He is a serious young man who does not see life in the same way that his more light-hearted brother does. He was raised in New England by his mother he loves the countryside, literature and studying. Rose does not treat Simon very well she cheats on him with his brother and when both of their feelings grow too strong to deny, she elopes. She also aims to make him fall in love with her, but her inept and embarrassing attempts at flirtation, which she has never actually tried before, go so wrong that she almost alienates his entire family. She does not want to settle for a love relationship and instead determines to make herself fall in love with Simon Cotton because he is the heir to a tremendous fortune. The eldest of the Mortmain children, Rose is flighty, dreamy and convinced that she was supposed to live the life of a Jane Austen heroine in the castle in which she was raised. When she is actually able to have a relationship with Simon she is worried about his feelings for Rose, and so puts the brakes on the relationship somewhat, so that she can protect her heart. Nevertheless she puts her own desires aside for the good of her sister and with the intention of doing the right thing.
When he does, Cassandra is delighted, but an afternoon spent alone with Simon throws up some surprising chemistry and the two fall quickly in love.Ĭassandra is a good sister, and loyal, and she knows that having a relationship with her future brother in law behind his fiance's back is a terribly unkind thing to do she just can't seem to help it because her feelings for Simon are so strong. Cassandra is not planning on falling in love in fact, her priority is to help Rose make Simon Cotton fall in love with her. We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.Ĭassandra is both protagonist and narrator of the novel an obsessive journal keeper, Cassandra is the middle child in the Mortmain family and the youngest sister, although she seems to have her head screwed on a great deal better than her older sister, Rose. I Capture the Castle is a classic coming-of-age novel which stands the test of time and will endure for as long as boy-girl relationships endure.These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community. Cassandra, despite being saddened by her first disappointment in love, can still reflect with satisfaction on the Mortmain family's improved fortunes, and looks forward to the future. As the journal advances, the relationships Cassandra depicts become subtler and more problematic, and she concludes her narrative on a bittersweet note. Cassandra and Rose soon become intrigued by the unmarried sons, Simon and Neil and the inevitable relationships commence. Things begin to happen when the Cottons, a wealthy American family, inherit nearby Scoatney and become the Mortmains' new landlords. Stephen, a noble soul, is in love with Cassandra, which she finds touching, but a bit awkward Thomas, a schoolboy, is, like Cassandra, considered "tolerably bright". Stephen, a handsome, loyal, live-in son of the Mortmain's late cook, and Thomas, the youngest Mortmain child, round off the cast of household characters. Cassandra, the younger daughter and the story's narrator, has literary ambitions and spends a lot of time developing her writing talent by "capturing" everything around her in her journal. Rose, the elder daughter, is a classic English beauty longing for a chance to meet some eligible (and preferably rich) young men. Mortmain's second wife, Topaz, is an exotically beautiful artist's model who enjoys communing with nature, sometimes wearing nothing but hip boots. Ten years before the story begins, he took out a forty-year lease on a dilapidated but beautiful castle, hoping to find either inspiration or isolation there now, his family is selling off the furniture to buy food. The head of the Mortmain family is Cassandra Mortmain's father, a writer suffering from writer's block who has not published anything since his first book, a hit entitled, Jacob Wresstling.
The narrator is Cassandra Mortmain, an intelligent 17 year old who tells the story via her personal diaries. This coming-of-age novel recounts in the first person the adventures of an eccentric family, the Mortmains, struggling to live in a decaying English castle during the 1930s. Smith was already an established playwright and later became famous for authoring the children's classic The Hundred and One Dalmatians. I Capture the Castle is Dodie Smith's first novel, written in 1949 while living in USA.
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