Later, Virginia marries the young Duke. Her husband entreats her to tell him what happened the fateful night with the Ghost, but she refuses. Virginia asserts, though, that she is grateful to Sir Simon, for he taught her that Love is stronger than both Death and Life.

Stars and StripesSee Twins Twins The youngest children of the Otis family, the twins are wild hooligans. They throw pillows at the ghostly Sir Simon's head, hit him with their peashooters, and throw nuts along the corridor in an effort to trip the Ghost. Irrepressible, the twins achieve their greatest triumph when they create their own ghost from a hollowed-out turnip, a bed curtain, and a kitchen cleaver. Their constant pranks leave Sir Simon shaken, as his every plan for revenge is thwarted by the twins's efforts.

The story begins when Hiram B. Otis and his family move into Canterville Chase, despite warnings from Lord Canterville that the castle is haunted. The Otis family includes Mr. and Mrs. Otis, their son Washington, their daughter Virginia, and twin boys. At the onset of the tale, not one member of the Otis family believes in ghosts, but shortly after they move in none of them can deny the presence of Sir Simon. The family hears clanking chains, they witness reappearing bloodstains on the carpet, and they see strange apparitions in various forms. But none of these scares the Otises in the least. In fact, upon hearing the clanking noises in the hallway, Mr. Otis promptly gets out of bed and gives the ghost Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator to oil his chains.

Despite Sir Simon's attempts to appear in the most gruesome disguises, the family refuses to be frightened, and Sir Simon feels increasingly helpless and humiliated. When Mrs. Otis notices a mysterious red mark on the carpet, she simply replies that she does "not at all care for blood stains in the sitting room." When Mrs. Umney, the housekeeper, informs Mrs. Otis that the blood stain is indeed evidence of the ghost and cannot be removed, Washington Otis, the oldest son, suggests that the stain be removed with Pinkerton's Champion Stain Remover and Paragon Detergent: a quick fix, like the Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator, and a practical way of dealing with the problem. The Otises, like stereotypical Americans, seek instant gratification, and they expect to find an explanation and a solution for everything in existence. In setting the Otises against Sir Simon, a symbol of English tradition, Wilde craftily portrays both Hiram and Mrs. Otis as "ugly Americans," that is to say, as uncultured, unimpressed by British culture, and incapable of being moved by anything out of the ordinary.

Wilde describes Mrs. Otis as "a very handsome middle-aged woman" who has been "a celebrated New York belle." She is obviously considered refined in the American way of thinking but, like her husband, Mrs. Otis is materialistic and has a blatant disregard for British tradition and history. Her lack of culture surfaces when Mrs. Otis immediately resorts to using the commercial stain remover to obliterate the bloodstains and when she expresses an interest in joining the Psychical Society to help her understand the ghost. Mrs. Otis is laughable, as is her husband, for both of them continue to reveal their ill-refined ways while presuming they can assume the role of English aristocrats.

The most colorful character in the story is undoubtedly Sir Simon, the ghost, who goes about his ghostly duties with theatrical panache (flair). He assumes a series of dramatic roles in order to impress the Otises, making it easy to imagine Sir Simon as a comical character in a stage play. This ghost has the ability to change forms, so he taps into his repertoire of tricks. He takes the role of ghostly apparitions such as The Headless Earl, The Strangled Babe, The Blood-Sucker of Bexley Moor, Jonas the Graveless, Suicide's Skeleton, and the Corpse-Snatcher of Chertsey Barn, all having succeeded in horrifying previous castle residents over the centuries. But none of them works with these Americans. Sir Simon schemes, but even as his costumes become increasingly gruesome, his antics do nothing to scare his house guests, and the Otises succeed in foiling him every time. He falls victim to trip wires, pea shooters, butterslides, and falling buckets of water. In a particularly comical scene, he is frightened by the sight of a "ghost," rigged up by the mischievous twins.

During the course of the story, as narrated by Sir Simon, we come to understand the complexity of the ghost's emotions. We see him brave, frightening, distressed, scared, and finally, depressed and weak. He exposes his vulnerability during an encounter with Virginia, Mr. Otis's fifteen-year-old daughter. Virginia is different from everyone else in the family, and Sir Simon recognizes this fact. He tells her that he has not slept in three hundred years and wants desperately to do so. The ghost reveals to Virginia an age-old prophesy that because he has no tears and has no faith he can only die if Virginia, who has these qualities, "weeps for his past sins and prays for the salvation of his soul." She is the only one willing to suspend her skepticism, the only one willing to believe in ghosts, and ultimately, the only one able to put Sir Simon to rest.

Unlike the rest of her family, Virginia does not dismiss the ghost. She takes him seriously; she listens to him, and she learns an important lesson. She does weep for him and pray for him, and she disappears with Sir Simon through the wainscoting and goes with him to the Garden of Death and bids the ghost farewell. Then she reappears at midnight, through a panel in the wall, carrying jewels in a casket and news that Sir Simon has passed on to the next world and no longer resides in the castle. Virginia's ability to accept Sir Simon and to become a believer leads to her enlightenment; Sir Simon, she tells her husband years later, helped her understand "what Life is, what Death signifies, and why Love is stronger than both."