Analysis of the Red Room

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How ‘The Red Room’ conforms to the gothic genre

Setting

  • The active setting of the Red Room is that it is in an isolated, ancient castle, beginning to decay ever so slightly with age. These features are apparent in the quotes “The great red room of Lorraine Castle...The long subterranean passage was chilly and dusty”. These elements are conventions of the Gothic genre because they are linked to irrationality and loneliness in the way that the castle is isolated from anything anywhere near typical human standards, and irrationality in the way that an image of a deserted and dilapidated castle is associated with all kinds of media in the gothic.
  • The Red Room itself conforms to the gothic, even in its given title. If you were to speculate the connotations of red, which are danger, blood and hell, and then consider the use of the word in the room’s name, you would know that the room was one that a pleasant experience would not be occurred in.
  •  One of the main gothic features of the room is the myths surrounding it. In the quote “Legends had sprouted in its black corners”, Wells is acknowledging the stories and mysteries surrounding the room. The use of the word black suggests the stories could not be very welcoming.
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Characters

  • The three old holders of the castle property are very peculiar to examine, in the fact that they all have very human qualities, but also spectral exaggerations. Wells has portrayed these features in a way that an artist may portray a large nose in a caricature. In the instance of the man with the withered arm, he seems perfectly normal – apart from his withered arm. Wells has emphasised this element by identifying him by his peculiarity, rather than naming him.
  • The Narrator comes into the room with no feelings about ghosts being real at all, which is ...

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