I Capture the Castle

“Now if anyone in this family is nil as an earner, it is Rose; for though she plays the piano a bit and sings rather sweetly and is, of course, a lovely person, she has no real talents at all.”

When the Mortmain family discusses their finances with Miss Marcy in the hopes of gaining advice on how to establish an income, Cassandra notes that Rose is particularly ill-suited to a working woman’s life. This quote reflects the novel’s theme of The Marriage Plot: Traditional and Modern Forms of Femininity in that it characterizes Rose as a representative of traditional feminine roles.

“Contemplation seems to be about the only luxury that costs nothing.”

On the same night the Mortmain family discusses their finances with Miss Marcy, Cassandra reflects in her journal that her writing habit relieves much of the stress the family’s lack of income causes. This distinguishes Cassandra from her sister Rose, who values material displays of wealth and class.

“I am surprised to see how much I have written; with stories even a page can take me hours, but the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down.”

With Cassandra becoming more practiced in speed-writing and journaling, she reflects on her natural inclination toward this kind of writing compared to her attempts to write a fictional story. Cassandra is beginning to recognize the varied forms of authorship available to her as a writer.

“How strange and beautiful it looked in the later afternoon light! I can still recapture that first glimpse—see the sheer grey stone walls and towers against the pale yellow sky, the reflected castle stretching towards us on the brimming moat, the floating patches of emerald-green water-weed. No breath of wind ruffled the looking-glass water, no sound of any kind came to us. Our excited voices only made the castle seem more silent.”

Cassandra describes the first time she saw Godsend Castle while out looking for a new home with her family. Her interest in the aging beauty of the castle and its unexpected antiquity compared to the surrounding modern villages attracts both her and her father. Writing of her home in this way allows Cassandra to connect with the novel’s theme of The Historic Past and its continued presence in modern England.

“While I have been writing I have lived in the past, the light of it has been all around me—first the golden light of autumn, then the silver light of spring and then the strange light, grey but exciting, in which I see the historic past.”

Cassandra includes a description of her family’s first visit to Godsend Castle in the third entry of her journal. After writing the scene, she reflects on the powerful feeling of the past that the castle keeps present within her and how her family’s current financial and social struggles can be situated in relation to the “historic past” of their home.

“But it has come to me, sitting here in the barn feeling very full of cold rice, that there is something revolting about the way girls’ minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love” (55).

Immediately after meeting the Cotton brothers for the first time, Rose is determined to marry Simon Cotton and free herself and her family from their life of poverty. Cassandra disagrees with this view of marriage as a financial transaction, preferring to believe first in love and, eventually, marriage. Rose’s practicality contrasts sharply with Cassandra’s romanticism.

“‘Heaven forbid,’ said Simon Cotton. ‘I only mean that I was wrong to use the word “successor.” The originators among writes—perhaps, in a sense, the only true creators—dip deep and bring up one perfect work; complete, not a link in a chain. Later, they dip again—for something as unique. God may have created other worlds, but he obviously didn’t go on adding to this one.’”

During the family’s first meeting with the Cottons, Mortmain irritably denies that he is working on a sequel to Jacob Wrestling. Simon attempts to repair the situation by claiming that Mortmain’s work is so original that the words sequel or ‘successor’ do not apply to it. Mortmain’s talent lies in his uniqueness, so a sequel to Jacob Wrestling is impossible.

“Is it awful to join in this planning? Is it trying to sell one’s sister? But surely Rose can manage to fall in love with them—I mean, with whichever one will fall in love with her.”

Following the scene in which Rose is mistaken for a bear and saved by Neil, Cassandra reflects on the flirting instructions Topaz gives Rose. Cassandra values authentic love more than Rose’s materialistic pursuits but also acknowledges that if Rose is fated to marry one of the Cottons, she hopes whichever brother proposes to her genuinely loves her.

“It only lasted a second, but for that second he was quite a different person—much more interesting, even a little bit exciting.”

While persuading Stephen to believe he is more a gentleman than the Cotton brothers, Cassandra realizes that Stephen’s attention on her is attractive. This scene marks the first time Cassandra considers what it might be like to be romantically involved with Stephen.

“Now that life has become so much more exciting I think of this journal as a story I am telling.”

As she wanted, Cassandra’s journaling habit has allowed her to practice novel-writing as she includes descriptions of physical settings, character evaluations, and dialogue in her entries. The novel’s theme of Authorship allows the journal form of I Capture the Castle to embody Cassandra’s discovery of her own authorship. 

“I go backwards and forwards, recapturing the past, wondering about the future—and, most unreasonably, I find myself longing for the past more than for the future.”

Following Rose’s engagement to Simon and the Mortmain family’s sudden wealth, Cassandra admits to feeling discontented with life despite its blessings. She returns to her memories of the entire family living in the castle and supporting one another, regardless of their poverty. Cassandra values familial love, contemplation, and creativity more than she does the materialism of some of her family, especially Rose. 

“A thousand pounds for clothes—when one thinks how long poor people could live on it! When one thinks how long we could live on it, for that matter!”

Cassandra is shocked by the amount of money being spent on Rose’s wedding trousseau. In considering how that money could be better spent by a family of limited financial means, Cassandra distinguishes between “poor people” in the first sentences and “we,” i.e., the Mortmain family, in the second. In so doing, Cassandra reveals her belief that though the Mortmains are entirely financially dependent on the Cottons, they still regard themselves as occupying a social rank separate from ordinary “poor people” because of their education, manners, and family history.

“What I’d really hate would be the settled feeling, with nothing but happiness to look forward to.”

As Rose’s wedding approaches, Cassandra evaluates her feelings on marriage and envisions herself married to Neil. She realizes that she wouldn’t value the consistency of married life in the same way Rose will, as she longs to experience more of life before becoming engaged.

“I have tried and tried to remember what I felt. Surely I must have felt surprised, but no sense of it comes back to me. All I can recall is happiness, happiness in my mind and in my heart and flowing through my whole body, happiness like the warm cloak of sunlight that fell round me on the tower. It was darkness, too—and the darkness comes again when I try to recapture the moment...”

Cassandra describes her feelings when Simon kissed her. She notes that she was full of happiness in the moment, but the shame of potential conflict she may have brought to herself, Simon, and Rose weighs heavily on her mind. Without a family member to confide in, Cassandra’s only coping mechanism is her journal.

“Everything in the least connected with him has value for me; if someone even mentions his name it is like a little present to me—and I long to mention it myself, I start subjects leading up to it, and then feel myself going red. I keep swearing to myself not to speak of him again—and then an opportunity occurs and I jump at it.”

Simon’s kiss makes Cassandra realize she has fallen in love with him. In the weeks after, she struggles with depression, unable to share her feelings with her family or find comfort in talking to Rose. Cassandra’s behavior after Simon kisses her implies a deep and lasting love rather than a crush.

“Perhaps the effect wears off in time, or perhaps you don’t notice it if you are born to it, but it does seem to me that the climate of richness must always be a little dulling to the senses. Perhaps it takes the edge off of joy as well as sorrow.”

While waiting in Rose’s room during her trip to London, Cassandra notes how being in such a luxurious setting seems to have dulled her misery. However, she considers that it might dull her happier moments as well. This quote reflects the different values each Mortmain sister holds, where Cassandra prefers to experience life through emotion, and Rose prefers materialism.

“And yet as my eyes turned to Stephen facing the sunrise, from Simon in the darkness of my mind, it was as if Simon’s had been the living face and Stephen’s the one I was imagining—or a photograph, a painting, something beautiful but not really alive for me.”

In her final significant conversation with Stephen, Cassandra realizes that though she cares deeply for Stephen and admires him, her love for Simon prevents her from returning Stephen’s love in the way he deserves. This quote signifies the completion of Stephen’s character arc as a potential love interest for Cassandra.

“And then my mind’s eye saw her face—not the photograph of it, which is what I always see when I think of her, but her face as it was.”

After forming her plan to lock Mortmain in Belmotte Tower to induce him to write, Cassandra pictures her mother’s face in her mind for the first time in years. She takes this as a sign to go through with her plan. By connecting with her past and the figure of a mother, Cassandra reconciles her ability to act as an adult with the parental figures of her childhood.

“Oh, won’t you just try to write, father? Write anything—write ‘The cat sat on the mat’ if you like. Anything, as long as you write!”

Cassandra and Thomas lock Mortmain in Belmotte Tower until he begins writing again. Cassandra becomes overwhelmed by her father’s resistance to the idea and suggests he simply write anything; however, this suggestion sparks Mortmain’s creativity, and the line ‘The cat sat on the mat’ becomes the opening lines of his new novel.

“As we drove past I remembered how I had told myself I would make Simon happy. I didn’t feel the same person. For I now knew that I had been stuffing myself up with a silly fairy tale, that I could never mean to him what Rose had meant.”

Simon and Cassandra hear Rose and Neil talking through the window of an inn, discovering that they intend to elope together. From Simon’s reaction, Cassandra realizes that he genuinely loves Rose and that her love for him won’t be reciprocated regardless of how hard she tries to make him happy.

“He told Neil you were the right one for Simon—I suppose he’d guessed you were in love and was trying to help you.”

During the last meeting between the Mortmain sisters, Rose reveals that Stephen was behind Neil’s sudden decision to reveal his love for Rose. Stephen intended for Neil to break up the engagement and free Simon for Cassandra, believing Simon loved her back. Stephen’s continued selflessness towards Cassandra is the cornerstone of his character, even after he has moved away from Godsend Castle.

“In your father’s puzzles, the sum-total of the images adds up to the meaning he wants to convey. And the sum-total of all the sections of his book, all the puzzles, problems, patterns, progressions—I believe there’s even going to be a detective section—will add up to his philosophy of search-creation.”

Simon explains the nature of Mortmain’s new work to Cassandra before he leaves for America. This quote reflects the novel’s theme of Authorship, as it discusses the nature of Mortmain’s writing style and how it differs from Cassandra’s in form but not substance. Like her father, Cassandra has spent the duration of the novel searching for a way to write and become an author through journaling, not unlike how Mortmain searched through puzzles and riddles to find his creative inspiration.

“I didn’t make any mistake. I know that when he nearly asked me to marry him it was only an impulse—just as it was when he kissed me on Midsummer Eve; a mixture of liking me very much and longing for Rose.”

Though Simon’s proposal to join him in America—and the implication that he would marry her if she did—fills Cassandra with joy, she refuses him. She has realized that Simon truly loves Rose and that his affection for hers would only be a way for him to replace Rose.