An excellent post from a blog called Exit Pursued by a bear – a great source of material for students looking for critical writing. They’ve even put up one of mine this month!
There’s not a lot around for King of the Castle, so fill your boots, Year 11.
How the absence of love leads to tragedy in ‘I’m the King of the Castle’
J Sugden looks at how Mrs Kingshaw’s lack of love for her son overwhelmingly contributes to the novel’s tragic conclusion.
PJ Merrel was quite right to note in ‘Sympathy for the Devil’, that to label Hooper as an evil monster oversimplifies our understanding of the text because it ‘removes the responsibility of those around him’. It seems staggeringly clear throughout I’m the King of the Castle that others, aside from Hooper, are in large part to blame for what happens. For me, one of the key reasons that Kingshaw ends up committing suicide is because he feels entirely alone and entirely unloved. In her acknowledgement, Susan Hill notes that whilst some readers have complained Kingshaw’s suicide is unbelievable, she herself felt that it was inevitable. I’ve read the novel many times, and I…
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