Summary
The next morning, the Otis family discusses the ghost, hoping that he will not be so noisy in the future. They do not see him, however, for a few days. In the meantime, the stain continues to reappear, often taking on different colors. While the rest of the family is intrigued, Virginia always seems to be upset by the sight of the stain. A few days later, the family hears a crash in the middle of the night and goes downstairs to find that the ghost has knocked over a suit of armor and injured himself. The twins shoot at him with their pea-shooters; the ghost tries to scare the family by laughing in a demonic way, but the only result is that Mrs. Otis asks if he has indigestion and tries to offer him some medicine. Angry and humiliated, the ghost retreats to his room.
A few days later, he prepares for a third attempt at frightening the family. A violent storm is taking place, and he hopes to capitalize on the effect by moving into each of the bedrooms and frightening each of the family members in a specific way. He is unsure, however, of whether or not he wants to frighten Virginia, since he has observed that she is always gentle and kind. The atmosphere is perfect, but just as the ghost is about to enter Washington’s room, he is confronted by a terrifying ghost. The Canterville Ghost flees in terror, back to his own room.
Eventually, he calms down, and just as day is breaking, he goes back to where he saw the ghost. He realizes that he has been tricked: the “ghost” he believed he saw was actually just a figure the twins had made out of a bed sheet, a turnip, and other household items. The ghost is furious and vows that he will wreak revenge before the cock has crowed twice. In a bizarre coincidence, the cock only crows once that morning, and the ghost goes off to sulk in private. He is now very agitated and depressed since he has always taken his obligation to haunt the house seriously and the Otis family is now making it impossible for him to carry out his duties. He tries to be less obtrusive, but the twins continue to torment him.
The ghost makes one more attempt at frightening the twins, but they manage to spill a jug of water onto him. He has now given up on the idea that he will be able to frighten the family, and so he stops appearing. After a while, the family assumes the ghost has left the house. In the meantime, the young Duke of Cheshire has come to stay at the house, since he is hoping to win the heart of Virginia. The ghost is tempted to try and scare him, but by this point, he is so nervous about what the twins will do that he cannot bring himself to appear.
Analysis
Virginia's reaction to the changing colors of the bloodstain indicates that she is somehow distinct from the rest of her family. There have been a few hints of this earlier in the story: while her name seems to connect her with her American heritage, it also reflects that America and England have always been interconnected. When Virginia was established as a colony in the 16th century, it was named after Queen Elizabeth I, the "Virgin Queen." It has already been noted that Virginia has made a positive impression on several members of the English aristocracy and that one young Duke has already proposed to her. While the rest of the Otis family is merely intellectually interested in the puzzle of the ghost, Virginia seems to be the only one sensitive enough to respond to emotion. Given her identity as a young woman, she might also find the story of a woman having been murdered by her husband to be particularly upsetting.
For the rest of the family, however, the ghost continues to be a subject of ridicule. The incident where he knocks over the suit of armor is a sly allusion to one of the most famous Gothic plotlines: in Horace Walpole's Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto (1764), a character is crushed to death when a giant helmet from a suit of armor fall on him. The presence of the suit of armor itself is also a comment on how Canterville Chase is still fixated on the past: knights and armor have no place in the modern world, and their presence is going to cause problems for those who are trying to adjust and adapt. The ghost's inability to put on the armor, since it turns out to be too heavy for him, signals that the weight of the past is getting to be too much. He can no longer be the only individual who is maintaining traditions and supporting history all by himself, but he seems determined to try.
The Otis family, however, is resistant. The twins take pleasure in tormenting him; in an interesting inversion, while one might expect the ghost to be demonic and the twins to be innocent, the two young children actually seem to be much more violent and cruel than he is. Even though he doesn't seem to want to admit it, the ghost is quite timid and easily intimidated. When he feels threatened, he often postpones his plans and slinks off to his secret lair rather than fighting to stand up for himself. The ghost takes a long time to build up his confidence, but he has grand plans for the special appearance he hopes to make. The implication seems to be that the ghost prefers fantasy and imagination more than actual activity, which is another reason he fails to impress the Otis family. They respond to decisive action and immediate, practical actions, whereas the ghost seems to live in a more dreamy, slower-paced world.
The lead-up to the ghost's encounter with the fake specter shows Wilde's skillful ability to switch between comedy and horror: the description of the ghost's approach and his encounter with the fearful figure is likely to leave even the sophisticated modern reader on the edge of their seat. Wilde then sharply veers back to comedy and parody with his description of the fear the ghost feels, and him fleeing back to his bedroom to hide under the covers like a frightened child. The ghost's aesthetic tastes are shaped by his own audience response: he reacts exactly the way he would want the Otis family to react to him, and his inability to let go of the way he performs his role is determined by the types of performances he is impressed by.
The realization that he has been tricked is particularly shocking and upsetting to the Ghost because it reveals that he has been beaten at his own game; his skill at manipulating and causing fear can be imitated even by children. The fake ghost has been composed out of mundane, everyday objects, and there is nothing glamorous or sophisticated about it. This incident marks the turning point after which the Ghost falls into a sort of depression, becoming listless and losing energy and motivation to continue haunting. Aristocratic figures were sometimes contrasted as being overly delicate or feeble, since they had no reason to keep up with the pace of the modern world, and Wilde plays with the stereotype by showing the Ghost becoming purposeless and sickly.
