The Castle of Wolfenbach (1793) is a Gothic novel by the English author Eliza Parsons. First published in two volumes in 1793, it is among the seven "horrid novels" recommended by the character Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen's novel Northanger Abbey and an important early work in the genre, predating Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho and Matthew Lewis's The Monk. Dear creature! How much I am obliged to you; and when you have finished Udolpho, we will read The Italian together; and I have made out a list of ten or twelve more of the same kind for you.
Have you, indeed! How glad I am! What are they all?
I will read you their names directly; here they are, in my pocketbook. Castle of Wolfenbach, Clermont, Mysterious Warnings, Necromancer of the Black Forest, Midnight Bell, Orphan of the Rhine, and Horrid Mysteries. Those will last us some time.
Yes, pretty well; but are they all horrid, are you sure they are all horrid? Northanger Abbey, Chapter 6
Jane Austen names The Castle of Wolfenbach in her novel Northanger Abbey to portray the Gothic novel as forming around a society of its own, giving evidence of readership and cross-class and cross-gender interest in the Gothic novel.Wein, Toni. British Identities, Heroic Nationalisms, and the Gothic Novel New York, 2002. It contains the standard gothic tropes of the blameless damsel in distress, the centrality of a huge, gloomy, ancient building to the plot, the discovery of scandalous family secrets, and a final confrontation between forces of good and evil. Its resolutely anti-Catholic, pro–English Protestant sentiment is also a feature of the genre.
Major characters Matilda Weimar: a supposed orphan, raised by her incestuous, murderous uncle in Germany. She's a damsel in distress, but also the novel's heroine; "bearing the conventional attributes of a Gothic hero: honesty, beauty, and courageousness." She falls in love with the Count De Bouville, befriends the Countess of Wolfenbach and the Marchioness de Melfort, and strives to find her ancestral background throughout the novel. Mr. Weimar: Matilda's uncle, who has plans to rape and marry her. It is revealed that he loved Matilda's mother and killed Matilda's father (his own brother) in his drastic attempts to win the love of his sister-in-law. He is the villain of Matilda's story line, but is eventually pardoned by her. Victoria, Countess of Wolfenbach: The lady of the "haunted" castle, wife of the Count. She has been held hostage in the castle for 19 years by her vengeful husband the Count, as punishment for accepting letters from her true love, the Chevalier. She eventually escapes and finds comfort in the friendship of Matilda. (Her pseudonym while in London is Madame LeRoche.) Count Wolfenbach: the evil owner of the castle and villain of Victoria's story line, whose villainy abounds, from imprisoning his wife, absconding of their son, murdering countless characters, and showing a penchant for arson. Count de Bouville: Matilda's true love, French by birth, he promises to marry her, though they are of different social classes. His heroism is shown as he crosses Europe in search of her. Charlotte, Marchioness de Melfort: Victoria's sister, aid and friend to Matilda in France Marquis de Melfort: Charlotte's husband Mademoiselle de Fontelle: A French coquette who lusts after the Count de Bouville and is the avowed enemy of Matilda Mrs. Maria Courtney: protector of Victoria in London, she is also amorous towards the Count de Bouville and grows to hate Matilda. Lord Delby: Mrs. Courtney's uncle: he later weds Victoria. Mother Hermine Magdalene: Matilda's favourite nun at the Annunciate Convent in England
Minor characters Albert: Matilda's loyal servant, who escapes to the Castle of Wolfenbach with her Margarite: Victoria's elderly servant while imprisoned in the Castle, she is murdered by the Count of Wolfenbach. Adelaide de Bouville (later de Clermont): the young Count's sister Monsieur de Clermont: Adelaide's fiancée, and later her husband Chevalier de Montreville: Victoria's first true love, slain by the Count of Wolfenbach before Victoria's imprisonment Count Berniti: Matilda's murdered father, a Neapolitan Countess Berniti (nee Morlini): Matilda's mother Joseph: the gardener and caretaker of the Castle of Wolfenbach. He knows that the Countess of Wolfenbach resides in the other tower of the castle and took an oath never to reveal the secret to anyone. Bertha: Joseph's wife and the other caretaker of the castle. Though married to Joseph and living in the castle, she does not know the Countess of Wolfenbach resides there. Captain: master of the Turkish ship that overtakes Matilda and Weimar's vessel, a virtuous pirate
Plot Volume 1 Matilda Weimar and her servant Albert arrive at a cottage inhabited by two peasants, Pierre and his wife Jaqueline. Matilda is ill for unknown reasons and there is no bed for her to rest in, so they go to the neighbouring haunted Castle of Wolfenbach, whose caretakers take them in. That night, Matilda hears chains and groans and asks Joseph about the noises next morning. He says he and his wife never hear them. Bertha then explains that Count Wolfenbach is the owner and he is a cruel man who locked up his wife and children, and they died. They are the ghosts that one hears. Matilda ventures up into the tower where the noises come from and encounters a lady and her servant. Matilda tells them the story of her life: her parents died while she was an infant and she was brought up by her uncle. She had a good upbringing with her servants Agatha and Albert, but her uncle started to "caress" her and she overheard his plan to rape her, so Matilda and Albert fled. The lady then says that she has a sister, the Marquise de Melfort in France and that Joseph knows she resides up there. The lady offers Matilda to live with her sister in France.
The next day, Matilda goes to converse with the lady of the castle again, but she is gone and the room is in disorder. Joseph and she find the lady's servant murdered on the bed. Matilda leaves to go to France and tell the lady's sister about her kidnapping. Count Wolfenbach arrives after Matilda leaves and tells Joseph that he has sold the property and Bertha and he are moving to another property of his. That night, Joseph wakes up to a fire in his room and escapes, but Bertha does not. The castle is burnt to the ground and Bertha is dead.
In France, Matilda is staying with the Marquise de Melfort and we learn that the Lady of the Castle is the Countess of Wolfenbach. Matilda tells Charlotte, The Marquise, of her sister's kidnapping. Matilda receives a letter from Joseph telling her about the castle and Bertha's ill fate. She shows the Marquise, and the Marquise decides to tell her about the Countess of Wolfenbach's past. Victoria was in love with a man, Chevalier, but their father made her marry Count Wolfenbach because he was rich and powerful. The Count later sent the Marquise a letter saying that Victoria had died in childbirth along with their newly born child. A few weeks after that, the Marquise received a letter from Victoria saying she was alive. Matilda sees the Count de Bouville and falls in love with him right away and the love is reciprocated.
Matilda's uncle shows up at the Hotel de Melfort to get Matilda to marry him, but the Marquise sends him away and Matilda falls desperately ill after hearing this news. Matilda agrees to see him under the circumstance that the Marquise is in the other room listening to their conversation. Matilda and her uncle, Mr. Weimar, meet and he explains that she misunderstood his intentions of raping her. He then says that he is not her uncle, but rather Agatha found her at the gate and they decided to keep her and he now wants to marry her. The Marquise receives a letter from Victoria saying she is safe with a lady named Mrs. Courtney in England. Mr. Weimar tells Matilda she has to marry him, but she refuses, saying she is joining a convent.
The Marquise and Matilda go to London, where they meet up with the Countess of Wolfenbach and she tells them the story of her kidnapping. The Count and a servant burst into her apartment at the Castle of Wolfenbach accusing her of breaking her oath by talking to Matilda and Joseph when she is supposed not to communicate with anyone. They kill Margarite, her servant, so she will not tell any more secrets and take Victoria to the woods to kill her. The Count's horse bucks him and the servant goes to aid him while Victoria escapes. Mrs. Courtney finds her and accompanies her to London.
Next, the Countess tells the reader of her fatal marriage to the Count; she was exchanging letters with her true love, Chevalier, but the Count intercepted one of them and killed Chevalier right in front of the Countess and locked her in a closet with his bloody corpse. The Countess went into labour and delivered a son whom the Count took away from her and faked both of their deaths. Her punishment for communicating with the Chevalier was having her son taken away and she was to be locked up in the Castle and he made Joseph take an oath to never tell anyone, even Bertha, of her occupancy there.
Volume 2 The second volume of The Castle of Wolfenbach begins immediately after The Countess of Wolfenbach reveals the story of her past. Then the reader finds out that Mr. Weimar is in England and has spoken to the French Ambassador in an attempt to regain control of her. The reader also finds out that the Count de Bouville has travelled to England to join his friends after the wedding of his sister and the death of his mother. The Marquis consults first the French Ambassador and then the German Ambassador concerning Matilda's situation. It is agreed that Matilda will remain under the protection for one year, during which time her parentage will be investigated. If no information about her ancestry is discovered, Mr. Weimar will regain custody of Matilda. The Count de Bouville, realising he loves Matilda, proposes to her. "Your story, which the Marquis related, convinced me you had every virtue which should adorn your sex, joined with a courage and perseverance, through difficulties which might do honor even to our's. Since I have been admitted a visitor in this house, I have been confirmed in the exalted opinion I entertained of your superiority to most women, and under this conviction I may justly fear you will condemn my presumption, in offering myself and fortune to your disposal."Eliza Parsons, The Castle of Wolfenbach, 1793. Kansas City: Valancourt Books, 2007, p. 118. Matilda rejects the Count de Bouville's proposal, not because she doesn't love him, but because she comes from an obscure background. "Ah! Sir, (said she, involuntarily) hate you! Heaven is my witness, that did my birth and rank equal yours, it would be my glory to accept your hand; but as there exists not a possibility of that, I beseech you to spare me and yourself unnecessary pain; from this instant determine to avoid me, and I will esteem you as the most exalted of men".Wolfenbach, 119–120 Attending the ball at night in the Lord Chamberlain's box, Matilda meets Mademoiselle De Fontelle again. Unbeknownst to Matilda, Mademoiselle has spent her time in England spreading vicious rumours about Matilda's past and causing harm to her in the eyes of society. Once Matilda learns of these rumours, she decides to retire into an Ursuline convent in Boulogne, France, where she strikes up an intimate friendship with Mother Magdalene, a nun who has lived there for ten years.