What are two incidents in the story "The Canterville Ghost" that illustrate Oscar Wilde's tendency to reverse situations into their opposites?
In "The Canterville Ghost," Wilde reverses many situations into their opposites. One example of this can be found in Chapter Four when the Canterville Ghost plans to scare the Duke of Cheshire by dressing up as "The Vampire Monk." Suddenly, however, the ghost has a change of heart:
At the last moment, however, his terror of the twins prevented his leaving his room, and the little Duke slept in peace.
Similarly, in Chapter Five, Wilde reveals that the ghost has used Virginia's paints to create the blood-stain in the library. Virginia is very annoyed at the ghost for stealing from her but, as the ghost says, he had his reasons for doing it:
"It is a very difficult thing to get real blood nowadays."
By taking a traditional idea and turning it on its head - the idea that a ghost might be afraid of children or that he uses paint instead of real blood - Wilde infuses his story with comedy. This contrasts sharply with the moments of horror and makes his story very different to other traditional ghost stories.
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