Compare and Contrast the two following short stories: 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens and 'The Red Room' by H.G Wells. How does the writer create an eerie atmosphere and a sense of fear and mystery in the stories?

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Chris Messina

‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Signalman’ Essay

Compare and Contrast the two following short stories: ‘The Signalman’ by Charles Dickens and ‘The Red Room’ by H.G Wells. How does the writer create an eerie atmosphere and a sense of fear and mystery in the stories?

In my essay I am going to be analyzing; ‘The Signalman’, 1865, by Charles Dickens and ‘The Red Room’, 1894, by H.G Wells. To discover and understand how the writers creates an eerie atmosphere and a sense of fear and mystery in the stories, I will be looking at the writers’ use of setting, characters language devices and conventional features typical to the ghost story genre.

‘The Red Room’ was written in 1894, this was around the Victorian period. Looking at evidence, there is no real verification saying it is this particular time period, which is extremely peculiar. Everything in ‘The Red Room’ was described as old fashioned.

“…and the door creaked on its hinges as a second old man entered.”

This quote shows how old and old fashioned the house was. An old man is a typical additional attribute in a story that adds to the ancient effect. This is how it illustrates ‘The Red Room’ is timeless, adding to its significance. As a Victorian story or a Victorian set story, the matter of fear is timeless. There is an extreme use of ‘Gothic Literature’; it was significant in its time because it was popular in ghost stories at the time it was written.

‘The Signalman’ was written in 1865, this is twenty-nine years earlier than the ‘Red Room’. This story was written around the Victorian period, also similar to the ‘Red Room’ period.  Everything in the ‘Signalman’ is not as it seems, the setting is peculiar “so little sunlight ever found its way to this spot”

Although it is a scary, mysterious story, there are steam trains which in 1865 were extremely new technology and hi-tech. People were still a little suspicious and superstitious about trains. The fact that the time it is set in is extremely significant to the period, can explain itself as to why there is such a strong and powerful sense of fear and mystery in the story. The new technology would require high tech knowledge, yet ‘the educated’ was a signalman, this is a tremendous step out of the ordinary.

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“The Signalman was too educated to be at such a low rank”

This could be a symbolic time for the playwright to show that if he is too educated to be at that rank, then things may not be what they seem, giving an eerie sense of fear and a supernatural atmosphere to the play. It would be looked upon as timeless and a feeling of never growing old. This is obvious as it is an old ghost story in an isolated location, but in a modern train setting. This could appear to be mystical.

‘The Red Room’ ...

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