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.
Symbols & Motifs
Godsend Castle
The home of the Mortmain family during their years of poverty, Godsend Castle is a motif used to discuss the novel’s theme of The Historic Past and Modernist Thinking. The family’s living quarters combine the historic castle and a modern house attached to the castle so that family lives in a metaphorically transitional area representing the shift toward modernity occurring within English society in the late 1940s when I Capture the Castle was published. Cassandra’s first encounter with the castle in Chapter 3 of the novel reveals first how necessary the castle is to her family’s life and second the inevitable continued presence of England’s historical past in Cassandra’s present moment (28-29).
Perfume
Rose and Cassandra do not have access to perfume or other beauty products during the family’s period of poverty, so their trip to the department store in London is significant. The perfume Cassandra sees becomes a motif of the different values Cassandra and Rose have regarding wealth and material good. Rose sends Cassandra a bottle of perfume as a present, and while Cassandra is initially excited to receive it, she decides against wearing it during her Midsummer Eve rites as the scent disrupts the natural smell of the wildflowers she has gathered (207). Despite being able to afford perfume now, Cassandra continues to value the natural beauty of her home, while Rose is focused on the material possessions she can acquire as Simon’s prospective wife.
In addition to being a motif of the difference between the Mortmain sisters’ values, the perfume symbolizes the potential relationship between Cassandra and Simon. When Cassandra meets Simon near Belmotte Tower on Midsummer Eve and they prepare to go to Scoatney for dinner, she puts the scent on. In so doing, Cassandra puts something of Rose’s personality on herself before spending time with Simon. As this night leads to a kiss between Simon and Cassandra—as well as signifying the beginning of Cassandra’s love for him—the perfume acts to bridge Cassandra’s identity to Rose and therefore make her appealing to Simon. This is further argued when considering Simon’s request at the novel’s end for Cassandra to join him in America and potentially marry him. Cassandra stands in as a proxy-Rose for Simon, and the perfume sent from Rose symbolically mixes the sisters’ identities in Simon’s affection.
Miss Blossom
Miss Blossom, the dressmaker’s dummy that Rose and Cassandra pretend to animate, symbolizes the absence of Mrs. Mortmain from the sisters’ lives. With the loss of their mother and Rose’s aversion to accepting Topaz as a motherly figure, Miss Blossom often stands in as a source of comfort and advice for both Cassandra and Rose before they meet the Cottons. Cassandra continues Miss Blossom’s voice on her own after Rose leaves to live in London with the Cottons, eventually releasing Miss Blossom’s influence when she goes through the misery of loving Simon (246). Each sister releases Miss Blossom as a comfort and presence when they have attained a sense of womanhood. For Rose, that womanhood relies upon marriage and male attention. For Cassandra, conversely, that womanhood is intricately linked with emotional growth and the realization of her inner strength to bear up under the strain of unrequited love.
