Gothic literature first emerged as a genre in the second half of the 18th century; Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764) is usually considered to be the first example of a Gothic novel. The genre continued to be very popular until well into the 1800s, and the flourishing of the Gothic genre allowed for its prominent characteristics to quickly become well-known amongst readers and authors. Gothic novels usually involved a house or castle, typically an ancient and isolated one where one or more characters (usually including a virginal young woman) find themselves in a threatening situation. There is typically the threat of a supernatural presence and often the presence of a Gothic villain as well—most often, an older man with a dark secret and evil intentions towards a younger female character. Gothic stories were most often set outside of England, usually in countries with strong ties to the Catholic religion such as Italy or Spain. Additionally, Gothic stories were often set during the medieval time period, or sometimes even earlier. The distance in both time and geographic location allowed English readers to experience the pleasures of being scared while also remaining comfortably secure that events such as these were not likely to happen anywhere near them.
Even while the Gothic remained popular, authors began to parody the genre in works like Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1817). Gothic parodies often mocked the melodramatic and unbelievable tropes of Gothic literature, and sometimes involved a character who was naïve or too quick to believe that ordinary events actually had some sort of supernatural or threatening significance. Throughout the Victorian period, the Gothic genre evolved to reflect shifts in literary taste, as well as different social and political concerns. Many authors began to write stories that contained strong Gothic elements, but that were set in England as a way to call attention to the possibility of dark and dangerous situations existing within English society. While an interest in supernatural figures such as ghosts and vampires continued, in the aftermath of Darwin's theories of evolution, people were also worried about ideas of criminality, hereditary insanity, and stories in which quests for scientific discovery led to warped or dangerous villains.
Wilde's short story picks up on elements of the Victorian Gothic as well as harkening back to an earlier Gothic tradition, and uses parody to make political and social critiques. Originally, the Gothic had functioned largely as a way for English authors and readers to highlight the differences between their on society and what they perceived as old-fashioned and outdated beliefs and practices in other European cultures. In Wilde's story, however, the American Otis family functions as highly modern and rational individuals, whereas the English characters have more old-fashioned beliefs and cling to old ways of doing things. The ghost is shown to be naïve because he falls victim to the trick the twins play on him and believes the imaginary specter is real. This joke also makes fun of the traditional Gothic parody in which a human character would be the one to misinterpret a very ordinary event as a sign of something supernatural. The ghost himself is a Gothic figure in both the sense of the literary genre, and in the sense that he lived during a time period (the 1500s) that would have been a typical setting for a Gothic story, but he no longer suits modern tastes. His "audience," the Otis family, is no longer impressed or frightened by the tropes that had satisfyingly scared others for centuries.
While much of the story seems to make fun of the Gothic, Wilde does sometimes see to be quite sincere and serious in his use of these conventions. It eventually becomes clear that Sir Simon is actually a tortured soul, and that Virginia's innocence and faith are what will allow him to achieve redemption. The Gothic imagery of Sir Simon's funeral is presented quite seriously, with the goal of encouraging a reader to feel solemn and feel pity for him, rather than simply laughing. In 1890, only a few years after he wrote this story, Wilde would publish The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which is considered a seminal work in the history of Gothic literature, and part of an important movement known as the Decadent Gothic. In "The Canterville Ghost," Wilde both uses Gothic conventions to make his audience laugh and also explores how they might be used to convey important messages about human nature.
