Thomas Love Peacock's 1818 novel, Nightmare Abbey, is a lighthearted satire of the burgeoning romantic movement in literature and, in particular, the fashionable obscurity manifested by its prominent characters, many of whom were his friends.
Christopher Glowry is a melancholy widower who lives with his son Scythrop in a dilapidated mansion known as Nightmare Abbey. The regular guests of this Gothic mansion are Ferdinand Floskey, a transcendental philosopher reminiscent of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Mr. Cypress, a poet in particular Byronic. Scythrop, whose name derives from the Greek word for melancholy, seems to share many of the characteristics of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
At the beginning of the novel, Scythrop is trying to ward off the pain of a failed romance by immersing himself in another of his utopian schemes to regenerate and improve the human race. Although his treatise on this subject is stillborn, in the press, he is soon diverted from the salvation of the world by the arrival of the lovable and flirtatious Marionette O'Carroll.
The young man is fascinated by this new visitor, but his father warns him against the possibility of marrying a penniless woman whose inexorable good humor violates their doomed family tradition. These words have no effect on Scythrop, but when Marionette's companion decides it would be better for them to leave, the grim young man threatens to commit suicide. The women decide to stay to calm Scythrop's spirits. However, unbeknownst to his son, the elder Glowry and a Mr. Toobad have already arranged the wedding of his daughter, Celinda, to Scythrop. They thought that, while adorable as a Marionette, the depressed and cerebral young woman would make a better match for her child.
Over the next few days, as entertaining visitors come and go to Nightmare Abbey, it becomes apparent that some sort of change has taken place on Scythrop. Although Marionetta was confident of his love for him, she wonders why he now seems so aloof. Peacock reveals to the reader that, a short time before, Celinda, who calls herself "Stella", had arrived in the gloomy mansion in search of Scythrop. She had been one of the very few readers of her recent treatise about her and was so deeply moved that she felt she had to seek him out. Also being quite taken with her, the young man placed her in her apartment hidden and deprived of her to allow himself time to contemplate her dilemma.
As time goes by, he finds himself enchanted by this beauty that he loves discussing transcendental philosophy and decides that he will continue his relationship with both women until he can choose which of them he truly loves.
But as it should, this love soon ends, as the truth of the situation is revealed to the rest of the characters. Upon learning of each other's existence, both young women leave the house and Scythrop. Discouraged, but not suicidal, he asks his servant for a bottle of Madeira.
Rejected by a young woman in his youth, Christopher Glowry immediately marries another. His wife is cold and gloomy and Nightmare Abbey is a fitting name for his house. Glowry finds relief from his unhappy life in food and drink, and when his woman dies, he easily comforts himself by increasing his consumption of food and wine. He left behind a son, Scythrop, who is gloomy enough to fit his father and Nightmare Abbey. College education has so stripped Scythrop of his thin veneer of social graces that he is fast becoming a country villain like him his father.
While his father is in London to attend a major lawsuit, Scythrop enjoys building miniature dungeons, hatches and secret panels. One day he accidentally discovers an apartment in the main wing of the abbey which has no entrance or exit; due to construction error the apartment ...
