Sir Simon de Canterville and Lady Eleanore de Canterville

Sir Simon de Canterville and Lady Eleanore de Canterville are joined in the story by a marriage that ended in murder and by the consequences that outlasted them both. Sir Simon killed Lady Eleanore in 1575; her brothers later imprisoned him until he starved to death. The secret of that death was eventually exposed, and Sir Simon’s remorse and release transformed the violent history of the marriage into a story of atonement, burial, and inherited property.

Marriage and Murder

The account of the marriage emerges when the family first encounters the bloodstain in the library of Canterville Chase. Mrs. Umney identifies it as the blood of Lady Eleanore, murdered on that very spot by her husband in 1575. She adds that Sir Simon survived his wife by nine years before disappearing under mysterious circumstances; his body had never been found, and his spirit continued to haunt the house. The stain thus stands for both the known crime against Lady Eleanore and the still-unresolved fate of her husband.

Sir Simon himself later describes the murder to Virginia Otis as a private family matter. He complains that Lady Eleanore was plain, did not keep his ruffs properly starched, and knew nothing of cooking, then recalls his frustration over how she served a deer he had shot in Hogley Woods. His trivial domestic grievances expose the grotesque disproportion between his complaints and his crime. He acknowledges that he killed her, while also objecting that her brothers starved him to death in retaliation.

The Brothers’ Revenge and the Hidden Death

The story distinguishes the murder from the punishment that followed it. Sir Simon survived Lady Eleanore by nine years, but her brothers imprisoned him in a secret chamber and left him to die of starvation. Because his body had not been discovered, the account of his disappearance remained mysterious until Virginia led the Otis family through a concealed passage to the room where his remains lay.

There, chained to an iron ring embedded in the wall, was a gaunt skeleton stretched across the stone floor. An old trencher and water jug had been left just beyond its reach; the jug bore green mould, and the trencher held only dust. The discovery gave material form to Sir Simon’s accusation against his wife’s brothers and disclosed the fate that the earlier account had left unexplained. The family witnessed the tragedy, while Virginia knelt beside the remains and prayed.

Remorse and Release

Sir Simon’s account does not erase the murder: he admits that he killed Lady Eleanore even as he resents the punishment imposed by her brothers. His release depends instead on Virginia’s compassion and prayer. He tells her that she must grieve for his sins and pray for his soul, because he has no tears and no faith; the prophecy also promises peace for the house when a child offers such help. Virginia agrees to seek mercy for him, and the disclosure of his remains follows her intervention. The story therefore presents the end of the haunting not as vindication of either the murder or the revenge, but as a passage from concealed suffering toward mercy and rest.

Burial and Inheritance

Four days after the discovery, Sir Simon’s funeral leaves Canterville Chase at about eleven at night. Lord Canterville attends as chief mourner, with Virginia beside him; the hearse is drawn by eight black horses, and servants walk alongside the procession carrying torches. At the grave beneath an old yew in the churchyard, Virginia lays a cross of white and pink almond blossoms on the coffin. The public ceremony gives the long-hidden remains a burial and marks the end of the haunting associated with the marriage.

The crime also leaves a material legacy. Before dying, Sir Simon gave Virginia a box of jewels, including a ruby necklace in an old Venetian setting. Hiram B. Otis argues that the jewels should be treated as family heirlooms and returned to Lord Canterville, invoking mortmain, the absence of a will, and his own principles of Republican simplicity. Lord Canterville refuses: the jewels had been unknown to his family, and, because Hiram B. Otis had bought the furniture and ghost at a valuation, he considers Sir Simon’s property to have passed with the purchase. He also recognizes Virginia’s service to his ancestor. The disagreement leaves the jewels with Virginia, carrying the memory of the marriage into her later life while turning the story’s violent family inheritance into a contested question of law, gratitude, and ownership.