Comparative essay on the novels Castle of Otranto and The Wasp Factory

Both The Castle of Otranto and The Wasp Factory depict the sins of the past catching up to the present. While Horace Walpole does so to demonstrate that we have no control over our fate, Iain Banks does so to argue that we do control our destiny. In Castle of Otranto, the main characters' fates are controlled by the sins of the past, which are represented by supernatural forces. Conversely, in Wasp Factory, when Frank finds out his true identity, he is freed from the sins of his family's past.
In Castle of Otranto, supernatural forces become the embodiment of the past's control over the…