Comparing Two Horror Short Stories - 'The Monkey's Paw' written by W. W. Jacobs and 'The red room' by H G Wells.
English Coursework on Comparing Two Horror Short Stories
'The Monkey's Paw' written by W. W. Jacobs, is about a monkey's paw which has magical powers and which is given to a family of three: a father, a mother and a son, by a man named Sergeant-Major Morris. The monkey's paw had a spell put on it by an old fakir, a holy man, and it gives three wishes to its owner. Mr. White (the father) wished for £200, and the next day an employee of the sons company arrives at the family's home and tells the parents that their son has died in an accident and they will receive some money - they received the exact amount of money they wished for. A few days later, the mother wished for her dead son to return home alive. At the same moment, knocking is heard on the outside door, the father thinks that it's his son knocking on the door, the mother went to open the door but the father uses the last wish. The knocking stops and when the door is opened, no one is there.
'The Red Room' by H.G Wells is about a man who's daring to go to a room which is said to be haunted and wants to prove that it is not. While he was in the room, scandalous things happened at his presence in the red room. The red room was dark and the man had to light many candles to make the room visible and to make sure that there weren't any atavistic creatures in the room. One of the candles extinguished and the man went to turn it back on while the other one extinguished. The man was now getting terrified and the same thing happened several times. The room was now dark so the man started screaming and put his hands on his face and made a run towards the exit, accidentally his forehead got hit against the wall, he collapsed and ended up waking up where he met the old people when he first came to the castle. He then goes on to describe to the old people that the haunting in the room is not a ghost but fear...
'The Monkey's Paw' and 'The Red Room' are both similar because they are both gothic horror short stories written in the nineteenth century. 'The Red Room' is a psychological horror story, which deals with fear and tension and 'The Monkey's Paw' is written with a lot of details, a fairy tale horror story, which deals with mystery and death. Both the authors wrote these stories to frighten the reader, but in a very different way. In this essay I am going to compare 'The Monkey's Paw' by W. W. Jacobs with 'The Red Room' by H .G. Wells examining how the authors create suspense in the stories. I am going to write about how the author creates suspense through the setting of the story, the structure, the language used and the characters in the stories. Finally I have to write up a conclusion commenting on each story.
Setting is an important aspect in the creation of suspense 'The Monkey's Paw' is set in an ordinary house in a parlour in Laburnum Villa which is not a typical setting for a horror story. In the house the fire is burning brightly and the family sit in the parlour relaxed and enjoying themselves. "Father and son were at chess". The beginning of the story creates a great atmosphere as the author describes the place as a peaceful and stress-free environment where they are all relaxed and enjoying each other. While the family is happy, Mr White says, 'I shouldn't think he'll come tonight'. This sentence makes the reader think of many questions in his/her mind, who is not coming? Why isn't he coming? Why did the father chose to mention this now? Are they afraid of this man's visit? The author creates these questions in the readers mind to keep the reader engaged and interested. The author also creates suspense by questioning the reader about the man's visit.
The author describes the setting as 'paths a bog, and road's a torrent.' This quote creates suspense as it makes the reader think that something bad will happen later in the story because the house might get flooded away as the roads are torrent also makes the White family seem vulnerable because of their isolation. The author created suspense by writing after when Herbert says, 'there he is' 'as the gate banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came towards the door.' This makes the reader terrified because he/she might think that the person entering the house must be someone big and strong.
Soon Sergeant-Major Morris introduced himself to the family. He talked about the monkey's paw and how he got it. The author creates suspense by writing 'fumbling in his pocket,' which makes the reader think what might Morris take out of his pocket if it's not the little paw and what he was going to do with it. Sergeant Morris said the paw created enough mischief and no one would buy it because they think it's a fairy tale, so he threw into the fire. Suspense is created here because the author makes the reader question in his/her mind about why he threw it on fire, what will happen if it's thrown on fire and why didn't Sergeant Major keep it so he can wish for something else.
I don't think that Sergeant Major inflicted the monkey's paw on the White family intentionally because he tried to throw it on fire. However, Sergeant Major knew they were naïve and foolish enough to pick the monkey's paw out from the fire, and the father did so. The author creates suspense here because it makes the reader think that Mr. White was going to wish for something, when he was going to do it and what he was going to wish for.
Sergeant Major Morris warned Mr. White of the consequences of keeping the paw and wishing for something. Mr. White enquired of Morris what he had to do when he wanted to wish for something, 'Hold it up in you're hand and wish aloud.' This quote creates suspense because it makes the reader think, is the wish going to be granted straight away or after a while? What will happen at the same moment when they are wishing for something? What will happen to the paw after they had wished for something? Finally Mr. White wished for £200 but his wish wasn't granted straight away and he was frightened after when he wished for the money because the paw moved and dropped from his hand.
The next day, Mrs White saw a man outside the villa deciding whether he was going to enter the house or not. The author created tension here because he wants to question the reader about why is the man keep on deciding whether to enter the house or not? Why does the man want to come to the house? Does the man want to give £200 to the family as they wished for? Or is it for some other reason? Eventually, Mr. White went hurriedly to open the door for the stranger who was waiting outside. The man ...
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The next day, Mrs White saw a man outside the villa deciding whether he was going to enter the house or not. The author created tension here because he wants to question the reader about why is the man keep on deciding whether to enter the house or not? Why does the man want to come to the house? Does the man want to give £200 to the family as they wished for? Or is it for some other reason? Eventually, Mr. White went hurriedly to open the door for the stranger who was waiting outside. The man comes in and tells Mr and Mrs .White that their son caught in machinery and killed. The man hands them £200 as compensation for the family. The author creates suspense here because it makes the reader believe that it is real about the monkey's paw which has spell put on it and it makes them believe that if you wish for something it will be granted.
About two weeks after the funeral of their son the mother decided to use their second wish to bring their son back to life. About two hours after they had made the wish, there was a continuous knocking at the door of the house. Mr White knew it was his son, but he didn't answer the door, instead he used the last wish to wish his son dead. The writer created suspense here because it makes the reader wonder why Mr. White wishes his son dead. I think the reason why Mr. White did this was because he thought that his son would come back the way he had died, and he had been in a grave for two weeks and would look very messy and filthy, which would frighten Mrs. White a lot and she might collapse and become unconscious.
'The Red Room' is set in an ancient building called Lorraine Castle which is very different to the setting of 'The Monkey's paw'. By looking at the title of 'The Red Room' it immediately attracts the reader's attention because the title symbolises many components. The reader might think of many questions about the red room, 'What is the red room? Why is it red? What is in the red room? We associate red with fear, danger, blood, anger and horror. The writer engages the reader quickly just from the title. As the story is set in a castle, it's an excellent location for a horror story. The castle is a very spooky place as it is full of rooms, corridors and stairs. The author created suspense by writing, "A monstrous shadow of him crouched upon the wall mocked his action..." this builds an image in the reader's mind of what the shadow must look like.
After the old woman tells the young man how to get to the red room. He starts going through the passage until he comes to a door and the spiral case. The narrator describes the corridors as a, "Long, draughty subterranean passage was chilly and dusty." This sentence creates suspense because with a spiral staircase you can't see what is around the corner and a passage can echo and be scary. The passage gives the reader the image of loneliness as well.
When the man was walking down the corridor towards 'The Red Room,' the reader feels like he/she are walking down the corridor with the young man, so it is easy to identify with him. The man explores the castle on his journey to the red room. On his way to the red room, the young man comes across many things, one of which is an ornament of a Chinaman Buhl table. As the young man approaches to the door of the red room, tension is built and he quickly closes the door behind him. When the man enters the red room, he says, 'the great red room of Lorraine Castle, in which the young duke had died.' This sentence creates suspense because 'death' is mentioned. It frightens the reader as he/she might think that the man might die somehow because the young duke had died here.
As the man becomes more aware of the shadows, tension rises again, "The shadow in the alcove at the end in particular had that undefinable quality of a presence, that odd suggestion of a lurking, living thing that comes so easily in silence and solitude." This sentence shows us how darkness is far more frightening than being able to see and knowing what is there. The author creates suspense by the man expressing his feelings.
While the man was in the red room, tension builds up. He says, 'the echoing of the stir and crackling of the fire was no sort of comfort to me.' The man tried to talk with himself to break the stillness in the room, but he is frightened by the unpleasant echoing. The man tries hard to distract himself with something to avoid admitting that he is frightened because he is willing to prove that there is no ghost in the room. The man lights up seventeen candles to reduce the amount of darkness in the room to make him feel less frightened. This connects darkness with fear. I think it is a very effective way to introduce the ghost into the story because it will build up tension. 'It was after midnight that the candle in the alcove suddenly went out, and the black shadow sprang back to its place.' Suspense is created here because it's the first time there has been a ghostly presence. Tension is also built up when he was relighting the candle and at the same moment the other two candles extinguished by the fireplace. The candles were continuously extinguishing and the man was getting frightened, 'shadows seemed to take another step towards me.' The darkness creates tension as it is a black fear. In light, we can see and in darkness we cannot, therefore tension and fear is potentially around us.
The man starts panicking as the room becomes darker and his desperation to keep up with the candles as they go out. The room was getting very dark and he was getting even more terrified, so he made a run towards the exit and accidentally he ended up hitting his forehead against the wall and collapses. This sense of panic is very tangible to the readers.
At the ending of 'The Red Room', the man wakes up in daylight to find himself being nursed by the old people. The reader starts thinking of how the man ended up becoming conscious where he first met the old people, if the man had collapsed in the red room and the old people feared entering the room then how did they find the man. This sparks many questions in the readers mind. The man says, 'Where am I?' I asked; 'I seem to remember you, and yet I cannot remember who you are'. I think the author wrote this sentence so the reader can feel sorry for the man as he is proven wrong. Therefore as I have shown setting is far more important to the creation of suspense and tension in 'The Red Room' than in 'The Monkey's Paw.'
Structure is another way of increasing tension in a horror gothic story. The structure of 'The Monkey's Paw' is very well laid out. The author starts talking about how peaceful the place is where the 'Monkey's Paw' is set. The beginning of 'The Monkey's Paw' is very descriptive as it explains all about the surroundings and the characters. The monkey's paw is very slowly introduced later in the story. Suspense is built up and released repeatedly through out this story. An example of this pattern of climax and anti-climax occurs early in the story. 'It's just an ordinary little paw dried to a little mummy,' says Sergeant Major Morris. This makes the reader a little nervous as the word 'magic' was mentioned before and makes them a little scared because it suggests that something terrifying is going to happen soon. 'It had spell put on it by an old fakir.' When Morris says this, tension rises this is because 'spell' and 'fakir' are mentioned which makes the reader even more terrified as he/she might think that something bad will happen. 'He put spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it.' This quote makes the reader very nervous as he/she might think that Mr. White is going to wish for something and would want to find out what it will be.
The author used short paragraphs in the story to create suspense when something terrifying happens for example when Herbert dies and when Mr. White is using his last two wishes. In the story, the author has used longer paragraphs and longer sentences to create suspense as well.
The ending of 'The Monkey's Paw' is a cliff-hanger as it leaves the reader imagining.This technique is used in many soap operas to keep the audience watching so that they can find out the rest of the story. It leaves the readers imagination to run wild. This is typical of a horror story because a personal imagination is more effective - The readers can make the ending up themselves.
H.G Wells has used longer sentences other than short ones in his story to create suspense. This is one of the longer sentences in the story, 'I put down my empty glass on the table and I looked across the room, and caught a glimpse of myself, abbreviated and broadened to an impossible sturdiness, in the queer old mirror at the end of the room.' Here, the writer hasn't used a full stop but he used many commas to break up the sentence and in few other sentences he uses hyphens. This creates more tension than shorter sentences because shorter sentences just break up the story too much and you can get distracted earlier whereas with longer sentences you can keep the readers attention for longer periods of time. The ending of 'The Red Room' is similar to 'The Monkey's Paw' because it leaves the reader imagining. Suspense in 'The Red Room' rises steadily compared to the fluctuating pattern of 'The Monkey's Paw.'
Use of language is another technique used in both stories to ascend the suspense. The language in 'The Monkey's Paw' is old fashioned and very unusual, 'without the night was cold...' or 'Father and son were at chess'. Usually people would say outside it was cold or Father and son were playing chess. The writer W.W. Jacobs has deliberately used old-fashioned language because he wanted to make the story sound like it was old and it made the story more mysterious.
Before Sergeant-Major Morris arrives at the house, the writer used words such as 'placidly,' soothingly,' 'hospitable,' and 'condoling' to describe the mood in the house. When the sergeant arrived at the house, the mood changes with the writer using powerful and effective words such as: 'Pulsating,' 'oppressive,' 'magic,' and 'hoarsely.'
The writer has used onomatopoeia in the story to create suspense, e.g. 'As the gate banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came towards the door.' This makes the reader think that the person entering the house must be someone big and strong.
The writer describes the paw to be "Just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy" I think that it has been describe in this way to make the white family think that it is no big deal so that they will stop asking about it. Also it is stated that the paw had a spell put on it by an old fakir to 'show that fate ruled people's lives.' Then the sergeant told them about the man who had the paw before him, that he didn't know what the first two wishes where but the third was for death. I think this was said in an attempt to scare them off.
The writer has used simple similes throughout the story to create suspense. 'It twisted in my hand like a snake.' Here the author is trying to create horror images in our minds. The writer has said three several times e.g. there were three warnings from the Major, three wishes, and three knocks on the door. This builds up tension because three is often seen as magic number.
When mother and father use their second wish to try and wish their son alive again, the candle in the room 'Throws pulsating shadows on the ceiling.' This is effective because the colour of the flame brings hell and the devil to mind which links what is going to happen with evil. When the candle had extinguished, the room went dark which gives a spooky atmosphere for what is going to happen next.
By looking at the title of 'The Red Room,' the word 'Red' symbolises many things. The colour red has a connection with devil, danger, death, blood, red eyes and red reflections which creates suspense and sets up expectations in the readers. The first line of 'The Red Room' is, 'I can assure you,' said I, 'that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.' From this first line the reader can find out two things, firstly that the story involves ghost and secondly that the man is very educated person.
'It is your own choosing,' the author has used repetition in the story to create suspense. The old man is trying to warn the young man but at the same time he is leaving the 'decision' to him. Another use of repetition is on page two where the old woman keeps on repeating, 'This night of all nights.' We never find out why that night is important but it gives the narrator a warning, and engages the reader even further.
The word 'Death' was mentioned when the young duke had died in the Red Room which makes the reader think that history might repeat it self during the man's visit to the Red Room. A gun is also mentioned, which is linked with death, the reader may wonder if it will need to be used during this 'night of all nights.'
H.G. Wells' has used images of ghosts and evil powers with words like 'decaying', 'withered', 'grotesque', 'monstrous', 'echoes' and 'ghostly'. These are all words that we associate with inhuman beings and it is very effective. The author has given the old people an old language and to the man the author has given an upper class and stylish vocabulary. This shows a definite contrat between the two yet we feel that, despite his obvious 'education,' the young man has much to learn from the old custodians.
The candles in the room are "cheery" and "reassuring" but after midnight the "Black shadows sprang back." Personification is used here to create suspense. Personification is also used when the, 'shadows seemed to take another step towards me.' The writer has used personification here to build suspense because the man was getting even more terrified as the shadows were getting close to him. The writer has used one more personification to picture the fear of the man in the readers mind. 'The shadows I feared and fought against returned, and crept in upon me" much tension is added with the word "crept" because the shadows are terrifying him.
'It was like a ragged storm cloud sweeping out the stars' says the young ma of the growing darkness. This simile makes the reader think that the storm is moving above in their mind which would frighten them. The images of the storm blocking the starlight are powerful, they are perfect comparisons to the darkness and light. Another effective simile is 'darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye, wrapped about me in a stifling embrace, sealed my vision, and crushed the last vestiges of reason from my brain; This sentence reflects the panic and terror that the man is going through. The first few words of the line describe how quickly the darkness came, the shutting of the eye may indicate death and now that he is in total dark he will not get out alive. Darkness wrapping about him means that the blackness is total and all around, the stifling embrace of the darkness about the man means that it holds him tightly and will not let him go. Crushing the last vestiges from his brain indicates that he has lost complete control of his thought, his mind is thinking on its own and not producing any rational thoughts. The writing is long and elaborate, which is a reflection on how fast and how out of control his thoughts are. This reveals the narrator's mind and body are out of control, almost like he is rambling incoherently.
The paragraph before this one describes the man's 'Black Fear' in which the narrator has used many personification, 'followed me...lurks... creeps...follow...deafens'. The narrator has used this amount of personification to make the reader realise that fear come from us, not from a room or a house. The very last line is mysterious 'there is fear in that room...and there will be- so long as this house of sin endures; The reader then asks themselves a number of questions. What has happened to the room to make it sinful? How has the sin of the house made people fear that room? This type of ending in the story is very interesting as it leaves the reader questioned to find out what will happen next, instead of the author telling them as it will be boring.
H.G Wells has used figurative language, interesting adjectives, verbs and adverbs to create tension in the story. This creates tension because the more creative the words are the more it is probably going to be an interesting story. The author has used adjectives in the story to describe in detail what the narrator is seeing, hearing and feeing. He does this when he describes the corridor, the narrator has to walk down to get to the Red Room, 'The long draughty, subterranean passage was chilly and dusty.' This creates tension by giving you the feeling that you are there walking into tomb-like environment with the young man himself.
The verbs used in 'The Red Room' create tension because it gives you a better description of what is actually happening, 'I darted to and fro' is a lot better than just saying I moved to and fro because darted gives you the sense he was desperate to get away. That adds tension because if he is desperate to get away then there must be something he has to get away from.
From reading both stories I have found out that the youngest character in the short stories is the victim of magic or ghost. Herbert is the youngest in 'The Monkey's Paw' who dies in the machinery and the man is the youngest in 'The Red Room,' who has been terrified very badly when he entered the red room and whom feared entering it again. Perhaps youth suggests a vulnerability that cannot be protected.
In 'The Monkey's Paw' there are four main characters. Mr and Mrs White, Herbert and Sergeant-Major Morris. Mr and Mrs White both live together in a house with their son Herbert. The author describes the Sergeant's appearance as 'tall, burly man, beady of eye and rubicund of visage.' The author created suspense here because his role in the story is hidden and is clearly an important character. The author also makes Mr. White and his son talk about him before he comes to the house, giving him more importance in the story, "I should hardly think he'll come tonight." This makes the reader want to know more about him.
In this short story there is lack of description on Mr. White and his son which can create mystery of who they are and what their roles are. The only detail we know about Sergeant is that he likes a bit of drink.
There are two more characters in the story that have small roles; one who worked with Herbert in the factory and the other one is the old fakir. The author created suspense by describing the man who came from 'Maw and Meggins' as 'well dressed, and wore a silk hat of glossy newness. This makes the reader think that it must be someone who is delivering something of importance, yet we do not know if it is to be good or bad.
In my opinion the Sergeant Major is an odd character. This is because he came to Mr White's house all the way from where he used to live. I think that the sergeant had some sort of motive with the monkeys paw because he would not have shown the family the paw if he didn't want them to be involved with it.
The main character in 'The Red Room' is the man who is daring to enter the haunted room and wants to prove it is not haunted. This braveness makes the man a good character because he is the only person who is brave and who dares to go to the red room. The other character is an old man with a 'withered arm.' This makes him a good character because this description is kind of spooky and would make the reader question why his arm is withered. There is only one female character in the story which is the old lady who has her 'wide pale eyes fixed on the blazing fire which is kind of creepy.' The main character in the story is a very brave man and doesn't believe that the room is haunted, '....it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.'
The narrator of 'The Red Room' is an arrogant person and unafraid of ghosts. He believes that if you can't see the ghosts then they are not real. As the narrator of 'The Red Room' is arrogant, from the beginning of the story he is disliked by the reader. He adds a bit more tension which makes the reader think that something is going to happen and you are just waiting for it to happen and wondering when it will happen.
Later, another character is introduced '...the door creaked on its hinges and a second man entered'. This third old man is more bent, wrinkled and old, has an incredibly blemished face, and a spluttering, raucous cough. He is wearing a shade and from far away he appears to have inflamed eyes. He is the one who pulls everything together in the end. The appearances of these characters add to the suspense because the author described their looks in a very scary way. The way they walk, talk and react also adds to the suspense in characters.
There are many similarities between these two stories. Both start with all the characters in one room on a very dark stormy night. Both stories involve an old couple and a much younger man. In both the younger man is the victim of the ghosts or magic. Both stories manage to suggest great danger by someone trying to persuade someone else not to do something. In 'The Monkeys Paw' the sergeant major tries to persuade Mr White not to make the wishes. In 'The Red Room' the old servants try to convince the young male that it is not wise to spend a night in the room. 'The Red Room' is set in a castle which is very old, the servants are very old and the actual story is old.
There are similarities between the devices used to create suspense. The setting and the surroundings are intrinsic to this. Both authors have used a technique of removing other characters in the story to leave one or two characters. This is effective because it tells the reader that the ending is near and something bad is going to happen soon. This technique is used when the man was going to 'The Red Room' alone and when Mr and Mrs White were trying to wish their son back alive. In 'The Red Room' there is a lot of fear and mystery because the reader is unclear of what made all the candles go out in the room. In 'The Monkey's Paw' the reader is left unclear as to why Mr White wished his son dead in the ending of the story. Both authors tried putting questions in the readers mind to make it interesting. However, there are number of differences between the two tales. The author of 'The Red Room' has used very complicated words throughout the story whereas the author of 'The Monkey's Paw' has used straightforward English to make the story easy to read and understand. (Which is more effective?) Furthermore, setting plays a far more important role in creating suspense in 'The Red Room.'
I think H.G Wells wrote a brilliant story to create suspense through structure, setting, language and characters. H.G Wells has used powerful vocabulary in his story to create a growing sense of tension. This, in my opinion has more impact than the 'Fairy - tale' nature of 'The Monkey's Paw. The setting of 'The Red Room' creates a lot of tension as it is set in an old castle which is a very spooky place for a horror story. The characters in' The Red Room' create tension because the way the author has described their appearance. I liked the way H.G Wells has described the man's journey to the room and the room it self. I felt as if I was doing journey with the young man.
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