<P> In the preface of the second edition, Walpole creates a heuristic for reading Castle which irrevocably changes the way readers are to view the novel until its end . He claims to blend the new and old styles of romance . The "old" romance is what we would consider pre-novel prose--a main tenet of such writings is their fantastic nature . There is magic, the supernatural abounds and they are wholly unbelievable . The style of the "new" romance is what the novels of the 18th century, when Walpole was writing, would generally have looked like . These novels were realistic: they purported to depict events and people as they truly were . </P> <P> Walpole then, by attempting to blend these two genres, creates something new--something truly "novel". He creates fantastic situations (helmets falling from the sky, walking portraits, etc .) and places supposedly real people into these situations and allows them to act in a "real" manner . In doing so, he effectively allows fiction to evolve in ways that it would otherwise have not been able to . However, readers then may question to what extent did Walpole succeed in his attempt . Do readers view these characters' reactions as truly realistic, or do they merely seem so because of the heuristic that we are given at the outset of the novel? </P> <P> The Castle of Otranto is the first supernatural English novel and one of the most influential works of Gothic fiction . It blends elements of realist fiction with the supernatural and fantastical, establishing many of the plot devices and character - types that would become typical of the Gothic: secret passages, clanging trapdoors, pictures begin to move, and doors close by themselves . The poet Thomas Gray told Walpole that the novel made "some of us cry a little, and all in general afraid to go to bed o'nights ." </P> <P> Castle introduces many set - pieces that the Gothic novel will become famous for . These include mysterious sounds, doors opening independently of a person, and the fleeing of a beautiful heroine from a licentious male figure . </P>

What makes the castle of otranto a gothic novel
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