“Company” however is about a dead army soldier who couldn’t bear the fact that he was dead and didn’t want to leave his house and his memories behind. This story was more sad and serious. When the new family moved in the ghost (William) followed them around and tried to bring back memories. He found their daughter (Angela) very nice and felt ‘fraternal or paternal’ love for her.
The stories had some things in common, such as the fact that they were both written in 3rd person. The narrator acted as if he was watching over the scene. This made the story unbiased as it wasn’t told by one character’s perspective. However it makes the stories less realistic but the stories are more enjoyable because there are emotions and thoughts coming from all the characters. Both stories aren’t typical ghost stories. “The Canterville Ghost” was a funny story that portrayed how a ghost was scared of ghosts! One such example came when the ghost of the mansion was trying to scare the family and the twins (the people who moved into the old mansion) came from behind and shouted “BOO!” into the ghost’s ear from which he got scared. This story had one main character and that was the ghost. The whole story revolved around what he did because the family couldn’t see him unless he wanted them to. The ghost didn’t understand why the children weren’t scared of him and that’s why he thought that they were trying to be rude to him on purpose!
“Company” was far more serious and sad. “Company” was situated in England after World War 1. “Company” had one main character, William. William had become desperately lonely staying alone and wanted to be friends with Angela (the daughter of the family that moved in). His being friendly didn’t work and eventually made him even more desperate. This was why the two stories created an opposite mood to each other. “The Canterville Ghost” created a happy and exciting atmosphere but ”Company” created a sad atmosphere.
They also had some major differences. In “Company” the parents weren’t very caring and didn’t look after their daughter as much as they should have while in “The Canterville Ghost” the parents were over concerned about their kids and called the police because their daughter was late for tea! In “Company” the parents never believed Angela when she said that there was a ghost even after remembering that they had been warned before they bought the house. Angela’s father said, “Poltergeist! So the place is haunted, that it? Bloody Ridiculous!” after he heard her say there was a ghost. In “The Canterville Ghost” however the parents eventually believed there was a ghost because of unexplained events taking place.
One major aspect of both stories was that the ghosts were trying to escape and become free from the ghostly world. This was what the Canterville ghost meant when he said someone had to do to set him free, “You must weep with me for my sins, because I have no tears, and pray with me for my soul, because I have no faith, and then if you have always been sweet and good, and gentle, the Angel of Death will have mercy on me.” The ghost was freed by the daughter, Virginia. “Company” however was different because Angela accidentally fell from her window and died. Then William decided it was time for him to pass on. The Canterville ghost was trapped because of his wrong doings and needed something very pure to release him from his curse while William was too scared to leave the human world. Both ghosts find their freedom and go to heaven presumably.
In the end both the ghosts were freed and the stories stop at that point. Angela’s family was grieving her death and the Otis’ were rejoicing that they didn’t have to deal with a ghost anymore.
