A sucessful ghost story needs atmosphere, tension and a scary plot, discuss with reference to The Red Room

The second of the main things that make a successful ghost story is tension. Tension through out the story is built up in different parts but the story does keep up a steady pace of tension to keep the reader interested in the story so they don't get bored. There are many parts of tension in 'The Red Room.' The main cause of tension is intended towards the actual Red Room and it makes the existence of a spiritual being, more realistic to the reader. The old people build the tension in 'The Red Room' by giving the warnings to the narrator and telling him about things that had supposedly happened in 'The Red Room.' Incidents such as the Duke dying and the countess. 'In which the young Duke had died.' Also the old people build up the tension because they are nervous before he goes to the Red Room. 'Are you really going?' This makes you think that what could be in that room to make the old people to be so nervous and afraid of the room.

On the way to the Red Room it is a point in the story that has quite a lot of tension because as the narrator walks through the long corridors of the abandoned castle he does not know what is round each corner. This then starts to play on his mind about whether there is something with him. 'Moonlight picked out everything in vivid black shadow and silvery illumination. '….my candle flared… as the shadows cover and quiver.' This shows that the narrator starts to think that the shadows are actually some sort of living thing that is following him or stalking him. The candles going out in the Red Room when the narrator is actually in 'The Red Room' that is probably the biggest tension builder in the story. 'As I stood undecided, an invisible hand seemed to sweep out the two candles on the table. With a cry of terror, I dashed at the alcove.' This shows panic in the narrators actions and then when these candles all start to go out then the narrator starts to maybe think that there is something there with him. This then links back to the spiritual being which helps to make a successful ghost story. When the candles go out, they go out in succession these then make it sound like the Spiritual Being, if there is one, is playing games with the narrator. The candles going out makes the narrator feel paranoid and makes him more and more scared as the incident goes on. This makes the narrator feel disorientated and then think things that he wouldn't think usually as he starts to have irrational thoughts.

The last part of a successful ghost story is that it has to have a scary plot. Does 'The Red Room' have a scary plot that is effective? To have a scary plot you have to have a good history of the place where it is set or an event that had happened that sticks out in the past. It must also have some kind of either of murders or a spiritual being like a ghost. It must have things that are un-identifiable and you cannot recognise. The Red Room itself actually has a history of potential murders or at least disappearances. The old people tell the narrator of the Duke that had died there in the Red Room and the countess that was not seen after she went into the Red Room. This then makes the narrator think that there must be something wrong with the room for two people to go missing/murdered. So the history of the room is successful in building up a scary plot for 'The Red Room.'

On the way to 'The Red Room' there are a lot of things that help to 'The Red Room' being a successful ghost story. Whilst on the way to the Red Room the narrator encounters things like unidentified noises. The noises are increasingly scarier than they would be due to it being dark. If he had heard these noises in the day it would not have bothered him but with the tension of it being dark the narrator is increasingly more scared as he hears more noises. 'The echoes ran up and down the spiral staircase.' Due to the long winding corridors when the noises are heard it is worse as you hear the echoes of them which makes it much more frightening for the narrator. 'The echoes ran up and down…' Unidentified noises that you hear in other ghost stories are those of owl's, wolfs and dogs but 'The Red Room' uses to the wind and occasional banging as their choice of noises. This separates it from other ghost stories because it makes it different because it has the same characteristics of other ghost stories, which is a good thing as it fits into the genre of other Ghost Stories. The fact that it is questionable to whether there is actually a spiritual being in the Red Room in the castle also helps towards 'The Red Room' being a scary story because it shows that there might be a spiritual being but there might not be. This helps towards the plot being scary because if there is not a spiritual being in 'The Red Room' then what is there in the Red Room? This is the whole point of the story as it leaves it up to your own imagination and fear to determine what is in 'The Red Room.'

H.G Wells has created a successful ghost story by using the three main aspects of atmosphere, tension and a scary plot. H.G Wells uses them so when you read it you see images of what it is like and draw your own conclusions of situations in the story. H.G Wells twists the story and it becomes something different which gives it a mysterious plot as well as a scary plot. It is a good portrayed ghost story, which you have to follow closely to see how it is scary and why.