Wilde, Oscar - The Canterville Ghost, riassunto

Chapter 1:
Vocabularies:
Fair hair: capelli chiari
Carriage: carrozza
Stained glass: vetri colorati
Stain: macchia
Mistress: amante
Trouble: problema, difficoltà
Summary:
The American Minister decided to buy the Canterville Chase even if the seller told him that it was a haunted place since 1575. It was a dark, rainy day in Canterville when the Otis family moved to their new house. In this family, there are six people: Mr and Mrs Otis, Miss Virginia, Washington and the 2 twins usually called “Stars and stripes”.

While they were having a tea, Mrs Otis saw the scary blood stain near the fireplace. She started crying even if the housekeeper told her that it was an irremovable bloodstain of Lady Eleanore. Washington cleaned up the stain using Pinkerton and suddenly the room was illuminated by thunders.
Page 13: In this picture, I can see the Otis family membered by six people: the first man on the right is Mr Otis the American Minister, followed by his beautiful son Washington well known as a good dancer, and then we have his wife Mrs Otis who is a beautiful English-looking woman. Then there is Virginia a 15 years old girl with big blue eyes who loves horses. The last two members are the two terrible twins usually called “Stars and Stripes” as they are the only two republicans of the family.
Pages 14-15: In this picture, I can see that the weather near the castle is terrible because the sky is dark, but if we look at the other part of the sky, we can see a beautiful bird and the sun shining. There is the Otis carriage that is going to the Canterville Case.
Page 17: In a picture I see Washington holding a bar of soap that, he used to clean the irremovable stain of blood. Behind him, I can see Mrs Umney who looks a bit worried. They are both in the library, which is full of books. There is also a window and two armchairs.

Chapter 2:
Vocabularies:
Indignation: indignazione
Groan: gemito
Moonbeam: raggio di Luna
Armour: armatura
Page 33 exercise 4:
Hi Rebecca,
I want to thank you for your invitation and I cannot wait to come to your scary party, I am sure it will be very cool. Do you mind if I bring a friend with me? Because we would like to dress up as ghosts, it would be cool, right?
Thanks a lot,
Silvia
Page 26: In this picture, I can see the whole Otis family membered by six people. All of them are looking at the bloodstain that keeps changing colour every day. The two twins are looking very interested and not worried about it as Virginia does. Mr Otis seems very thoughtful and Mrs Otis seems a bit disgusted and worried about this strange stain.
Page 31: In this picture, I can see the terrible ghost. He is sitting on an armchair; he has long, dirty, grey hair, his nose is big and he seems sad and thoughtful about the new American family at his castle. Behind him, in the darkness, there the two twins who don’t look worried or afraid of the ghost, instead they look curious.
Summary of the chapter:
At the beginning of this chapter, the family was looking at the bloodstain, which changed colour all the time. One day they decided to go on a trip but, when they came back home they heard a strange metallic noise coming from a corridor in the dark. After that, they saw the ghost but they were not scared, Washington decided to offer the ghost a bottle of oil for its chains and the ghost, who seemed a bit angry, disappeared while he laughed very loudly. Then Mrs Otis and Virginia started being very afraid.

Chapter 3:
Vocabularies:
Tournament: torneo
Sheet: lenzuolo
To rattle sbattere
To stab: accoltellare
To tremble: tremare
Ossuary: ossario
To snore: russare
Sin: peccato, colpa
Broom: scopa
Phrase: espressione, frase
Coffin: bara

Page 39: in this picture there is the specter of The Canterville Case who looks very thoughtful because he’ thinking about his plan to scared the new American family. Behind him, in the dark, there are many small ghosts who look very scared and I think that they are trying to call someone who can help them.
Summary:
The specter of Canterville wants to make a revenge to his new American family, so he made a plan where: he had to kill Washington with a dagger, he had to frighten Mr. and Mrs. Otis while they were sleeping, he had to scare Virginia making ghosty noises and he had to scare the two twins transforming into a terrible dead and iced body and showing them his white bones and rolling eye. When he was about to begin his plan he met a ghost who looked very strange. The specter of Canterville decided to talk to him the next day but the new ghost transformed into a white sheet, a knife and a pumpkin.

Page 43: In this picture, I can see the two twins who are near the new ghost that met The Canterville Case specter. The twins look happy and not worried as usual, but the ghost is looking very scared and he is looking at the other specter.

Chapter 4:
Vocabularies:
Cloak: mantello
Velvet: velluto
To humiliate: umiliare
Effort: prova
Enemy: nemico
To make a bet: scommettere
Dice: dadi
Apothecary: farmacista, speziale, farmacia
Page 56: In this picture, I can see the Ghost who is looking at himself in the mirror in the dark. He is wearing a strange, new and black costume to frighten the American family. He looks a little bit sad, tired or maybe scared of his new family, because everybody laughs and makes jokes of him. At the bottom of the page there is the oil that is useful to lubricate his chains.
Page 62 exercise 3: In this picture, I can see Mrs. Otis in the foreground who is looking at her daughter Virginia and her new ‘friend’ the Duke of Cheshire. They have spent a week together. I can see that the atmosphere is romantic because everybody is looking at the sunset. On the table there are some glasses, there is food and a vase with flowers.
Summary: this chapter mostly talks about the ghost’s feelings and experiences with the new American family. He used to be a scary ghost but now, as the two twins keep making him jokes he is afraid of them and he does not want to be seen anymore. One day, after he thought about his old scares, he wanted to go to the twins’ bedroom but a vase of water fell on him.

Chapter 5:
Vocabularies:
Hedge: siepe
Avenue: corso, viale
Absurd: assurdo
To rattle far sbattere
Manner: maniera
Yew-tree: tasso
Barren: arido
To bear tollerare, sopportare
Page 76 exercise 3: The Garden of Death was a secret valley in the middle pf nowhere full of white flowers, fog, big trees and strange, magic creatures. In this valley, many strange, short and cute people with long blue hair and pink big eyes used to live there. They were the elves of this forest. They were very important because they had to keep all the forests, deserts and valleys in the world clean during the night. One day a girl named Lucy when to this valley by night, she saw all the elves cleaning the place, and she became one of them.
Page 77 exercise 6: when Virginia was talking to the depressed ghost, suddenly the door opened and the two twins came in the room. They were not scared, instead they started laughing at the Ghost who felt very lonely and was about to cry. “Get out of here!” said Virginia and the twins decided to go back to their rooms and tell everything to their parents. The ghost stared crying so hard, Virginia felt bad for him, and she promised to go every day and talk to him.

Page 68, 69: In this picture, I can see Virginia who is looking at the lonely ghost. The Canterville spirit, as he is feeling very depressed is looking at the orange leaves falling down the trees in autumn. Virginia is looking a bit worried for the ghost and she is about to enter in the room and talk to him.
Page 73: In this picture, I can see Virginia and the ghost in a long dark room. They are holding each other’s hand while looking into their eyes. They are many paintings around them, but they are “special” because they are full of strange and terrible monsters who are screaming bad and terrifying things to Virginia.
Summary: While Virginia was coming, back home after a long horse riding, she saw an open door and decided to go in. When she entered, she first saw the ghost looking out the window; he looked very sad, tired and depressed so Virginia tried to help him. The ghost told her that he felt bad for the two twins and he felt tired, because he has not slept for three hundred years. Virginia decided to help him and the ghost took her out of the room, full of terrible creatures, into a big black cavern that closed after they came in.

Chapter 6:
Vocabularies:
Pond: stagno
Mould: stampo, forma
Jug: brocca, caraffa
Dust: polvere
Page 82, 83: in this picture, I can see Mr. Otis and the Duke on their own horses talking to each other in the storm. They are looking very worried and sad too because they cannot find Virginia anywhere. I can see that Mr. Otis’ horse is black and much bigger than the Duke’s white, little pony.
Page 87: In this picture, I can see a big dressed skeleton on the floor that is trying to reach a pond next to Virginia, who is praying. Virginia looks very concentrated and pale like the moon. Behind her, there are the two twins who are not worried, as always, instead, they are looking at the almond-tree that is in flower.
Summary: After half past six o’clock, everybody started being very worried for Virginia, so Mr. Otis decided to start searching for her with her servants too. They could not find her in the castle so they decided to search for her in the fields around. While Mr. Otis was out, he met the young Duke who decided to follow him. That evening suddenly Virginia appeared in the dark holding a box of jewels. Everyone was surprised and Virginia told them to follow her and they arrived in the secret cavern. There, she started praying and praying I front of a dressed skeleton as the Ghost told her to do. All the people were scared but happy to see Virginia again.

Chapter 7:
Vocabularies:
Coat-of-arms-: stemma
Grave: tomba, fossa
Coffin: bara
Churchyard: cimitero
Nightingale: usignolo
Ancestor: antenato
Tomstone: lapide
Torch: torcia
Page 106 exercise 5:
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your invitation, I cannot wait to come to Boston and spend a month with you. I’m very excited because yesterday I did a research about this beautiful city and I found a lot of interesting things to visit and funny activities to do.
See you soon,
Silvia
Page 99: in this picture, I can see three people wearing black clothes: Virginia, Mrs. Otis and the celebrant. They are all looking sad for The Ghost’s death, especially Virginia who brought some white flowers to put on The Ghost’s tombstone. Behind them, I can see that the sky is dark and, as the moon is shining, it’s night. Behind those three people, there is a churchyard.
Page 103: in this picture, I can see Virginia and The Duke during their wedding. The duke is hugging Virginia behind her, and she’s carrying the box of jewels that the Ghost gave her before he died. Behind them there is a lot of grass and The Ghost’s tombstone with Virginia’s roses.
Summary: At the beginning of this chapter, the Otis family, the servants and Lord Canterville celebrated the Ghost’s funeral. Everyone were very sad for his death especially Virginia. After that, Mr. Otis and Lord Canterville talk about the Ghost’s box of jewels that was given to Virginia. Mr. Otis thinks that her daughter is too young for such valuable things so he wants to give them to Lord Canterville; instead, Lord Canterville doesn’t want to take these jewels because there are not his property, but Virginia’s. In 1890 Virginia married The Duke and they had an amazing and romantic honeymoon.