The Castle of Otranto: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Shaken by the helmet’s moving feathers, Manfred seeks an explanation from Jerome, who says that Manfred has angered heaven and must submit himself to the church. At Jerome’s request, Manfred agrees to let Theodore live and has Jerome see who is waiting outside the castle. The herald outside asks for “the usurper of Otranto,” which angers Manfred. Eager to reassert his dominance, Manfred reneges on his promise to Jerome and ransoms Theodore’s life in exchange for Isabella.

Once Jerome is ushered out and Manfred imprisons Theodore in a tower, the herald announces the reason for his arrival: on behalf of his lord Frederic, he is demanding the safe return of Frederic’s daughter, Isabella, who had fallen into Manfred’s hands after he bribed her guardians. Frederic also demands control of Otranto, as Frederic is the closest blood relative to Alfonso. The herald challenges Manfred to single combat. The narrator reveals that Manfred was aware of the legitimacy of Frederic’s claim over Otranto, and that it was for this very reason that he had tried to unite his line with that that of Frederic through Isabella. Thinking he might be able to convince Frederic to give him Isabella’s hand in marriage, and wanting to prevent Frederic from learning anything about Isabella’s flight, Manfred invites Frederic’s champion into the castle. Meanwhile, Jerome is extremely anxious about the fates of Theodore, Isabella, and Hippolita. These anxieties are only intensified when he reaches the church, where he discovers that Isabella has gone missing again. Jerome deduces that Isabella heard a rumor from one of the monks that “the princess was dead” and fled the church, believing that Manfred had killed Hippolita and would be coming for her next.

Back at the castle, Frederic’s champion has brought a host of knights and servants with him, as well as a gigantic sabre, or sword. Manfred claims he will fight Frederic’s champion the next day and presents a façade of hospitality, all the while asserting the legitimacy of his rule, trying to gain the knights’ confidence first through a friendly feast, then through pity for his recently lost son Conrad. The knights barely respond to Manfred’s obviously contrived efforts to appease them, but Manfred continues to talk and begins to discuss his marriage to Hippolita. As he did with Jerome, he claims that his supposedly incestuous marriage has troubled him and that in order to avoid incest and restore Alfonso’s line, he intended to marry Isabella, “who is dear to [him] as [his] own blood.”

At that moment, Jerome and his fellow friars arrive at the castle, interrupting Manfred’s speech. Jerome then reveals to Manfred, as well as to Frederic’s knights, of Isabella’s flight from sanctuary. Manfred pretends that he himself sent Isabella to sanctuary in the first place, and Jerome, fearing for Theodore’s life, decides not to correct him. However, another friar declares that Isabella had in fact escaped from the castle to the church just the night before. One of Frederic’s knights then proclaims Manfred’s treachery and begins to organize a search for Isabella. Manfred secretly gives orders to contain the knight’s men even as he appears to assist him.

Manfred also gives orders for his men to search for Isabella. But this leaves Theodore’s tower unguarded, and Matilda takes the opportunity to rescue Theodore. The two of them instantly fall in love. Matilda offers to send him towards the sanctuary of the church, but Theodore refuses on the grounds that sanctuary is “for helpless damsels, or for criminals.” So, instead, Matilda gives him a suit of armor as well as directions toward the caves behind the forest.

Theodore goes to one of the church’s convents to tell Jerome that he is free, but when he arrives he discovers that Jerome is elsewhere and that Manfred’s men are searching for Isabella. Gallant and eager for an adventure to prove himself, he races to find Isabella first in order to protect her from Manfred. He soon finds her in the caves to which Matilda had given him directions and vows to protect her. When Isabella is reluctant to retreat further back into the caves with a strange man, he assures her that he is in love with another woman.

Not long after, an armed knight approaches the mouth of the cave. Theodore, unaware of the arrival of Frederic’s knights, believes that this man is working for Manfred and badly wounds him. Only then does Theodore discover that the knight is Frederic’s champion. After confirming that the woman in the cave is Isabella, the knight, believing that he is dying, reveals his secret identity: he is Frederic, Isabella’s father, and the three of them return to the castle.