The Castle of Otranto: Chapter 4 Summary & Analysis

The castle’s doctors examine Frederic’s wounds, none of which are life-threatening. As he is being cared for, Frederic meets Hippolita and Matilda, and falls in love with Matilda. And though Matilda’s love for Theodore remains, she is uncertain of his love for her because he arrived at the castle with Isabella, who is also clearly in love with Theodore. Wishing to spend more time with Matilda, Frederic tells them all his backstory – that he fought in the Crusades and was captured by “infidels.” While captured, he dreamt that his daughter was in danger and that he would learn more about what to do by going to a forest near Joppa. After he was freed, he searched for the forest, as his vision directed him, and was led to a hermit on his deathbed. With his dying breaths, the hermit told Frederic about a secret from St. Nicholas: where to find a giant sword. Once Frederic and his men unearthed the sword, they saw that it contained a prophecy saying that “Alfonso’s blood alone” can save Isabella at Otranto.

Manfred arrives and is shocked to see an armor-clad Theodore, whom he mistakes for Alfonso. When Manfred realizes it is Theodore, he is furious that Theodore escaped. Assuming Jerome helped him, Manfred demands to know how Theodore came to be separated from and then reunited with his father. Theodore reveals that he was kidnapped as a child by pirates, along with his mother. Though she died not long after, she left him a note saying that he was the son of the Count of Falconara. He remained the pirates’ slave until two years before the story takes place, when a Christian ship set him free. After unsuccessfully searching for his father at his castle and in Naples, he wandered into Otranto and began to work as a farmhand in order to support himself. Frederic vouches for Theodore’s bravery, warmth, and honesty, after which they all retire to their rooms.

The next day, Matilda and Isabella decide to meet, as they are both in love with Theodore, who has come between them. Aware that Theodore is in love with Matilda, Isabella decides to encourage Matilda to become a nun as she always wanted, while Matilda wishes to find out from Isabella if Theodore has feelings for her. After some awkwardness in which both women are reluctant to admit their feelings, Isabella confesses that Theodore is in love with Matilda. Both women try to give up their claim to the other for the sake of their friendship, until they are interrupted by the arrival of Hippolita.

Hippolita, who believes that Otranto will fall into Frederic’s hands, announces that she has proposed to Manfred a marriage between Frederic and Matilda in order to unite the claims of both lines. The two young princesses are horrified, especially Isabella, who hints at Manfred’s crimes and tells Hippolita that Manfred intends to divorce her. Though she believes in Isabella’s innocence, a grief-stricken Hippolita makes excuses for her husband, suggesting that Isabella perhaps misunderstood the situation, and hinting at a disastrous destiny she believes will befall them all. She then resolves to agree to the divorce and to become a nun in one of the nearby convents, believing that this “sacrifice of [her]self may atone for all.” When Isabella begins to pray to the angels of heaven that she won’t have to marry Manfred, Hippolita stops her, reminding her that her father has authority over her. Despite her newfound awareness of Manfred’s crimes, Hippolita refuses to acknowledge them.

Hippolita then finds Jerome in the church, seeking his guidance about the morality of a divorce. At that moment, Jerome is urging his son to suppress his feelings for Matilda, as “a tyrant’s race must be swept from the earth to the third and fourth generation.” Unused to having to obey a father’s orders, though, Theodore finds himself unable to stop loving Matilda. Hippolita asks Jerome to dismiss his son, and once they are alone asks for his opinion about marriages between Matilda and Frederic, and between Isabella and Manfred, as well as her consent to a divorce. Though Hippolita finds both proposals agreeable, Jerome vehemently opposes them, explaining that a divorce resulting in the marriage between Manfred and Isabella would be against heavenly will.

While Hippolita is conversing with Jerome, up at the castle Manfred is proposing to Frederic that they marry each other’s daughters. Frederic, tempted by the prospects of eventually ruling Otranto and marriage to Matilda, weakly protests the double marriage for the sake of appearances, but eventually agrees on the condition that Hippolita give her consent.

Manfred then immediately seeks out Hippolita, who is still talking to Jerome at the church. As they have done so several times already, Manfred and Jerome engage in a verbal tussle about whether Jerome’s religious authority supersedes Manfred’s political authority. Manfred, claiming to know the procedures for divorce better than Jerome, leads Hippolita away to speak with her privately. But before he leaves, he secretly orders one of his spies to remain in the church.