father, he began studying at Christ Church, Oxford on 27 April 1790 at the age of fifteen. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1794. He later earned a master's degree from the same school in 1797.
Matthew Gregory Lewis was the firstborn child of Matthew and Frances Maria Sewell Lewis. Both his parents' families had connections with Jamaica. Lewis' father owned considerable property in Jamaica, within four miles of Savanna-la-Mer, or Savanna-la-Mar, which was hit by a devastating earthquake and hurricane in 1779. Lewis would later inherit this property.
In addition to Matthew Gregory Lewis, Matthew and Frances had three other children: Maria, Barrington, and Sophia Elizabeth. On 23 July 1781, when Matthew was six and his youngest sister was one and a half years old, Frances left her husband, taking the music master, Samuel Harrison, as her lover. During their estrangement, Frances lived under a different name, Langley, in order to hide her location from her husband. He still, however, knew her whereabouts. On 3 July 1782, Frances gave birth to a child. That same day, hearing of the birth, her estranged husband returned. Afterwards, he began to arrange a legal separation from his wife. After formally accusing his wife of adultery through the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London on 27 February 1783, he petitioned the House of Lords for permission to bring about a bill of divorce. However, as these bills were rarely granted, it was rejected when brought to voting. Consequently, Matthew and Frances remained married until his death in 1812. Frances, though withdrawing from society and temporarily moving to France, was always supported financially by her husband and then later, her son. She later returned to London and then finally finished her days at Leatherhead, rejoining society and even becoming a lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Wales. Frances and her son remained quite close, with her taking on the responsibility of helping him with his literary career. She even became a published author, much to her son’s dislike.
Matthew Gregory Lewis began his education at a preparatory school under Reverend Dr. John Fountain, Dean of York at Marylebone Seminary, a friend of both the Lewis and Sewell families. Here, Lewis learned Latin, Greek, French, writing, arithmetic, drawing, dancing, and fencing. Throughout the school day, he and his classmates were only permitted to converse in French. Like many of his classmates, Lewis used the Marylebone Seminary as a stepping stone, proceeding from there to the Westminster School, like his father, at age eight. Here, he acted in the Town Boys’ Play as Falconbridge in King John and then My Lord Duke in High Life Below Stairs. Later, again like his father, he began studying at Christ Church, Oxford on 27 April 1790 at the age of fifteen. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1794. He later earned a master's degree from the same school in 1797.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 17, 2021
I originally gave this 3 stars, but I went through it all again for an essay and realized I enjoyed it more than that 😂😂it’s really a fun parody of the Gothic, so 3.75
April 20, 2011
Quite good! The reading is made more interesting by Lewis' own notes throughout, and his finishing appeal to the reader makes me wish to have seen the play back when it was being performed. There are quite a lot of predictable events and characters in the play (the heroine cannot really be an orphan, of course she has noble blood) but on the whole it was an entertaining read.
November 18, 2017
I read this one right after I had read The Monk and I expected to have similar, very strong emotions. However, this is a... melodrama. A very entertaining book, worth reading, but instead of reminding me of the author of The Monk, it reminded me of Oscar Wilde and The Importance of Being Earnest!! It was quite funny, witty-funny, I mean. I recommend it.
March 12, 2018
This is tamer than "The Monk" -- I've seen other people compare it to Oscar Wilde and I definitely got that feeling from it, though Lewis was writing almost exactly 100 years before Wilde. More enjoyable than I thought it would be, and
Also, the fact that this was written for the stage means that some of the action is unseen, while other parts seem rushed because they're described in stage directions. This is not a criticism of the text itself, but just a reminder to read this in a different way than a novel.
Also, the fact that this was written for the stage means that some of the action is unseen, while other parts seem rushed because they're described in stage directions. This is not a criticism of the text itself, but just a reminder to read this in a different way than a novel.
October 23, 2015
Matthew Lewis may be a bit dramatic, but you can't help but be seduced by the intensity of his prose. Several of the characters (including the hero) are a little flat, and there are quite a few comedic and bumbling domestics, but the villain and the heroine are well-drawn and have powerful and striking lines of dialogue. Lewis's play shares the combination of conservative and radical impulses seen in most Gothic texts. This is nowhere more evident than in his inclusion of several African slaves who are othered and stereotyped in some ways, and yet still have complex and elegant lines about the cruelty of slavery. This text is also much less explicit than The Monk, so it might be a good starting-point for those who aren't sure if they want to commit to Lewis's famous novel just yet.
June 21, 2025
3.5⭐
Entretenido. El haber leído primero "El castillo de Otranto" qué me gustó algo más y que sigue los mismos elementos que este del Espectro, ha hecho que me parezca un poco más de lo mismo.
Aún así tiene partes divertidas y rocambolescas y un buen número de personajes. El final me pareció un poco precipitado. Me esperaba más drama rollo Shakespeare donde muere hasta el apuntador🤣. Aún así tiene su dosis de melodrama
Ojalá poder ver la representación teatral.
Entretenido. El haber leído primero "El castillo de Otranto" qué me gustó algo más y que sigue los mismos elementos que este del Espectro, ha hecho que me parezca un poco más de lo mismo.
Aún así tiene partes divertidas y rocambolescas y un buen número de personajes. El final me pareció un poco precipitado. Me esperaba más drama rollo Shakespeare donde muere hasta el apuntador🤣. Aún así tiene su dosis de melodrama
Ojalá poder ver la representación teatral.
March 11, 2022
3.5 stars
Tbh, more entertaining than I expected. Lots of witty dialogue and a heroine who, quite literally, kills it. I'd def enjoy watching a ghost skitter across the stage while the fool cracks jokes about contracting "an idle habit of eating that I could never bring myself to leave."
Anyway, stan ghost milfs for clear skin! Ruf mich, Angela!
Tbh, more entertaining than I expected. Lots of witty dialogue and a heroine who, quite literally, kills it. I'd def enjoy watching a ghost skitter across the stage while the fool cracks jokes about contracting "an idle habit of eating that I could never bring myself to leave."
Anyway, stan ghost milfs for clear skin! Ruf mich, Angela!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 11, 2010
Hilarious if read aloud.
November 19, 2023
Matthew Gregory Lewis reached unequalled success and fame at the age of nineteen with an unreadable adolescent novel called “The Monk.” For the rest of his life, he was known as Monk Lewis, and lionised on both sides of the Atlantic. “The Monk”, horrifying and salacious as it is, has remained to the present day an extremely popular novel, almost never out of circulation.
Lewis popularised the Gothic novel with added elements of sexual predation and violent love, adding to the tremendous fashion for the genre, both in novels and on the stage. ‘The Castle Spectre’ is a five-act play in this genre. It is not easy to find a copy, but The Internet Archive allows you to borrow its copy for an hour at a time. Otherwise, it is available on Librivox.
The play, published in 1797, one year after ‘The Monk’s phenomenal success, has all the elements of Gothic fiction: a (preferably ruined, isolated or haunted) castle, its dour owner or master, usually an usurper of the legitimate master, its dungeons, its ill-lighted passages, at least one ghost, a murder in the past or present, evil looking and evil acting servants, a virginal heroine, rich, titled and beautiful, who is somehow in the power of the usurper, and a young and gallant hero who restores All.
Angela, a foundling, has been raised by a woodsman or peasant when he found her on his doorstep . There is a close bond between them as a result. One day, Angela is borne away by the castle servants. The Earl Osmond’s glance had accidentally fallen on the beautiful Angela, and half in shock and half in love, he had ordered her to the Castle, which was to be her home thenceforward. But Angela, in her foster-father’s cottage, had met and fallen in love with a lad named Percy (unknown to her, the Earl of Northumberland) and was now never to see him more!
As the case with all Gothic plays, this too has its share of ghosts, monks, secret passages, loyal retainers and traitors. As this play twists to its inevitable conclusion, the audience and the reader are finally shriven, the ghosts laid, the dead risen alive, and Northumberland’s powerful army arrive at Osmond's gates to rescue Angela and her real father.
As Lewis mentions in the Preface: “Many erroneous assertions have been respecting this Drama; some that the language was originally extremely licentious; others, the sentiments that it was violently democratic (sic); and others again, that if Mr Sheridan had not advised me to content myself with one Spectre, I meant to have exhibited a whole regiment of Ghosts.” While we are spared thr regiment of Ghosts, we do have a regiment of retainers who bring us the comic relief we don't really need, as the play appears a farce than a melodrama. Indeed, the brilliant Librivox reading had me in stitches most of the time.
Many parts of the play are intriguing: the African slaves are out of place. Never mind, we’ll accept them: but Reginald, Angela’s real father, coming home from the Scottish wars, had never seen his infant daughter before. How does he recognise this beautiful girl of sixteen as his daughter? He doesn't. He thinks she is his late wife, come to haunt him. As so it goes round, while one very real spectre is having the time of her life (death?)
An enjoyable read, if you can get hold of a book, and a terrific listen.
Lewis popularised the Gothic novel with added elements of sexual predation and violent love, adding to the tremendous fashion for the genre, both in novels and on the stage. ‘The Castle Spectre’ is a five-act play in this genre. It is not easy to find a copy, but The Internet Archive allows you to borrow its copy for an hour at a time. Otherwise, it is available on Librivox.
The play, published in 1797, one year after ‘The Monk’s phenomenal success, has all the elements of Gothic fiction: a (preferably ruined, isolated or haunted) castle, its dour owner or master, usually an usurper of the legitimate master, its dungeons, its ill-lighted passages, at least one ghost, a murder in the past or present, evil looking and evil acting servants, a virginal heroine, rich, titled and beautiful, who is somehow in the power of the usurper, and a young and gallant hero who restores All.
Angela, a foundling, has been raised by a woodsman or peasant when he found her on his doorstep . There is a close bond between them as a result. One day, Angela is borne away by the castle servants. The Earl Osmond’s glance had accidentally fallen on the beautiful Angela, and half in shock and half in love, he had ordered her to the Castle, which was to be her home thenceforward. But Angela, in her foster-father’s cottage, had met and fallen in love with a lad named Percy (unknown to her, the Earl of Northumberland) and was now never to see him more!
As the case with all Gothic plays, this too has its share of ghosts, monks, secret passages, loyal retainers and traitors. As this play twists to its inevitable conclusion, the audience and the reader are finally shriven, the ghosts laid, the dead risen alive, and Northumberland’s powerful army arrive at Osmond's gates to rescue Angela and her real father.
As Lewis mentions in the Preface: “Many erroneous assertions have been respecting this Drama; some that the language was originally extremely licentious; others, the sentiments that it was violently democratic (sic); and others again, that if Mr Sheridan had not advised me to content myself with one Spectre, I meant to have exhibited a whole regiment of Ghosts.” While we are spared thr regiment of Ghosts, we do have a regiment of retainers who bring us the comic relief we don't really need, as the play appears a farce than a melodrama. Indeed, the brilliant Librivox reading had me in stitches most of the time.
Many parts of the play are intriguing: the African slaves are out of place. Never mind, we’ll accept them: but Reginald, Angela’s real father, coming home from the Scottish wars, had never seen his infant daughter before. How does he recognise this beautiful girl of sixteen as his daughter? He doesn't. He thinks she is his late wife, come to haunt him. As so it goes round, while one very real spectre is having the time of her life (death?)
An enjoyable read, if you can get hold of a book, and a terrific listen.
November 12, 2023
More ghosts, less i hate my wife humor please.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews