44 pages • 1 hour read
Dodie SmithI Capture the Castle
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1948A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 1-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “The Sixpenny Book: March”
Chapter 1 Summary
Seventeen-year-old Cassandra Mortmain begins journaling in an old writing exercise book to practice her speed-writing techniques and get into a daily habit of writing, as she desires to be a novelist. She describes the events that happen to her family as they live in relative poverty in Godsend Castle in Sussex, England. Her father, James Mortmain, was once a celebrated novelist for his book Jacob Wrestling. Though he was influential in American literary circles, Mortmain was incarcerated for three months following a dispute with their former neighbors. After that, the family moved to Godsend Castle. Mortmain’s wife died eight years before the novel’s events, leaving him to care for their three children: Rose, Cassandra, and Thomas. Mortmain eventually marries a model named Topaz, who joins the family at the castle. Because Mortmain has been unable to write since his time in jail, the family lives in poverty.
Cassandra begins her journal by describing the night’s kitchen scene, where her sister Rose is ironing, and Topaz prepares a small meal for tea. Rose and Topaz discuss going to London to model to earn money for the family, and Rose bemoans her lack of social opportunities that would introduce her to a wealthy husband. Thomas returns from school. Stephen, who works for the family as unpaid help, brings Cassandra a poem he copied. Despite not being interested in him, she accepts this token of his affection as she “can’t find the heart to hurt him” (9).
Though Rose hates living in the secluded castle, Cassandra loves the castle and Belmotte Tower, the old and decaying remains of an older building. Cassandra’s relationship with her father has grown strained in the past two years, and she worries over how to inspire him to begin writing again. He has become increasingly unsociable and values Godsend Castle’s location for its lack of nearby neighbors. Mortmain spends his time reading detective novels borrowed from the library.
Chapter 2 Summary
Cassandra continues writing later that evening from bed. She describes the family’s lack of furniture since they have sold most of it to pay for food and the dressmaker’s dummy that she and Rose keep in their room; they call her Miss Blossom and often pretend she is speaking back to them. Cassandra particularly loves the rounded stone tower accessible from a set of crumbling stairs and the view from its top.
Earlier that evening, Miss Marcy, the librarian and schoolteacher at the nearby village, visited with new detective novels for Mortmain. Cassandra and Topaz consult Miss Marcy about their finances and how to best earn money for the family. They admit that the family has no visible income for the upcoming year unless Topaz goes to London to model, but she doesn’t want to be away from Mortmain to do so. Their main expenditure is food as their landlord, the recently deceased Mr. Cotton of Scoatney Hall, did not pressure them to pay rent. Miss Marcy informs them that the estate’s heirs will soon reopen Scoatney Hall, which may require the family to start paying rent again.
Rose, embarrassed to share the family’s finances with Miss Marcy, claims she can work as a maid or childcare provider. Cassandra, however, notes that Rose “has no real talents at all” (18) and would not perform well in either of those jobs. Stephen proposes working at a nearby farm and giving the family some of his weekly earnings in exchange for a place to live. No one proposes that Mortmain get a job. Miss Marcy leaves, and Stephen speaks privately to Cassandra, asking her to tell him if she is ever hungry.
As Cassandra prepares for bed, she and Rose discuss the reopening of Scoatney Hall. Rose was reminded of the opening of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, in which Mrs. Bennet becomes excited that the nearby Netherfield Hall will reopen and give her daughters a chance to meet husbands.
Chapter 3 Summary
Cassandra writes in the attic as Topaz and Rose use the kitchen to dye their clothes, sheets, and other fabrics. She reflects on how her journal writing comes naturally in comparison to trying to write a fictional novel: “But the truth seems to flow out as fast as I can get it down” (26). She recounts the family’s discovery of the castle following Mortmain’s release from jail. Then, they were wealthy from the success of Mortmain’s novel Jacob Wrestling. Mortmain was determined to find a house without nearby neighbors, and they came upon Godsend Castle while driving through Sussex. Mortmain, Rose, and Cassandra explored the castle and its adjoining house while their mother and toddler Thomas stayed near the car. Cassandra remembers her father’s enthusiasm for the castle but struggles to remember much about her late mother: “I realize more and more how vague she has become for me” (33). After signing a 40-year lease on the castle rented by the Cottons of Scoatney Hall, Mortmain fixed the adjoining house and furnished the family’s quarters. In the intervening years, the Mortmain family has had to sell most of their furniture to pay for food and clothes.
The family’s poverty began after Cassandra’s mother died and Mortmain stopped writing. Cassandra questions what happened to him: “What is the matter with him? And what does he do all the time?” (35). Mortmain is unsociable to everyone but the family and the Vicar of the surrounding countryside. The family’s connection to their Aunt Millicent in London was cut off when Mortmain met Topaz at one of Millicent’s artist’s parties and married her; Millicent never forgave him for changing the course of Topaz’s artistic career. Cassandra finishes her journal entry by considering how long she has spent describing her past and the “historic past” inspired by the castle.
Chapter 4 Summary
The next morning, Cassandra writes of the unexpected visit of the newly arrived Cotton brothers the previous evening. During a rainstorm, Cassandra talks with her father, noting how “completely out of touch with him” (41) she has become. He becomes irritated when she asks after his writing, claiming she can expect no income from him. Mortmain warns her against being too kind to Stephen unless she intends to accept his romantic overtures and marry him. She resolves to be more “brisk” with Stephen in the future and not encourage him.
Cassandra, Rose, Stephen, and Thomas eat a small meal in the kitchen. Rose is desperate to change their lives and proposes selling herself to the Devil if necessary. As a joke, Cassandra proposes she kiss the stone gargoyle’s head above the fireplace, and the boys hoist her up there on the drying rack. Just as Rose pats the head, a car honks outside. The boys quickly bring her down. Topaz gives Rose one of her elegant tea-gowns that she claims shrunk when they dyed it green, then leaves to walk nude in the rain as she “has a passion for getting into closest contact with the elements” (49). Cassandra takes a bath in the kitchen, where the fire keeps her warm, screened by racks of drying laundry.
At the sound of a knock on the door, Cassandra accidentally calls for the person to enter. Simon Cotton, the heir to Scoatney Hall and newly arrived from America, enters the castle. Thomas comes to meet him, and the pair go back outside to get the Cottons’ car out of the mud. Simon returns and notices Cassandra; she is surprised to find him young but with a black beard, an unusual choice for a gentleman in England at the time. Cassandra notes that he takes her for a child at first. Neil, Simon’s brother, enters the castle as well. Rose comes downstairs wearing Topaz’s tea-gown while the group can hear Topaz playing her lute. The unexpected strangeness of the scene shocks and intrigues the Cottons.
Chapter 5 Summary
After seeing Rose in the tea-gown, the Cotton brothers stay to chat with the family. Topaz makes everyone hot chocolate after changing into a matronly outfit, unlike her usual more artistic and flattering clothes. Mortmain joins them, and Simon immediately recognizes him as the author of Jacob Wrestling, which he studied in college.
Simon asks whether Mortmain is writing a sequel, but after seeing Mortmain’s irritation, he quickly says that no author as unique as Mortmain would bother writing sequels but would rather write something equally as original as Jacob Wrestling. After the Cottons leave, Rose is excited about the prospect of marriage, regardless of the fact she does not know Simon nor like his beard. For herself, Cassandra thinks “there is something revolting about the way girls’ minds so often jump to marriage long before they jump to love” (55).
The next day, she notices the Cotton brothers walking up to the castle from her seat in the barn and begins describing their physical attributes in more detail, noting how different they seem to be from each other. She does not go to meet them, believing she must not distract their attention from Rose. She is still in the barn when the Cottons walk by on their way back to Scoatney. She overhears them talking about how desperate and embarrassingly affected Rose was during their visit.
Distraught, Cassandra goes inside and confides in Topaz what she overheard. She believes that “Rose got it out of old books. We’ve never known any modern women except Topaz, and Rose would never dream of copying her” (65). Topaz is sure that the Cottons won’t pursue a friendship with their family any longer, and they promise not to tell Rose. This entry marks the last available space that Cassandra has for writing in the exercise book without money to buy another journal.
Part 1, Chapters 1-5 Analysis
In the opening chapters of I Capture the Castle, the Mortmain family’s poverty is the central issue around which they try to navigate their socio-emotional lives. When discussing the family’s finances in Chapter 2 with Miss Marcy, they question what an acceptable job for a family member could be. That they do not consider working in the nearby village or on a farm at all, regardless of their dire financial situation, reveals the family’s lingering pride in their social rank. As educated and landed members of the respectable class, the Mortmain family does not expect any of its members to take up work similar to that of Stephen or Stephen’s deceased mother, who worked as a maid and housekeeper. James Mortmain himself puts no effort into supporting his family and takes advantage of Scoatney Hall’s blasé attitude toward rent; he is not considered a potential source of income as the family, especially Topaz, wants to give him the time and space to write. To solve their financial problems, the Mortmains rely on Stephen (who already works for them for free) to give them some of his salary earned by working on a nearby farm. Though Cassandra expresses her gratitude to him, the rest of the family takes it as a matter of course that Stephen, the only working-class person in the household, will need to take on another job.
The characters of Cassandra and Rose represent conflicting ideals of femininity. Rose compares herself to characters from Jane Austen novels, and her affectations around the Cotton brothers are largely inspired by the mannerisms and feminine behaviors of Regency and Victorian England. She values marriage, the wealth acquired in marriage, and a life of materialism. When the Cottons enter their lives, Topaz and Cassandra put effort into not distracting attention from Rose (57) so that Rose can charm Simon into marrying her before she knows anything about his personality. Conversely, Cassandra represents the modern woman intent on beginning a career as an author who does not consider marriage the sum total of her social existence.
The differences in their characters symbolize the drastic change that English society underwent after World War I and the beginning of modernity. This change is further explored in Godsend Castle’s architecture, which incorporates historic and modern building elements. Cassandra situates herself in relation to the “historic past” (37) that she admires but does not ascribe to; her concerns are creativity, intellectualism, money, and becoming a modern, financially independent woman.
Cassandra’s relationship with both her parents is likewise characterized by tension. She struggles to remember much about her mother (33) and feels disconnected from her father, even though they both center their lives around writing. When speaking with him, she feels she is speaking with a stranger (41). Like Rose’s affectations, Mortmain’s behavior is stuck in an outdated class system. His unwillingness to work even though it could provide food for his family and his position as the renter of a substantial piece of land suggest that he considers himself in an intellectual class of gentlemen that cannot deign to work in the same way Stephen does.
