Abstract
In Dodie Smith’s novel I Capture the Castle (1948), Cassandra Mortmain writes the story of her sister Rose’s courtship. In the novel, clothes perform the paradoxical work of, on one hand, helping create a version of Rose that is vividly original in her wealthy suitor’s eyes, while on the other hand showing readers how her behavior is as stereotypical as the oldest of fairy tales. The novel uses three pieces of clothing in particular – a dyed tea-gown, a bear-skin coat, and a frilly pink dress – to create fairy-tale associations with Rose. The novel does so to show that reproducing the unoriginality of fairy tales cannot create happiness.
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Notes
Rose’s reliance on tired tropes is so notable that it leads Victor Watson to say that the novel’s “subject matter invites cliché at every point” (Watson, 2001, p. 355).
Copying from existing writings is also shown in a negative light in the plot thread in which Stephen Colly expresses his affection for Cassandra. He copies poems by famous writers for Cassandra (Smith, 1948, p. 9) before writing one himself, earning Cassandra’s approbation: “I like it much better than the ones you copied out” (Smith, 1948, p. 132).
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Hansen, K.S. ‘A Pattern of Clothes:’ Fairy Tale, Originality, and Dress in Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle. Child Lit Educ 55, 281–294 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-023-09540-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10583-023-09540-0