19th Century Victorian Horror Stories: English Literature Coursework: How 19th Century writers of horror stories effectively used language to fill readers with a sense of horror

19th Century Victorian Horror Stories: English Literature Coursework

How 19th Century writers of horror stories effectively used language to fill readers with a sense of horror

In the 19th Century, writers of mystery tales affectively used language to fill readers with a sense of horror. Discuss with reference to the three of the short stories you have read. The three stories are: The Money’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs, The Red Room by H.G. Wells and The Judges House by Bram Stoker. All of these three stories are similar in one-way or another and contain typical gothic conventions, supernatural elements, madness and macabre. They also contain certain elements that are important for creating and sustaining tension in stories. In the Victorian era books were one of the only forms of entertainment and readers loved to be scared. So the writers focused on using language to frighten their readers.

The first story I am going to discuss is the Monkey’s Paw by W.W.Jacobs.

In the extract from the Monkey’s paw the writer W.W.Jacobs creates tension by focusing on the characters emotions as the character of Mrs White wakes up. The author really accentuates Mrs White’s sudden excitement as she has the idea of using the paw to bring her beloved son back to life. Jacobs chooses powerful adverbs to intensify her emotions. Mrs White talks “wildly”, “hysterically” and “rapidly” at first. But all of a sudden she speaks “quietly” as she whispers to her husband “I want it!” showing her fierce determination to get her hands on this mystical object. The sudden contrast in the way she speaks and her erratic behaviour gives the impression she is not quite herself. It also makes her look dangerous and frightening not just to the reader, but also to her terror-stricken husband. The reader is beginning to think that this enigmatic object is slowly making its victims lose touch with reality.

The tension becomes greater as Mr and Mrs White’s conversation develops - Mrs White now becomes irrational and hysterical. She also becomes angry and controlling towards her husband as he refuses to make the wish and starts cruelly bullying him. The roles of a stereotypical husband and wife are reversed; Mrs White is now telling him what to do and raising her voice over him. “Get it,” she shouts to her husband who now cannot even recognise the rampant woman standing before him. In Mrs White’s eyes her request is very much normal, she doesn’t believe that what she is doing is wrong or unreasonable. Mrs White doesn’t stop to think about the consequences. The reader and Mr White know this wish is wrong, but Mrs White is so driven and determined at this point she wont listen to anybody. When Mr White finally makes the wish, his wife feels she has triumphed and walks away with “burning eyes” – the use of this adjective gives the impression that Mrs White looks almost possessed with determination.

As Mr and Mrs White wait for Herbert to arrive Jacobs keeps the tension alive by focusing greatly on the sounds in the house such as the “ticking of the clock”, “a mouse scurrying” and the “creaking of the stairs”. By doing this it shows the deathly silence of the house and how tense Mr and Mrs White are.

When Herbert does arrive the writer creates tension once again by describing the knocks on the door in an intense and dramatic way. Mr White and his wife and been waiting for their wish the come true – for Herbert to rise from the dead and arrive home. Mr White goes downstairs to escape from the darkness of his bedroom. He begins to light a candle but as he does, there is a knock on the door. It is only a quiet knock, a “scarcely audible” knock, but it’s enough to terrify Mr White, as he knows what is lurking behind the door. His matches drop to the floor as he stands “motionless” and his “breath suspended”. Suddenly there is another knock, but this time it “sounds through the house”, Mrs White has heard this time and comes down the stairs screaming. This part of the story is very intense and full of suspense, at this point the reader has an idea of the how mutilated and gruesome their son will look, adding to the suspense. As the knocks become louder and louder this creates the impression that he is becoming more and more impatient. As he runs back to his room Mrs White asks her husband what the noise is, he tells her in “shaking tones” that it is a rat. He knows fully well that, that is not the case, but having had experienced Mrs White’s madness earlier in the evening, he desperately tries to cover it up. Despite this she figures out that it is Herbert and runs out of the door, her husband tries to restrain her but with no luck.

Mr. White is now “trembling” afraid of what will be behind the door and what Mrs. White will do. He himself now becomes hysterical in his attempt to find the paw and reverse the wish – “groping wildly on the floor”. More knocks echo through the house and Mrs. White pulls back the bolt on the door ready to greet her mutilated son. Mr. White and the reader know what their son Herbert is going to look like – a mutilated, severed, crushed corpse. Yet Mrs. White refuses to believe this. In the nick of time Mr. White frantically ...

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The next story I am going to discuss is The Red Room by H.G. Wells.

In the extract from The Red Room the author HG Wells creates a sense of horror firstly by the setting of the story; it is in a castle, which is a very stereotypical place for a ghost story to take place. The Red Room is a dark and very mysterious room in Lorraine castle where many strange events have taken place and sometimes ended in death. Describing the red room as a large somber room, with unknown areas – alcoves and recesses. Giving the impression the room is very intimidating, dark and frightening and has hidden secrets much like the dark, hidden alcoves and recesses themselves. He uses the words “germinating and sprouting” to describe the overtaking darkness in the room. Creating the impression that the darkness is alive and growing like a “germ” and “sprouting” like a plant of some sort. HG Wells also uses many metaphors like an “Ocean of Mystery” to describe the haunted room – as large and mysterious much like an unexplored ocean and he uses the metaphor “Little tongue of light” to describe his small candle he is holding that lights up the vast, dark room.

The writer uses many adjectives such as “creaked”, “germinating” and “sprouting” to create a spooky, eerie atmosphere.

HG Wells expresses the visitor (who is the narrator of the story) to the Red Room as courageous and brave, yet he seems ignorant and ignores the warnings of not to enter the Red Room. He wants to visit the room to uncover the mystery of what has really happened there, he doesn’t believe in ghosts or spirits and is determined to find another explanation. He begins to talk to himself, both aloud and in his own head, and convinces himself that if a ghost isn’t tangible it cannot hurt him or scare him. He begins to almost laugh at the “legends” told to him about people who have encountered death under mysterious circumstances upon entering the Red Room. Yet, he soon becomes extremely paranoid and terrified of the surroundings around him – “My hands trembled so much that twice I missed the rough paper of the matchbox”, even though he cannot see anything - only darkness. This gives the impression that the darkness itself is more frightening then being able to see what is there.

Many of the ghostly events that occur happen after midnight, creating an even creepier atmosphere as midnight has always been seen as “the witching hour” - when spirits and ghosts become more active. One of the seventeen candles the visitor has lit around the dark room dies out. He is oblivious to how it as happened and still tries to convince himself that it was nothing suspicious – banishing all thoughts from his mind that it could be a ghost. Instead he puts it down to a simple draft, even though there is no draft in the room. One by one all of the candles die out, the man tries to desperately relight them but with no luck. The writer’s clever methods of describing this part of the story begin to frighten the reader and further mounts the tensions surrounding the man. Also the effect of the first person narrator telling the story is that it makes the reader feel as if they are there with the narrator and going through all the emotions and experience with him. In The Red Room H.G Wells focuses a lot on paranoia of the human mind and how it can lead you to believing many things. He also focuses on using adjectives, metaphors, similes etc. to convey fear and terror in to his writing.

The next story I am going to discuss is The Judges House by Bram Stoker.

In the extract from The Judges House Bram Stoker creates a sense of horror by focusing on the stormy weather outside as the character Malcomson – a young scholar who’s searching for a place to stay, so he can study for his examinations quietly and untroubled, arrives at the house. Stoker emphasises on how the gale “seemed to shake” the old house, showing just how powerful the storm is, as the house is described as being a “heavy built house” with “heavy gables and windows”. As the gale becomes more powerful it “roars and rages”, this creates a picture in the readers mind that this storm is alive – almost like a ferocious creature attacking the house. The author describes the storm as making “strange, unearthly sounds” as if it comes from another world, this gives the impression that the storm is unnatural and makes the reader begin to feel that the house and situation isn’t something out of the ordinary. Stoker uses this effect of describing the terrible weather conditions as it builds up a lot of tension within the story. Just by reading this extract and not knowing the story the reader would begin to think something bad is about to happen and would already have a bad impression of the house. At this point in the story a frightening, dark secret had just been revealed to Malcomson and the readers, so the added factor of unnatural sounds echoing throughout the house due to the bad weather makes the situation even more terrifying. A home is always thought of as a safe, comforting place to be but now the cosy house Malcomson once knew has been transformed into cold, dark place to fear.

The author creates a new focus on the bell rope as the landlady of the local inn warns the young Malcomson about the mysterious Judge’s House - the hostile judge who used to live there and was “held in great terror”. The woman tells him she “wouldn’t sleep there a night, not if I had to go there myself and pull the big alarm bell that’s on the roof!”. This creates the impression that the bell is important because of where it is situated and obviously large. Although nothing is yet revealed about what it is used for and why, this makes you curious and eager to know more. When Malcomson enters the house the “thing that most strikes him” is the rope of the great alarm bell, as it hangs down in the corner of the room. Later on in the night, a mysterious, enormous rat appears in the room on a chair, it then makes a quick get away from Malcomson by climbing up the bell rope. Stoker creates the impression that the strange rat is almost evil; by the way he describes its “baleful, vindictive eyes” and “angry, white teeth”.

By connecting the rat with the bell rope, this makes you think that maybe the rope has more depth to it than what we have been told, it makes the reader extremely curious as to where the rope leads. Before the rat entered the room Malcomson could hear the busy, scurrying of rats coming from the roof, all of a sudden the noise stops, then as the great rat returns to the roof the noise of the rats begins again. This strange, creepy behavior creates the impression that the rat could be a leader of some sort.

When Malcomson handles the bell rope for the first time he is alarmed to feel how pliable and strong the rope is and thinks to himself “you could hang a man with it”. Stoker uses that phrase as it creates all sorts of pictures in the readers mind and creates a new sense of horror in the story.

Doctor Thornhill reveals to Malcomson and Mrs Witham that the bell rope is in fact the very rope that the Judge used to hang his victims, he reveals it in a very blunt and dramatic way. The doctor does this because he obviously knows something is going to happen to Malcomson so he wants him to remember this vital piece of information, keep his attention fixed on the rope, be aware and keep his wits about him. This also creates a dramatic effect within the story, Mrs Witham’s reactions show how terrifying and shocking the revelation is, it is almost as if she is acting out Stoker’s desired reactions of the reader.

As Malcomson returns to the Judge’s House to greet terrible weather conditions outside, the effect of describing the bell rope as swaying to and fro and being “lifted up and down” every now and then, creates a ghostly reminder of the hangings the Judge carried out with that very rope.

Malcomson repeating the Doctor’s words – “It is the rope which the hangman used for the victims of the Judge’s judicial rancour”, carries on the ghostly effect and creates suspense. As he picks up the rope Stoker describes Malcomson as having a “deadly interest” in the rope - I also think that in a way he feels a small sense of power.

Bram Stoker makes the connection between the rat and the Judge at this point – their eyes, because ever since a Malcomson discovered the secret, it has felt like a countdown to his demise. The reader has been waiting in suspense for that connection to be made between the rat and the Judge to confirm their fears.

The author describes the young man’s reactions to the painting of the Judge before he reveals what Malcomson has seen, because this again creates many ideas and pictures in the readers mind. Not knowing is far more frightening than knowing, so Stoker does this to keep the reader in suspense and to keep them scared.

Stoker begins describing the painting in a very detailed way, describing every inch of the Judge from his “robes of scarlet” to his “hooked nose of ruddy colour”. The most profound feature though, is his “baleful, malignant” eyes, which mirror the mysterious rats. Each time the rat visited Malcomson, its eyes were always mentioned - we are now revealed the connection between the two. This is a very powerful connection to make, as eyes are always seen as the “window to the soul”, as the rats/Judge’s eyes are described as “evil, glaring, baleful and malignant”, this shows what kind of ghastly, evil person the Judge is.

At this point Malcomson now realises the scene of the room – the Judge in his armchair in the painting, with the bell rope in the corner, the painting was a picture of the very room he was standing in. He expects a strange presence behind him but finds something even more horrifying - the rat sitting in the Judge’s armchair. It is now clear that Malcomson had made the connection between the rat and the Judge – that the rat is the Judge, but in a different form and that he has been watching him all this time, deciding his fate. I think though, that Malcomson feels slightly strange and silly about being so terrified of a rat, I think part of him must be in denial about the unbelievable situation of a man living in the form of a rat, even though all the evidence is right in front of him.

The description of the rat and it’s (once again) “baleful eyes”, but this time with an intensified, fiendish leer, creates a huge amount of suspense about what will happen next. The “silence” surrounding it, could give the impression that this is Malcomson’s view of the situation – because there is stormy weather outside and the loud scurrying of rat’s from the roof, its like he has blocked everything else out around him and is focused on the one powerful creature sitting in front of him.

To conclude my essay on these three short stories, I would like to point out the similarities between them that contribute to successfully creating a sense of horror and scaring their readers.

Firstly, all three stories successfully fill their readers with a sense of horror, by the authors using techniques such as suspense, dramatic impact, adjectives, metaphors, similes and many other language techniques.

Secondly, each of the stories use similar themes such as typical gothic conventions, supernatural, madness and macabre. In The Monkey’s Paw, one of the main characters is shown as almost losing her mind, in The Red Room, ghosts are a main factor and in The Judge’s House, one of the main characters is a murderer.

Thirdly, when these stories were written, books were one of the only forms of entertainment, so it was very important that the authors kept a loyal audience and satisfied their readers. Nowadays there are many other forms of entertainment so books aren’t always considered very interesting or important. For example whereas in the 19th century one of their main forms of entertainment was horror books, nowadays we would prefer to watch horror films.

Finally, each story has one or maybe two factors that it particularly focuses on; The Monkey’s Paw – the Monkey’s Paw, The Red Room – the darkness and ghosts, The Judge’s House – the bell rope. By doing this it can create a lot of horror within a reader as each time they see the factor, they know that, that certain object will be the demise of the characters at the end of the story, but they don’t know how. This is what scares the reader.

By Hannah Evans