Moving Pictures: The Animated Portrait in The Castle of Otranto and the Post-Walpolean Gothic

Abstract

This article departs from a well-known story behind the publication of Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto. As the author makes clear in his correspondence, the idea for “a gothic story” was inextricably linked with his architectural project at Strawberry Hill. However, rather than delving into the spatial parallels between Otranto and Strawberry Hill, the article addresses the implied presence of Walpole’s gallery of portraits in the novel; in particular, it studies the narrative and ideological functions performed by the motif of the animated portrait in The Castle of Otranto as well as a number of post-Walpolean Gothic novels. By analysing both supernatural and metaphorical animation, the article argues that the animated portrait capitalises on the ideas and conventions central to the Gothic novel in general, such as the haunting presence of the past, doubling and desire for animation.