Nightmare Abbey is an 1818 novella by Thomas Love Peacock which makes good-natured fun of contemporary literary trends.

The novel

Nightmare Abbey was Peacock's third long work of fiction to be published. It was written in late March and June 1818, and published in London in November of the same year. The novella was lightly revised by the author in 1837 for republication in Volume 57 of Bentley's Standard Novels. The book is Peacock's most well-liked and frequently-read work. The novel was a topical work of Gothic fiction in which the author satirised tendencies in contemporary English literature, in particular Romanticism's obsession with morbid subjects, misanthropy and transcendental philosophical systems. Most of its characters are based on historical figures whom Peacock wished to pillory. It has been observed that "the plots of Peacock's novels are mostly devices for bringing the persons together and the persons are merely the embodiment of whims and theories, or types of a class". Nightmare Abbey embodies the critique of a particular mentality and pillories the contemporary vogue for the macabre. To his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peacock described the object of his novel as being "to bring to a sort of philosophical focus a few of the morbidities of modern literature". Appearing in the same year as Northanger Abbey, it similarly contrasts the product of the inflamed imagination, or what Peacock's Mr Hilary describes as the "conspiracy against cheerfulness", with the commonplace course of everyday life, with the aid of light-hearted ridicule. Several of the chapters take a dramatic form interspersed with stage directions in order to illustrate without comment how much the speakers characterise themselves through their conversation. The actor and director Anthony Sharp was eventually to take this approach to its logical conclusion and reduced the whole novel to a successful and popular script. First performed in February 1952, it was eventually published in 1971.

Plot

Insofar as the novel may be said to have a plot, it follows the fortunes of Christopher Glowry, a morose widower who lives with his only son Scythrop in the isolated family mansion, Nightmare Abbey, in Lincolnshire. Mr Glowry's melancholy leads him to choose servants with long faces or dismal names such as Mattocks, Graves and Skellet. The few visitors he welcomes to his home are mostly of a similar cast of mind, with the sole exception of his brother-in-law, Mr Hilary. The visitors engage in conversations, or occasionally monologues, which serve to highlight their eccentricities or obsessions. Mr Glowry's son Scythrop is recovering from a love affair which ended badly. A failed author, he often retires to his own quarters in a tower to study. When he leaves them, he is distracted by the flirtatious Marionetta, who blows hot and cold on his affections. A further complication arises when Celinda Toobad, fleeing from a forced engagement to an unknown suitor, appeals to Scythrop for shelter and he hides her in a secret room. The change in Scythrop's demeanour spurs on Marionetta to threaten to leave him forever, and he is forced to admit to himself that he is in love with both women and cannot choose between them. There is a brief interruption to the usual round of life at the Abbey when the misanthropic poet, Mr Cypress, pays a farewell visit before going into exile. After his departure, there are reports of a ghost stalking the building, and the appearance of a ghastly figure in the library throws the guests into consternation. Only later is the apparition revealed to have been Mr Glowry's somnambulant steward Crow. Scythrop's secret comes out when Mr Glowry confronts his son in his tower and asks what are his intentions towards Marionetta, "whom you profess to love". Hearing this, Miss Toobad (who has been passing herself off under the name of Stella) comes out of the hidden chamber and demands an explanation. During the ensuing row, Mr Toobad recognises his runaway daughter, whom he had really intended for Scythrop all along. But both women now renounce Scythrop and leave the Abbey, determined never to set eyes on him again. After all the guests depart, Scythrop proposes suicide and asks his servant Raven to bring him "a pint of port and a pistol". He is only dissuaded when his father promises to leave for London and intercede for his forgiveness with one or other of the women. When Mr Glowry returns, it is with letters from Celinda and Marionetta, who announce their forthcoming marriage to two of the other guests instead. Scythrop is left to console himself with the thought that his recent experiences qualify him "to take a very advanced degree in misanthropy" so that he may yet hope to make a figure in the world.

Characters

Many of the characters who figure in the novel are based on real people. The names they are given by Peacock express their personality or governing interest.

The family

The visitors