Braddon

A page for comments on Mary Elizabeth Braddon’s short story “At Crighton Abbey”

37 Comments

I believe this story to be concentrated entirely on pre-conceived notions. In the story, the narrator, Miss Sarah, sees the ghosts of deceased hunters enter the Abbey’s grounds. This, she is told, is foreshadowing an impending doom on a member of the Crighton family. As it turns out, Edward Crighton ends up dying in a hunt, much as his ancestors did. However, I do not believe the point of this story was that the ghosts of the past cause the deaths of the present. I believe, because Sarah had heard that the Abbey was haunted, and because of the fact that she knew Edward was shortly leaving for a hunt (something plagued with death of other family members, causing worry from all), that was why she saw the ghosts. Then, in an attempt to stay Edward from his pleasures, she tells his fiance about trying to stop him. Edward may have gotten wind that the “ghosts” had been seen, and therefore expected his own demise. This caused a taint, leading to his subconscious recklessness that caused his death. Had none of these preconceived notions been in place, I believe Edward would have returned home. If the family hadn’t put such a stigma on hunting (due to coincidental and accidental deaths previously), Edward would have been fine and made it home for the New Years ball.

Comment by Dana Cavallaro — February 5, 2010 @ 5:06 pm
I think Dana makes a very good point about Sarah seeing the ghosts in the story and how it affects the thoughts of the others. We all know from real life situations that our expectations can greatly influence our actions such as not studying for a test because we think we’ll fail it anyway. In this situation Sarah believes in the haunted stories of the Abbey and the expectation that the Abbey is haunted may influence her perception of reality such as seeing the ghosts. She also reinforces these expectations of the haunted Abbey by discussing them with others. This sequence of thoughts and expectations influencing a person’s actions is also evident in the Crighton’s family history with the death of so many sons from accidents. It serves as an example of the never ending cycle in human beings that one’s thoughts and words can lead to one’s actions and ultimately lead to one’s destiny.

Comment by Andrew Woebkenberg — February 9, 2010 @ 9:42 pm
Very nicely put Andrew. That clearly sums up the relationship of the house and the ghosts with the family living there. Another idea: In the story, Sarah is told of the man who previously witnessed the ghosts and thereafter the death of one of the Crightons. She is also told that he was an “outsider” and that he had stayed in the very same room that Sarah was staying in. It was made very clear in the beginning of the story how Sarah considered herself an “outsider”–so much as to totally withdraw herself from the family for many years. Was it simply a coincidence that the last time an outsider came to stay at the home the ghosts were seen from the very room Sarah had seen them from? Perhaps it is that the family holds the same stigma over outsiders as they do the ghosts–that the presence of the outsider signifies the arrival of the ghosts. Or perhaps the family purposely put Sarah in there knowing she would “see the ghosts” and start a fuss, leading to Edwards death. Perhaps the family even has come to idolize the idea of the ghosts and the deaths they signify. Oftentimes people fall into habits that they can neither explain nor can they pull themselves away from. Perhaps the death of family members is merely that: an old habit that they cannot seem to get away from. This would be a plausible explanation into the strange behaviors that everyone exhibited throughout the story: they knew a death was near.

Comment by Dana Cavallaro — February 10, 2010 @ 12:07 am
After our class discussion and reading both of your blogs, I do feel that the deaths may just have to do with pre-conceived notions, but I don’t think we should be totally sold on that interpretation as the ghost certainly had to of been present in the story for a reason. This story is different from the other ghost stories that we have read in the fact that the ghosts of the hunters acted as a symbol of sorts and don’t actually interact with any living person. This lack of interaction, doesn’t help to explain exactly what is going on. I mean, the family did have a stigma about hunting and death, but it was racing that killed Edward not hunting. Little things like this add credibility to the ghost symbolizing a future death in the family. Also, if Julia asked Edward to stay and he decided to not go hunting and hide in his room until he was married, would he have still died? If he died would we then have to believe that the ghost caused him to die? The obvious thinking of “see the ghosts” someone then dies is the easy way out to explain the story, but I do think that there is something more to it like Dana and Andrew said because the ghost didn’t actually interact with Edward in any way and therefore couldn’t directly cause his death. Finally, why wasn’t the story constructed so that Julia would have asked Edward to not go hunting? If she did, the dynamic of the story could have changed greatly.

Comment by Lonnie Meadows — February 10, 2010 @ 5:25 pm
When reading the story, I can see that Sarah may just have been paranoid by the house itself, but she honestly believed something was going to happen to Edward because of what she saw and the story that she was told. Having a certain expectation could have greatly influenced the actions that were seen within the story. Going off of what Lonnie said about Julia asking Edward to stay, I believe the outcome could have been different. Something “dark” was in the house, but what if Julia allowed herself to be open about the way she felt for Edward? Doesn’t love triumph over all, even evil? What if her pride and ego didn’t get in the way? What if she did say something instead nothing? Would Edward still be alive? Her pride and ego got in the way of her love for Edward, because of that she lost her lover, and is a lonely woman, carrying out the deed of her deceased fiancé being a gracious woman to the poor. I do believe that if Julia asked Edward to stay, the dynamics of the story could have changed greatly.

Comment by Katherine Koehne — February 11, 2010 @ 4:00 pm
In class today, one of the questions posed was about the unwed men dying in the family. I hadn’t even thought about it until class, the author does not give any background information about why the men die. It just seems to happen throughout the story and is ‘basically’ normal for the family. No one really had a reason as to why the heir always died and again it is because the author makes it a mystery thing without even trying. We also talked about Sarah seeing the ghost and wondering if it was a warning sign for Edward. As our group discussed it, our final thought was that it was a warning sign afterall and the family should have seen it coming. I think that the unwed heir’s dying all of the time is such an interesting thing to think about and I wish I had some answers about it. Was it a curse or just a run of bad luck?

Comment by Kelly Newman — February 11, 2010 @ 6:45 pm
From reading this story and our class discussions, it made me think a lot about why the males were dying. I agree with Kelly that this was something I hadn’t noticed or even taken thought in until it was brought up in class discussion. My group and I came to the conclusion that the males were dying because the Squire didn’t want someone else to become the heir. All of the men dying were the next heir to the Chrighton house. Since Squire’s son was supposed to become the heir, but he died, it seems like the Squire doesn’t want someone else to take his son’s rightful role. After thinking about why it was only males dying, I began to think about why they were all unwed males. The fact that all the males died before becoming the heir shows that they were not wanted to become the heir. The fact that they all happened to die before being wed could explain that the Squire didn’t want another female in control. The males could have easily died after being wed, but had that been the case, the female could have taken control over the Chrighton Abbey. Through the story it seems that the main point is that Squire doesn’t want anyone else to control the house. His ghost is continuously there to represent that he is not going to leave the house, and it could be seen as a warning sign that no one else will ever get the inheritance.

Comment by Melinda Lawson — February 11, 2010 @ 11:46 pm
After reading this story I did take notice to the fact that only the males were dying. Also that it was only the un-wed males, since that was the whole reason Edwards mother wanted him to get married. I agree with Lonnie on the fact that if Edward were to stay home would he have ended up alive? I felt the story lead us to believe that Edward was going to die in a hunting accident. Since Edward was going on a hunting trip, and the ghosts Sarah saw were comming back from hunting. I did find it odd that he didn’t die in a hunting accident, but in a totally different way. Sarah seeing the ghost was a way to show us that something was going to happen, and since Edward was the last man left we should of saw it coming.

Comment by Amber Powell — February 12, 2010 @ 6:49 pm
Some people have commented that all of the things that happen in the story, from the sighting of the ghosts to the death of Edward, can be explained by preconceived ideas that this was going to happen. I think this an interesting theory and something that I had’t thought of until reading the comments. Maybe this is true, maybe the family just doomed themselves by buying into the belief that these ghosts were an omen of death. What I find hard to explain about that theory though, is that just because Edward might have heard about this omen of his impending death, it could have actually had an affect. This theory seems to imply that all things can be explained away by logic and reason but I do not agree with that. I think that some things really are other-worldly and that not everything has an easy explaination.

Comment by Nakita McIntire — February 13, 2010 @ 5:19 am
I enjoyed Crighton Abbey because it dealt with superstitions and preconceived notions. Both factors greatly influenced the character’s behaviors through out the story, and I wanted to touch on the topic of Julia asking Edward to stay. I got the sense that if Julia truly loved Edward and feared for his life, she would’ve at the very least attempted to ask him to stay. However, I do applaud Julia for ignoring all the superstitions and letting Edward go out and hunt. Julia was the most intriguing character to me because she didn’t let the superstitions effect her, it’s just unfortunate she had to lose her fiance. It would have been interesting for the story to be told through the eyes of Julia, because Sarah seemed a bit hysterical at times and too perceptive to other’s preconceived notions.

Comment by Clayton Adams — February 13, 2010 @ 6:44 pm
After reading this story, I wonder why Edward himself did not know about the ghosts. He lives there with many other that are aware of the ghosts that come. If he would of known about the ghosts, would it of effected him going hunting or not? Also, if Miss Sarah truely believed that the ghosts were predictions of death coming, why would she not tell Edwards herself to try to change his mind since his soon to be wife would not. If the ghosts were in fact predictions of death coming, would it of made a difference if Edward chose not to go? Or would he of died some other way. I think what Melinda said is quite interesting. I did not even think about the inheritance perspective. The Squire could in fact be bitter towards everyone in the house because of his son’s death. Since Edward is now dead who will the inheritance now get passed down too since he was the only male? Will the ghosts start coming for the females too?

Comment by Michele Wisnewski — February 13, 2010 @ 6:49 pm
I have learned through reading this story about the Chrightons that it is impossible to explain the irrational. I can’t explain why or if curses or ghosts of the past cause the death of Edward in a hunting accident. I feel Sarah sees the ghosts out of fear of iit happening again to Edward. The family puts pressure, especially his mother, on Edward to marry. The rush to marry Julia, who admits she is not prepared to be the wife of the squire, caused Edward to make the bad decision to go on the hunting trip. The fight I am guessing is about Julia’s inability to fit in with the other women of the Chrighton family and her unwillingness to conform to the lifestyle of a hostess.

Comment by Dan Strittholt — February 13, 2010 @ 7:54 pm
I agree with Dan that the pressure from the Chrighton family is what really causes Edward to go on the hunting trip even though he knows that it is dangerous. I also think that he does not truly love Julia and it might be a way to him to get out of this marriage, because his family is pressuring him so much to get married. And because it was not true love, Julia might not have loved him either and wanted to get out of the engagement as well. I also, agree with most of these comments about the preconceived notions of death and the superstitions that are in the Abbey. Sarah is scared for Edward because of superstitions of seeing the ghosts of the men hunting and I think that Sarah could probably imagine Edward being in that group of men.

Comment by Maria Leibel — February 13, 2010 @ 10:14 pm
I think the point that was brought up in a previous post was very interesting. Why did only certain people only know about the ghosts and the story behind it. If Edward had known about the ghosts I wonder if he still would of went on his hunting trip. If Sarah thought that Edward was truly in danger, why did she leave it up to Julia to let Edward know? Also the family’s story, that all of the men in the family were single, wild, crazy, and ended up dying in accidents was interesting. Edward’s mother believed that Edward was going to be safe since he was to be married soon. So my question is does it really matter if they were married or not. Edward’s mother made a point that this was the case, but he ended up dying anyway. Its also only the men in the family that seem to have all the bad luck and seem to be doomed no matter what. So are the men of the family just cursed by the ghosts that appear? The ghosts act as a symbol that death of a family member is soon to come. Since the Squire in seen with the ghosts it also brings up the point that maybe he is angry or feels guilty of his sons death.

Comment by Jonathon Colyer — February 14, 2010 @ 12:04 am
As I was reading this story I couldn’t help but think about the different points of view and different angles of each of the characters. The whole story was in the point of view of Miss Sarah. She was on the outside, looking in at Edward and Julia’s relationship. From her perspective, we saw that Julia was this person that was full of pride and sometimes too self-righteous to concede to others. We also saw Edward as this man who was generous and willing to give to others. From Miss Sarah’s point of view, I couldn’t help but contemplate why Edward and Julia were still together. It seems as if they are two opposites that appeared to be something different than they were. Also, another thing that made me analyze Edward and Julia’s relationship was when Julia refused to ask Edward to stay home from his hunting excursion after Miss Sarah has that foreshadowing envision. This made me ask the question: Did Julia really care deeply about Edward? Or did Julia not buy into the superstitions that Miss Sarah had laid upon her? I believe these questions could have been answered if the story was in Julia’s point of view. I also believe that if the story was in Edward’s point of view then we would have had a better understanding of Julia and Edward’s relationship. This story shows how point of view can skew perception.

Comment by Laura Knopf — February 14, 2010 @ 2:54 am
I think Melinda makes a very good point about the old Squire not wanting any other male besides his son to be the heir of the house. I totally agree with this statement and believe that the Squire and all the other ghosts serve as a warning sign to the furture heirs that they are going to die because he does not want anyone else to rule the house. One reason that I have come to this conclusion is because every male in the family that was going to become the heir after the Squire’s son has died before they have been able to actually become the heir. Another point that I would like to make about this story is that the ghosts may have been a preconceived notion because Sarah entered the house with the idea that it might be haunted because she had heard stories about how it was haunted. Therefore, one might make the argument that the ghosts were just a figment of her imagination because she was expecting to see ghosts and then when something out of the ordinary happened, she thought she “saw” the ghosts. I think if the story was told from Julia’s point of view and she saw the ghosts, the reader might believe that the ghosts were actually real and not just something imagined. If the story was told from Julia’s point of view it would further strengthen the conclusion that the appearance of the Squire and other ghosts served as a warning sign that the next heir to wed was going to die because the Squire did not want any other male besides his son to be the heir of the family fortune. Overall, I think that the story was very interesting and the story was still effective coming from Sarah’s point of view.

Comment by Alexandra Warner — February 14, 2010 @ 3:10 am
The question that we all are wondering is why didn’t Julia ask Edward to stay and not go hunting? If she had done so, then things could have changed immensely. I was surprised that Edward didn’t die during the hunting expedition because he was unmarried and it would only be right if he did die. All the other males died from hunting, so you would have thought Edward would have too. Racing was just an unpredictable cause of death. I agree with Lonnie that it does add suspense to the story because the ghost does symbolize death of a future person. Another topic that I want to bring up is Edward knew about the ghost that haunted the house, so why didn’t he try to do something for protection. He could have suddenly got married, but honestly I don’t think that he put the two ideas together that the males continue to die. All of these comments about preconceived notions about superstitions are right on track. I believe that Julia seen the ghost concerning the hunting trip and that might have weakened her relationship with Edward.

Comment by Travis Lionberger — February 14, 2010 @ 3:53 am
I thought it was also strange that there was no real information on how the unwed men in the family died. It was never said straight out that they were dying from going on hunts. Sarah sees it the way it is told to her, that it was just a natural occurance for the unwed men to just die unexpectedly. I also thought it was interesting that Edwards fiancee did not say anything to him about not going on the hunt and staying with her instead, it seemed as though it may have been a forshadowing not a direct one but very obscure. But in the end Edward does end up dying but it was never said that going on the hunts was what was killing off the men, and Edward died from racing. This story just had alot of events that forshadowed Edward being killed later on, and I thought it was interesting how they explained each situation of foreshadowing.

Comment by Priya Makadia — February 14, 2010 @ 6:42 am
I agree with Dan’s post about the Chrighton family almost in a sense pressure Edward to get married. It might not seem like he is being pressured because Edward just knows this is what he needs to do. Julia is not ready to marry along with Edward. They both are to proud to understand what marriage and that commitment really mean. They are selfish people.I believe that selfishness is one factor that led Edward to go on the hunting trip. Selfishness is what led Julia to not ask Edward to stay. She was to proud of a woman to ask him to stay and be rejected. She said that she would not be humiliated with his decision to still go. It was also said in the story that Julia wanted to prove she could live without Edward and in the end that is what happened. With everything that happened in this story it is no wonder Edward died. It is almost as if he was destined to die the whole time, he never really had a chance because no one else believed that he did.

Comment by Trisha McNeill — February 14, 2010 @ 2:50 pm
Out of the questions that came from the groups this week, I thought the most interesting and the most challenging were the ones that dealt with why people in Chrighton Abbey saw the ghost. The face that Sarah described seeing in the story was the face of Squire Chrighton, the previous head of the household. Did Squire want his own family member to die, or was he trying to warn the people in the household? I believe that Squire was the one who cause the young Chrighton men to die. If it was meant to be a warning, Squire would have appeared to someone else but Sarah. She had no power over Edward, and Sarah has a hard time convincing other people that he story is true. In the story it mentions that Squire had a son, who was killed in a hunting accident. I think that Squire was envious that his son did not get to live a full life, and other young men were. He was jealous that Edward was going to get married, because his son never got to. The question was brought up in class if these men deserved to die, and I don’t think so at all. Edward was a good man, who always gave to the poor, and respected his parents. His death was simply caused by the jealousy of a disgruntled old man.

Comment by Erica Cardilli — February 14, 2010 @ 4:47 pm
I believe there is a common question that is raised in the reader’s mind as they read through this Chrighton Abbey story. The question that was burning through my head during the story was, “Why did all the unwed male heirs to the Abbey mansion die?” All those men such as Hugh, George, Theodore, Jasper, and Edward experienced tradgic deaths in different ways. The squire Meredith Chrighton had his son killed from being thrown from a horse and died from a broken back. It was this squire that seemed to continually haunt over the mansion just prior to the death of another heir. Was his appearance a curse, a warning, or a haunting of a grieving squire? In a sense the deaths are somewhat of a curse since all the men are heirs to the same family, but the squire’s appearance didn’t directly cause the deaths. This is not really a cause and effect relationship because we do not know if the deaths are a coincidence or actually a direct cause from the vision of the squire and his hunting men. The visions do seem to be a warning to the people who have seen them. Miss Sarah saw the vision and realized its meaning when she asked Mrs. Marjorum, the housekeeper, about it. It brings death. Now warned, Sarah tries her best to persuede Miss Tremain of the message. The one person who could change the mind of Edward and make him stray from his trip was warned of the possible danger.

Comment by Kristen Schwieterman — February 14, 2010 @ 4:53 pm
For this blog post I decided to focus on a question that came up in our small group discussion today. Regarding “The Old Nurse’s Story,” we brought up the idea that maybe the eldest sister, Miss Maude was more involved in wrongdoing than the author leads us to believe. It just didn’t make since to me that the father would kick out his own daughter and her young child because she had a secret love with the musician he brought in. this whole idea brings up the affect of point of view when telling a story. We only see one side, and after reading it one way, it is hard to think about it another way. For example what if it was told from the Lord’s point of view? Maybe the reader would have more insight as to a friendship between the Lord and the musician, which would lead to a betrayal aspect when the Lord found out about their marriage. There have been numerous ideas like this and situations I have been able to come up with when putting myself in the other characters shoes. When seeing it like this, there could be so much more information that could have been revealed and developed. Like the example I gave above, if it was told from the Lords POV, we would have more information on his feelings as to why he would have gone to the extremes to kick out his own daughter. Maybe there was underlying tension or a previous situation with that daughter that made them grow apart? My main point here is showing the importance of looking at these stories from another POV. Through this process I was able to make reasoning for some of the actions and situations that were hard for me to understand.

Comment by lorakj — February 14, 2010 @ 6:29 pm
For this particular story I tried to look at it in different point of views. As soon as I got the impression that nobody cared for Julia, and everyone felt she did not deserve Edward, I focused on putting myself in her shoes to see maybe how things looked from her perspective. It was interesting to do so because then I felt sympathetic for her. How would you feel if nobody cared for you and the only reason your soon-to-be husband’s mother wanted you to marry her son was so he didn’t die. I also tried to change my point of view when Sarah was trying to warn Julia about Edward’s hunting trip and how she should try to convince him to not go. I was completely boggled that Julia refused to try and keep him from going but then when I focused on looking at it from her side, I got a better idea of how she was feeling. Perhaps she felt she had put on this front for so long and she couldn’t now be the sensitive one who begs Edward not to go on his hunting trip, her pride got in the way. Toward the end, when everyone is starting to worry about Edward’s return, you get a glimpse of Julia’s softer side, as Sarah describes her uneasiness.

Comment by Casey Donohoo — February 14, 2010 @ 8:00 pm
Looking back to our discussions the other day, it was interesting to see the questions that each group had imposed. As I looked across the board, everyone had great ideas, but there were a few potential questions that were worded differently which shied a lot of people away; some of them were too vague, but it was certainly good material to work with. Aside from that, I was thinking, what if Miss Sarah didn’t see the deceased hunters, and didn’t have preconceived notions before coming; would have Edward come back home? Also, what if Julia saw the ghost instead with these preconceived notions? Would have she been more adamant about Edward going on his hunting trip?

Comment by Carol Tang — February 14, 2010 @ 10:02 pm
This story contains several components that beg interpretation. A question posed by one of the groups (it was the winner of the vote) pertained to the death of the first born in the Chrighton family. Why did that person die? What did he do to deserve it? I voted for this question also. It seemed to scream out to me for some reason. I thought of this heavily even before the question arose. As I read the story, I couldn’t understand why this curse had been imposed upon the family. In the ghost stories read thus far, both for this course and hitherto for my own pleasure, the appearance of the ghost is meant to provide some sort of karmic justice. For example, the apparitions in the “Old Nurse” story appear because of the actions of Miss Maude in the past. There, the ghost has a purpose. In “last House,” the ghost seems to appear only after the mother has died, in order to inform the father and daughter of the death. However, in this story, there doesn’t seem to be a connection. Sometimes, ghostly apparitions occur as some sort of parallel. If the apparition of the son that died appeared to warn of the death of another son, that would make more sense. But the appearance of the squire before he learned of his son’s death. It just doesn’t add up.

Comment by Erik Harmon — February 14, 2010 @ 10:31 pm
I like the idea, Carol, about changing th point of view from Sarah to Julia. When you shift it that way, would Julia still have decided not to say anything with the fear that he would go anyways? She knew that they were on bad terms, and the thought of him not taking her advice was too much for her ego to take. Do you think that Julia would have confided in Sarah for advice, as Sarah had done to her?

Comment by Erica Davis — February 14, 2010 @ 10:32 pm
This particular gothic story is not necessarily a straightforward traditional ghost tale. The elements that exist in the story are of traditional storytelling but seen through accounts of the main character Sarah. This point of view engages the reader into the psyche of Sarah and thus brings about a form of a personal recollection of the events. The emphasis in the story is heavily placed on the perceptions of the victim (Sarah) and focuses on her plight rather than supplying a full narrative on the actions of the specter. This psychological form of storytelling calls for concern for a number of reasons. How do we know Sarah is reliable and in good mind to tell the story? Could she be biased? Biased by money, sex, or another motive? While entertaining in terms of narrative storytelling you may not get the exact story based on the format of the storytelling.

Comment by havirase — February 14, 2010 @ 11:17 pm
I believe like many of my peers, that shifting the P.O.V. from Sarah (our narrator) to a different character (Edward, Julia, etc.) brings a different interpretation of the ghost tale for Braddon’s, “At Crighton Abbey.” As you read previous posts, the shifting of that P.O.V. takes the story into totally new directions. From the curse and ghost of the “Old Squire” that brings death upon the Crighton male heirs, to Julia and Edwards’ fight and sudden lost of connection before he leaves for his hunting trip (and untimely death), to even the very hardships and emotional bonds we create for the various characters in the story, all had to do with the narrator’s P.O.V. When we change that view, the connection and emotions we hold for them is broken and shifted into different fascists, resulting in the discovery of new ideas and development of that ghost story seems to jump right out at us.

Comment by Chris Wise — February 14, 2010 @ 11:50 pm
I love the idea of changing the POV in the story from Sarah to Julia! You would still have the mysterious idea and premonition as what Sarah did in her room. The main argument with this idea is how Julia’s character developed throughout the story. You are introduced to Julia as being a hard to read character but learn more throughout the story. I feel like Sarah would be to easy to read if the POV was changed to Julia and therefore the dept of the characters would be as prevalent as what it is in the story now.

Comment by Eric Shrider — February 15, 2010 @ 3:26 am
I think this story really makes you wonder. We try to understand why Sarah saw the ghosts and what the connection there was. Although the room she was staying is has been known for people seeing the ghosts while staying in there, we are not sure why Sarah got that room of all rooms. I also like the foreshadowing in this story, for example how the unwed men die from going on the hunting trip and Julia lets Edward go on the trip and didn’t try to convince him to stay. They were getting married out of pressure and not of love which is why I think things ended up the way they did, with Edward dead. This story really leaves you wondering why everything happens the way it does.

Comment by Rachel McLaren — February 15, 2010 @ 5:05 am
During Thursday’s group activity last week, my group proposed the question: “What was the real reason for all of the unwed males of Crighton Abbey to die?” I had a difficult time trying to fully answer this question; I realize it was because of the Old Squire curse but why exactly had it been cast upon the males of the Crighton family? Did they really deserve to die?

On a separate note, Chris Wise (Post #28) – along with many other contributors – brought up valid points regarding the shifting of POV. How differently the “Crighton Abbey” would have been interpreted had the narrator been someone other than Sarah! The story would have taken a completely different turn if it would have been seen through Edward’s eyes. Edward’s fight with Julia and him going on his hunting trip, which consequently led to Edward’s death, would have been interesting sections to read in “Crighton Abbey” because they would differ exponentially to how they were originally told.

By considering the ways this story could have been different by shifting the POV shows us just how important Sarah’s character is to the interpretation of “Crighton Abbey.”

Comment by Hannah Wiggins — February 19, 2010 @ 3:13 pm
Despite all of these alternative conclusions that people have come to about the ghosts, I still believe that the biggest influences on Edward’s death were human. One example in particular struck me as something easily overlooked but that plays an enormous role in the story. First, before Sarah had even seen the ghosts, she had attempted to stop Edward from going. When he first told her about his leaving, she asks if he was taking his own horse to ride, of which he replied “Pepperbox and the Druid.” Sarah replied that his sisters believed those horses to be “queer.” To me, this is the first hint that his death was caused by his overconfidence riding a “queer” horse, even though he knows he shouldn’t. Then shortly after, Sarah says she hopes he will change his mind and not go and he replies “Such a change is not within the limits of possibility, Sarah. I am fixed as Fate.” The word fate, was capitalized, giving significance to its meaning. Perhaps Edward, too, had seen the ghosts(as the way he said ‘Fate” would lead one to believe), so, taken by the old superstitions, knew there was nothing he could do to avoid it, took the “queer” horses and began his reckless actions that ultimately led to his death.

Comment by Dana Cavallaro — February 21, 2010 @ 3:12 pm
I agree with Dana on this. There were hints to his death before Miss Sarah witnessed the ghosts. I am also starting to believe after reviewing the story that Edward may have known that his fate was coming. Edward was most likely aware of the ‘curse’ with the heirs to the Crighton Abbey. Maybe Edward to knew his life was coming to an end. Either way, I do believe that some of the biggest influences on Edward’s death were human as well.
Going on what Eric was saying about the POV. I believe it would have been more trivial of Julia had told the story. From an outside point, we see Julia as a stuck-up, self absorbed snob, but if teh story was told in her point of view, we could have been opened up to an entirely new Julia.

Comment by Katherine Koehne — February 21, 2010 @ 7:04 pm
I just saw the ghosts of the hunters to be more of a warning than a reason for the deaths of the men. I never even thought about the fact that maybe the family was not cursed that it was the squire that was killing them off to keep them from ever getting the inheritance. That is a very interesting view point.

Comment by jill blom — February 23, 2010 @ 12:07 am
This is what I chose to write my interpretive essay on and when writing it, I thought about why my question was important. The question I was interested in was, why are all the unwed male heirs to the Abbey house dying? When determining why this question was important to ask I found it sort of difficult. When thinking about this I realized that if this question was actually answered in the story, then it would have ruined the stories mystery. This question is never answered because the author wants to leave it up to the reader’s interpretation. I realized that if the question had been answered it would have given a lot of insight into many other aspects of the story. This would have helped to understand more about how Squire was affected by the death of his son, and why the ghosts always came before a male heir to the fortune died. Through answering this question we are able to figure out many other aspects about the story such as if the deaths were accidental or planned, it will give insight as to who is actually doing the killing. We know that there is a ghost of Squire, but we don’t know exactly what he is doing or what his role is in the story. We don’t know why these people in particular are dying. We do know from the story that they all seem to be involved in accidental deaths, but based off the ways things occur, it seems like it is more than just an accident. Overall by answering this question, it gave insight into the overall purpose of the story and why the deaths were occurring.

Comment by Melinda Lawson — February 25, 2010 @ 10:00 pm
So I wrote my interpretive problem assignment on this story and focused on why Julia did not ask Edward to stay and not go on the hunt. But by doing that, I brought up several other questions that got me wondering. Why did Braddon only decide to have the males die unmarried? I understand that if Edward marries Julia and then dies, she would be in line to receive the familes stuff, but there has to be more too it. Where any of the previoius male heirs that did even engaged, or was Edward the first to be in the “almost married” stage when he died. Also, if the family knew their was a curse, wouldn’t they want to try and have a shorter engagement. Having a short engagement would be an easy solution to preventing the curse. Switching gears, Braddon says in the story that the ghost are always seen out of the same window by a guest. I know the house had a bunch of people there, but wouldn’t the family avoid putting someone in that room? Going all the way back the the first few comments of this blog, the family really did have a chance to avoid everything by just not putting someone in the room. Whether it was a curse or a pre-conceived notion, it was still the fault of the family when viewed in this perspective.

Comment by Lonnie Meadows — February 28, 2010 @ 1:25 am
Lonnie, I did the same story for the IP essay, but I redirected my question a bit different from yours. In mine I did write a form about why all the men died that were unmarried, and several questions did come up. I believe that there was a certain curse to the men and especially Edward because it seemed that everyone was hating on Julia and no one wanted to give her the family inheritance if Edward died. It seemed to me that the ghosts wanted the property to stay in the family and not go to someone that was married into the family. You bring up having a shorter engagement, but there was never true love between Edward and Julia. This may be why the ghosts would haunt Edward. But why wouldn’t they have haunted Julia? Would that be a bad moral to kill women, because in most ghost stories, they go for women because they are easily to give in to.

Comment by Travis Lionberger — February 28, 2010 @ 3:15 pm