I Capture the Castle; the Sixpenny book :: Setting and Characters

The setting of this book and the characters in it are two of the reasons I liked it so much. It was just so... interesting to read about an olden days family trying to cope with living in a big old castle... anyways, that's not the point of this page, the point is to try and explain the setting and characters, so that's what I'm going to do.

The setting of this book is a giant old castle, with the remains of another tower called Belmotte Tower next to it on a mound. The year is hard to tell, somewhere in the 1940's, most likely, because that is when the book was published at first. The place is in England; this is quite easy to tell because of the way they talk, and the money they use. The Mortmain family has done whatever was possible to make the most of the formerly dreary old castle, although some of them still find it to be a bit dreary and miserable.

The main characters in the book are...

• Cassandra Mortmain. The main character, and narrator. Cassandra is a seventeen-year-old girl who says she “looks younger, but feels older”, and who loves to write poetry and write in her journal (which is just what the book is made up of). Her physical description of herself is “I am no beauty but have a 'neatish' face.” She lives with her father, a very unsociable man named James; her stepmother, Topaz, who is also a model for many artists; her older sister, Rose, who hates living in the castle; and the son of one of their former maids, who Cassandra likes, and who likes Cassandra in return, Stephen.

• Topaz. She is James’ new wife, and Rose and Cassandra’s new stepmother. She works as a model. She is a very beautiful , yet strange girl, which is the reason she is an artist’s model. She has a deep, harmonious voice, and she enjoys playing the lute and painting. She also has very pale skin and very pale, straight hair.

• Rose. She is the eldest sister, and she absolutely HATES living in the castle. In fact, at one point in the book, she says, “There is nothing romantic about being shut up in a crumbling ruin surrounded by a sea of mud.” She is very vain and depressed in the way she acts. She is supposedly very beautiful, much like Topaz.

• Stephen Colly. He's a very lonely, shy and hard-working character. He regularily tends to the Mortmain’s garden, and works for them at his own expense. Cassandra secretly likes him, and he likes her too.

• Thomas Mortmain. He's the youngest of the Mortmain family, and doesn't play a large role in the book. He is fifteen years old, and he attends school in a nearby town, King’s Crypt.

• Their father, James Mortmain. He was a former writer, and he wrote a book called 'Jacob Wrestling'. The book is a mixture of philosophy and poetry. Since his wife died, he has become very unsociable and spends most of his time cooped up in his room, and he rarely comes out or lets anyone in. His family wishes he would start writing again, or at least not be so grim and unsociable, but nevertheless, coming out of his room is a rarity.

• Miss Marcy. She's one of the less significant characters. She is the village librarian and schoolmistress. She's always admired Mr. Mortmain greatly and enjoys giving him the detective novels he loves so much. She regularily visits the Mortmain family.

Click here to return to the homepage