The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde

"He met with a severe fall" from Wallace Goldsmith's illustrations to Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The ghost of Sir Simon de Canterville was still in the Canterville Chase which the Otis family from America had bought from Lord Canterville. The Otis family were sure that there was nothing called ghost. They told Lord Canterville that they would be happy to buy a ghost and have it at home, if there was any. The ghost first tried to make blood stains in the living room. But Washington Otis rubbed the stain off using Pinkerton’s champion stain remover and Paragon Detergent, an American product. Next, the ghost tried to frighten Mr.Otis by rattling his rusty chains. But Mr.Otis advised the ghost to use Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator, another American product and told the ghost not to disturb again. When the Canterville ghost angrily flung the bottle and broke it, the twins woke up and flung pillows at the ghost. Next the ghost tried to frighten Mrs.Otis by laughing its weird loud laughter but Mrs.Otis thought that it was because of indigestion and suggested a product from America. The ghost got tired of trying to frighten the new family from America. Only Virginia Otis did not advise, comment or tease the ghost. So the ghost approached Virginia and asked her to free him from being a ghost. So young Virginia went with the ghost to the place where the ghosts die and let him free there. Virginia came back home and told her family about the death of the Canterville ghost. The Otis family felt sad.


The part I enjoyed the most in ‘The Canterville Ghost’ is when Mr.Otis said that considering the length of time the ghost was there in that house, it was not polite for the twins to throw pillows at the ghost.