A good ghost story must contain suspense and tension - discuss

Mustafa Rafik

A good ghost story must contain suspense and tension; discuss

In my opinion a good ghost story should be able to scare the audience. It should also contain various features to make it a ghost story, such as: old deserted houses which no one has been in for years, old cobwebs and witches. It should also create such an atmosphere that it frightens you and makes you jump.

In ‘The Signalman’ the ingredients of a good ghost story are achieved as well as not achieved as it is set in a dark deserted place but not in old castle or mansion. It is set on a railway line with a small box where the Signalman lives. This setting is scary but not ghostly. In contrast ‘The Canterville Ghost’ fits the ingredients well as it has an old mansion, which creates a scary setting. There is also an old maid and an old ghost like normal ghost stories.

A good ghost story must contain both suspense and tension, as tension creates the scariness and suspense makes the reader want to read on, which are two very important aspects of a ghost story. This should be carried on throughout the whole story until the end if possible. Both stories achieve this particular aspect, which I have mentioned.

The setting is the first way to build tension and suspense. ‘The signalman’s’ setting is obviously very dull with very negative images as it is “dark” and “miserable”. ‘The Signalman’ is stuck in a boring job and this reflects Charles Dickens background as when he was a child he was very poor and he had to work in a job, which did not use his intelligence. Dickens uses figures of speech to make the story sound very dark and scary. Firstly he personifies the sun as being very angry, this creates suspense as you wonder why the sun is angry; this indicates that something bad is going to happen,

“So stepped in the glow of an angry sunset…”

Secondly, Dickens indicates that he has left the supernatural world; this creates tension as it scares you,

“As if I had left the natural world.”

Finally, Dickens also creates tension by giving the earth a deadly smell,

“That it had an earthly, deadly smell;”

Even though there are no castles and cobwebs it is still dark and gloomy, and seems evil.

In ‘The Canterville Ghost’ he doesn’t achieve this as each time he creates tension it is interrupted by humans as the author brings in humour. This story, unlike Dickens has a wide range of ‘rich’ vocabulary whereas Dickens uses negative adjectives (depressing ones) to make his setting very negative. This reflects both authors’ backgrounds, as Dickens background was poor whereas Wilde’s was rich and flamboyant.

The settings in both stories are scary as in ‘the Signalman’ it is not a typical ghost setting; there is no old house so it creates suspense as you wonder why Dickens has done this and not chosen a typical ghost setting. It is similar to Wilde as he describes an idyllic place, sunny. With a pleasant atmosphere, which is not, what you would expect in a ghost story, but suddenly changes; there is a “curious stillness” to the atmosphere and the weather changes. You start wondering why this has happened all of a sudden. This is a good technique ...

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At the beginning of ‘The signalman’ you have mixed ideas of what the story is about and you start assuming what the story might be about. Again this is a good way of creating suspense as in ‘The Canterville Ghost’ it tells us that every time the ghost appears a member of the family dies, so you wonder who this is going to be; which member of the Otis family is going to die? It can’t be the ghost because he is already dead but this is ironic because the ghost actually gets put to sleep in peace, as his soul was not at rest, so in fact he dies again.

“, and always makes its appearance before the death of any member of our family”

The ghost in ‘The Signalman’ is not described which creates tension as to what the ghost is and why it has come. You also wonder what event is going to happen as every time the spectre appears something drastic happens. It makes the reader wait for the next time. It appears to see what is going to happen. This ghost remains unknown and is only mentioned three times. Dickens doesn’t describe the ghost but tells us its actions. No one can see the ghost beside the signalman. This idea of not being scary is frightening and makes you wonder what this supernatural thing is. However in ‘The Canterville Ghost’ we can see the ghost. There is a lot of humour as when the old ghost enters something hilarious always occurs, as he is insulted. He is like a theatre character as he wears elaborate clothes and likes a grand appearance, he also chooses his clothes like a women as he goes through each pair he has, this creates comedy as ghosts do not do acts like this certain ghost does.

‘The Signalman’ is scary throughout where as Wilde raises tension and then drops it by bringing in humour, as this ghost is funny because he tries to act scary but he doesn’t succeed and the Otis family aren’t scared.

‘The Canterville ghost’ has many disguises whereas the Signalman’s ghost does not as he is not described.

The Canterville ghost is described in great detail, as we know what he wears, what he plans to do in the future and what his actions are. He is like a theatrical character as he is play-acting. There are more humans involved whereas in the signalman only one human is involved as the other character is not named indicating that he is not important, just the narrator. This has been done so that the signalman remains the main character whereas in ‘The Canterville Ghost’, the ghost is more involved as he responds like for example when something is thrown at him; he screams. In the signalman the ghost does not respond and when the signalman tries to touch or communicate with him he disappears. This adds to the mystery.

Both ghosts keep coming back, which also create suspense. The Canterville ghost comes to free his soul but the signalman keeps coming back because he is giving a warning. The Canterville ghost can be freed by the prophecy in the kitchen and this also creates suspense in the readers mind. Will he be freed or not?

“De Otis eroste,

De Onlie Trne and Originale Spook.

Beware of De Imittationes.

All others are tonnterfeite.”

In the end the suspense is finally broken as the Canterville ghost is freed and there is no more suspense, this results in a happy ending where good beats evil and also part of the love story between Virginia and Duke of Cheshire ends positively, whereas in the signalman the mystery remains and you wonder whether this ghost could return, and you ask yourself that because the mystery isn’t solved in this ‘The Signalman one’ will there be a ‘The Signalman two’? Evil triumphs over good leaving an unsolved ending, which makes me, suggest of part two because in normal ghost stories good triumphs over evil, not the other way round so maybe in part two good will triumph over evil.

In the first visit made by the ghost in ‘The Canterville ghost’, the ghost is described in great detail; it is an old man with very noisy chains. Mr Otis’s reaction is to give him ‘Tammany Rising Sun Lubricator’ this is obviously hysterical as you would be scared of the ghost, not give it a lubricator to sop it making a noise. The ghost is humiliated!

“I really must insist on your oiling those chains,…”-

Wilde creates both suspense and tension because when he first describes the ghost it scares you a little and creates suspense because we think he is going to do something severe, however this tension is not sustained as it becomes amusing. The first appearance made by the ghost in the signalman is very scary as it foretells a major accident. The signalman tries to run towards the ghost but is disappointed. Dickens only describes its action in that it is waving its arms (by putting the left arm over its face and waving its right arm). The rest is left to your imagination.

“The left arm is across the face, and the right arm is waved”-

This creates suspense because you ask yourself two things; why did it appear in the first place? And why did it disappear when the Signalman tried to touch it. There is also more tension created as after the spectre appears, six hours later there is an accident. You realise that the spectre was giving a warning, but again you question, why didn’t he just tell the signalman directly? More mystery!

The second appearance made by he ghost in The Canterville ghost’ is also very amusing as when he appears he is attacked by the twins (nicknamed “The stars and the stripes” again creating humour) with pea shooters, this aging builds up suspense and then drops as it becomes funny.

“The twins, having brought their peashooters with them, at once discharged two pellets on him”

The second appearance made by the ghost in ‘The Signalman’ is six months later, just when the signalman has recovered from the first appearance, as he was very distraught after the first appearance, the ghost again rings the bell and starts looking at the signalman with a fixed look, Dickens only describes his eyes sustaining the suspense of what this ghost is and how this ghost looks.

“He stopped, with a fixed look at me.”

This also creates tension, as it is daunting. This time the spectre is covering his face with both of his hands, which look like actions of mourning; this again creates suspense because you wonder whether he is giving a warning about another dangerous event which is going to happen and if so, when will it happen? Later, a woman dies on the train creating more suspense because you wonder why the spectre hasn’t told him directly about these dreadful events.

The third appearance made by the Signalman’s ghost is its last in the story and this time he rings the bell twice to get the signalman’s attention. The narrator doesn’t hear this bell. Why not? We finally find out the visit is foretelling the signalman’s own death?

“‘And did the spectre seem to be there, when you looked out?’

‘It was there’”

This creates suspense right to the end of the story in contrast the third appearance made by the Canterville ghost is hilarious as the ghost tries to be quiet so he isn’t humiliated, this is funny and again makes the tension drop as he makes his plans sound very elaborate but his actions aren’t.

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The mystery behind the Canterville ghost is that he appears because his soul is trapped and he wants to unlock it so his soul can rest in peace, and for this to happen the prophecy on the wall has to come true so he is looking for someone to fulfil that. Also he appears when somebody dies. This time the person who dies is himself unlocking another mystery. This is clever because it is completely different to who I thought was going to die as I thought it was going to be a member of the Otis family. This brings in an element of suspense because you wonder who is going to die and who is going to help him regain his soul so he can live in peace. The mystery is solved as we know who dies and we know who helps him, as his soul is unlocked.

In contrast, the mystery in the signalman’s appearance is not solved as he gives a warning of something disastrous each time he comes but we don’t what until the event happens. The mystery is not solved, as we don’t know whom the ghost is and when he is going to come. There could be a Signalman part 2, because the reader is not told what he is or if he is planning to come again, creating suspense because it makes you wonder why he gives these warnings and whether he is going to come back in a sequel with more disastrous events.

In the Cantervelle ghost Wilde shows that English people are narrow minded whereas the Americans are broad minded, this was showing a feeling which he thought of the English as they wouldn’t accept him being gay and they would send him to prison for being gay, on the other hand the Americans accepted him and loved his work.

Both of these stories play some part of the writer’s background, Wilde’s background is included because he is very clever and rich like the Otis family, Dickens background is included because was very clever but did not take his opportunities as he let them slip because he was poor and he messed about although being intelligent and like the signalman.

Initially I thought a good ghost story should contain ghosts and old settings, like the ghost stories of our generation, which have typically scary settings and no humans. However my final conclusion contradicts my first thoughts because I now think good ghost stories don’t need old houses as the Signalman proves. The tension and suspense is more important than the settings to make a scary ghost story. However, this tension can be broken to make the story amusing, as in the Canterville ghost. I think both of these very different stories are good ghost stories.