The Canterville Ghost

The Canterville Ghost is a study in contrasts. Wilde places the American Otises in a British stately home. He creates stereotypical characters that represent both England and the United States, and he presents each of these characters as comical figures, satirizing both the unrefined tastes of Americans and the determination of the British to guard their traditions. Sir Simon is not a symbol of England, as Mrs Umney perhaps is, but rather a paragon of British culture. In this sense, he stands in perfect contrast to the Otises. By pitting the ghost and the Otises against each other, Wilde wishes to emphasize the clash of cultures between England and the USA.