This short story is set at Canterville Chase, in England, sometime during the late Victorian period. The story itself was published in 1887, during the Industrial Revolution and nearing the turn of the 20th century. Consequently, the story engages thematically with the idea that older traditions or superstitions are being abandoned by contemporary, progressive (in the quite literal meaning of the word) society. For Wilde’s purposes, the Americans represent this industrializing, modernizing element, while the British aristocracy—and other aspects of European traditionalism—are left to the past. Aspects of modernity, including the increased prevalence of advertising and production, manifest clearly in the Otis family’s behavior, as they offer the ghost all manner of tinctures and manufactured goods.
Furthermore, as a satirical work, "The Canterville Ghost" contains certain elements of the genre it criticizes and reflects on, chief among them being a Gothic fixation on setting. In Gothic fiction, the setting, including both natural and manmade components, will often become a character in and of itself. In Wilde's short story, the house inhabited by the main characters takes on a personality and agency of its own, as do the natural phenomena in the surrounding environment. The setting both parallels the activity of supernatural actors and serves to externalize the internal turmoil of humans and supernatural beings. This melding of character and setting is a key component of Gothic fiction, and must be a key component of any Gothic satire or parody.
