Romance, murder, superstition, ghosts, darkness, religion and castles are some of the characteristics of the Gothic genre paradigm in literature. Horace Warpole's The Castle of Otranto was the first Gothic novel and the above aspects, which he used as tropes, define the genre. The story of Otranto Castle follows the downfall of the protagonist, Manfred, first as a prince, then having to sign his abdication and work in a convent. Prophecy, incest, irony, usurpation, dethronement, and murder are some of the themes that appear in both Horace Warpole's The Castle of Otranto and Sophocles' Oedipus the King. Otranto Castle opens with the death of Conrad, the male heir and son of Prince Manfred, and thus begins Manfred's blind tyranny in an attempt to retain the throne. In this story there are direct echoes and parallels with the story of Oedipus the King, so The Castle of Otranto is a rewriting of the story of Oedipus. Dramatic irony is essential to the success of a tragedy because it leaves the characters completely blind to the truth that the reader or audience already knows. In The Castle of Otranto there are moments of dramatic irony, situational irony and verbal irony. From the beginning of the play, the reader assumes that Conrad, Manfred's son and future heir, will play an important role in the story. The problem is that Conrad dies before even uttering a word in a story that initially alluded to him. It happens at the wedding that Manfred has rushed off and instead meets his doom. Another example of dramatic irony is when he follows what he believes to be Isabelle with Theodore. Manfred makes an unfortunate mistake when he decides to draw his dagger on someone who turns out to be ...... middle of paper ...... out of rage. The parallels that exist between The Castle of Otranto and Oedipus the King, perhaps suggest that Warpole was inspired by the ancient Greek play. Warpole evokes close connections to the work of Sophocles, and the reader hears echoes and similarities of Sophocles' Greek play Oedipus the King. The actions of Manfred and Oedipus cause their downfall due to their blind rage and tyranny. Men try to escape fate, but there is no escaping the fate that was prophesied for Manfred and Oedipus. They are both left with nothing and carry a burden of guilt and shame for the rest of their lives. Works Cited Walpole, Horace. The castle of Otranto. New York: Dover Publications, 1966. Epub. Lawall, Sarah N. “Oedipus the King.” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Flight. 1. New York: WW Norton, 2006. 612-652. Print.