The Canterville Ghost VI Summary

Summary

At tea time Virginia has not come down, and when a footman cannot find her the household grows alarmed. Mrs. Otis initially assumes Virginia has gone to the garden for flowers, but as evening deepens and she fails to appear the family—Mr. Otis, Mrs. Otis, the boys, the little Duke of Cheshire and servants—organize an urgent search. Mr. Otis remembers that gipsies had camped in the park a few days earlier and rides out with his eldest son and two farm-servants to Blackfell Hollow. They find the camp deserted and fire and plates left behind, and afterwards chase other leads—railway stations, Bexley common and Brockley meadows—without success. The household returns exhausted and heart-broken; detectives will be summoned in the morning, and everyone is told to go to bed.

At the stroke of midnight a dramatic interruption occurs: a thunderclap, strange music, and a panel flies open on the staircase. Virginia, pale and holding a small casket, steps out onto the landing. The family rushes to her; Mrs. Otis embraces her, the Duke kisses her, and the twins dance in relief. Virginia speaks calmly and tells them she has been with the Ghost, who is dead, remorseful, and has given her a box of jewels. She leads them through a secret opening in the wainscoting and down a narrow corridor to a heavy oak door. Inside a small vaulted room they discover a gaunt skeleton chained to the wall, reaching futilely for a trencher and ewer coated with mould; the scene suggests a long, tragic confinement. Virginia kneels to pray beside the skeleton, and in the moonlight she seems illuminated with a quiet, almost saintly composure. The family stands in wonder and awe at the grim discovery and at Virginia's composed, compassionate response.

Key events

1. Virginia fails to appear for tea and is initially thought to be in the garden.
2. Mr. Otis organizes searches and rides to Blackfell Hollow and nearby villages with the little Duke.
3. Searches of gipsy camps, railway stations and commons turn up no trace; gipsies claim sudden departure.
4. Family returns exhausted; midnight brings thunder, music, and Virginia's sudden reappearance on the landing.
5. Virginia reveals she was with the Ghost and shows a small casket of jewels.
6. She leads them through a secret passage to a locked oaken door and a vaulted room with a skeleton chained to the wall.
7. Virginia kneels to pray beside the skeleton; the family responds with wonder and relief.

Analysis

This chapter pivots the narrative from comic haunting episodes to a tone of solemn mystery and pathos. Structurally it functions as a revelation: a secret chamber and the skeleton provide tangible proof that the house’s supernatural history is not merely theatrical mischief. Virginia's disappearance and midnight return create suspense that resolves not with explanation but with a startling visual and moral tableau. Virginia herself shifts from being a passive, gentle presence to an active moral agent—she guides the family, interprets the Ghost’s remorse, and kneels to pray—thereby casting her as a redemptive figure whose compassion contrasts with the sensationalism of the boys and the practical rationality of Mr. Otis.

Symbolically, the chained skeleton reaching for a trencher and ewer coated with mould evokes denial, starvation or punishment, and the moulded water jug suggests time and neglect; the locked oak door and secret passage emphasize hidden histories and the house’s capacity to conceal moral truths. Wilde’s narrative technique mixes farce (the frantic, almost bureaucratic search) with gothic theatricality (thunder, music, flying panel), producing tonal shifts that highlight the story’s satirical targets—Victorian rationalism and sensationalism—while opening ethical space for Virginia’s spiritual response. The chapter foreshadows a transformation in how the family—and the reader—must view the ghostly past: not as mere curiosity but as a human tragedy demanding compassion.

Important quotes

“OUT ON THE LANDING, LOOKING VERY PALE AND WHITE, WITH A LITTLE CASKET IN HER HAND, STEPPED VIRGINIA.”

NarratorVirginia's dramatic midnight return interrupts the household's despair and immediately shifts the scene to revelation.

“He is dead, and you must come and see him.”

Virginia OtisVirginia calmly tells the family that the Ghost has died and invites them to witness the discovery, framing the event as moral closure.

“CHAINED TO IT WAS A GAUNT SKELETON”

NarratorThe grisly image in the secret chamber confirms a tragic secret in the house and provides concrete evidence of past cruelty or punishment.

Characters in VI

• Hiram B. Otis
• Mrs. Otis
• Virginia Otis
• Washington Otis
• The Otis Twins
• The Duke of Cheshire