Harry Potter and The Castle o f Otranto
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make it unknowable, especially to Theodore, the heir of Otranto, who
remarks as he attempts to help Isabella escape, “I am unacquainted with
the eastle” (84). In later Gothic novels of the period, the unknowable
nature of the structures serves to heighten narrative tension and to make
manifest the difficulties of navigating an often dangerous world. The
aforementioned rambling Gothic ruin featured in Radcliffe’s The
Romance o f the Forest is rendered unknowable to both Adeline and the
reader with its myriad passages. Perhaps the best example of a
Radcliffean unknowable eastle is the castle Udolpho of The Mysteries o f
Udolpho (1794). Emily St Aubert, the heroine of the novel, is constantly
turned around and confused within the walls of the castle and her
attempts to explore it in order to learn its secrets are often thwarted by
the villainous Montoni or her own terror. When she finally escapes the
castle with the help of some of the guards, she simply abandons the
castle rather than attempting to gain knowledge of its many passageways
and rooms. Though Emily eventually learns many of the castle’s secrets,
she never returns to Udolpho and it continues to remain in some sense
impenetrable. This abandonment of the castle by the heroine is a
hallmark of Radcliffean Gothic, and the castles are often abandoned
because they are unsuitable for a variety of aesthetic and practical
reasons, leaving the reader simply to wonder at what additional secrets
may lurk within their walls. To be sure, the unknowable aspect of the
castles is meant to serve as a larger metaphor for the new, often
despicable, worlds that Gothic heroes and heroines encounter, but it also,
like the labyrinth, serves to disorient the reader and to render the Gothic
world presented to hero, heroine, and the reader impenetrable.
That Hogwarts serves as disorienting to the reader of the Potter
series, especially the first book, is a rather obvious metaphor for the
wizarding world both Harry and the reader are thrust into, but again the
physical structure proves critical here. The impenetrability and
unknowable nature of Hogwarts is made manifest throughout the Potter
series, but I would like to focus on two aspects of Hogwarts: the fact that
it is unplottable, and the Room of Requirement. The unplottable nature
of Hogwarts serves to hide it from the Muggle world so that they will not
stumble upon what is perhaps the greatest secret of all: wizards and
witches not only exist but they exist in a complex society that actively
trains them to harness and utilize their powers to their full extent.
Hermione, as usual, is the one who reveals this to Ron and Harry,
informing them, “Hogwarts is hidden . . . If a Muggle looks at it, all they
see is a mouldering old ruin with a sign over the entrance saying