In Chapter Five of "The Canterville Ghost," the ghost meets Virginia in the Tapestry Chamber and asks her to pray for him. He asks this because he wants to enter the Garden of Death so that he can lie in the "soft brown earth" and sleep undisturbed. (He has not slept since his death 300 years ago.) According to the prophecy which is written on the library window, however, the ghost can only enter the...
In Chapter Five of "The Canterville Ghost," the ghost meets Virginia in the Tapestry Chamber and asks her to pray for him. He asks this because he wants to enter the Garden of Death so that he can lie in the "soft brown earth" and sleep undisturbed. (He has not slept since his death 300 years ago.) According to the prophecy which is written on the library window, however, the ghost can only enter the garden if he enlists Virginia to pray for his forgiveness:
When a golden girl can win
Prayer from out the lips of sin,
When the barren almond bears,
And a little child gives away its tears,
Then shall all the house be still,
And peace come to Canterville.
Of all the people living at Canterville Chase, Virginia is the only one who matches this description: she is kind-hearted, warm, and caring. In other words, she is the "golden girl" whose tears can make the almond tree bear fruit and who can convince God to forgive the ghost for his earthly sins. Without Virginia, the ghost has no chance of entering the Garden of Death and peace will never come to Canterville Chase.
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