The Withered Arm in comparison has a different structure; but still keeps the reader in suspense and lends to Hardy’s development of the supernatural. Hardy opens the story with an apparently innocuous scene in the dairy, where Rhoda is introduced to us through the gossip and speculation of other characters, rather than through her own dialogue. She is thus established as a mysterious outsider, the reasons for which are not yet clear. The superstition of the other characters is also established early in the story, leading the reader to expect supposition and speculation instead of fact. Hardy sustains this level of interest in Rhoda and also makes further suggestions about the supernatural when we find out about the withered arm of Gertrude. Her arm deteriorates throughout the story, deepening reader curiosity about the cause of her complaint.
Suspense is sustained by interspersing a few years of relative calm amongst dramatic events such as Rhoda’s dream about Gertrude. Periods of calm lull the reader into a false sense of security and they suspect that something untoward will happen; therefore creating further suspense. The end of The Withered Arm ties all the loose ends of the story together at speed. The rushed climax to the story is in stark contrast to the slow build and maintenance of suspense and satisfies reader expectations.
The setting of The Red Room is also important, it plays a large part in creating suspense in the story .It is set in a castle and we often associate castles with history and sometimes terrible deaths. The duke of the castle obviously had a horrible death, though the circumstances surrounding this are never actually revealed to the reader, and the old people think that he is the cause of the haunting. Also castles are very large with many corridors and rooms, this adds to the feeling of uneasiness and lack of knowledge of the castle. As the narrator makes his way to the red room he becomes less and less rational as the feeling of insecurity sets in. ‘I stood rigid for half a minute perhaps’. Although the man knows there is nothing there he still becomes taken in by the blackness of the whole castle. ‘The darkness was there’ Still we have not actually seen or heard that anything is there. As the man continues down the corridor he becomes more and more aware of the shadows around him. ‘But it’s shadow fell with marvellous distinctness upon the white panelling’. This illustrates that the darkness is more frightening than being able to see what is going on around and knowing what is there. Hence Wells begins to explore the idea that human fear and superstition is at the root of most typical ghost stories. Hardy is just one example of writers who rely on superstition and suggestion of the supernatural to create and sustain suspense. Wells is challenging this idea in The Red Room.
The setting of The Withered Arm however is similar to The Red Room in terms of the isolation of characters and the use of small-minded communities. The rural setting is effective as when paranormal things happen such as a withered arm, which is unusual and therefore paranormal, the reader is shocked and suspense is created. The effect of mysterious events is greatly heightened by the isolation of characters. For example, the suspicion, which surrounds Rhoda Brook, is exaggerated by the fact that she is an outcast. Even she begins to suspect that she may be a witch at one point ‘She fancied that she discerned in them the shape of her own four fingers.
The characters in The Red Room play an important part in the suspense and effect of the book as a whole. The characters in the book are all old and mysterious, apart from the young, rational narrator whom readers trust. This gives the reader a sense of suspicions and therefore a profound wanting to read on. The phrases they say and the way the present themselves makes the reader and the narrator aware of the paranormal.
‘His eyes were covered by a shade, and his lower lip, half averted, huge pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth.’
The large difference between the narrator and the other characters make the reader aware that these people have been driven and changed by the belief in the paranormal.
At the beginning of the book Hardy presents Rhoda as the character one is supposed to hate. But by finishing the book the reader realises that Rhoda is the nice character, and that Gertrude has turned in to an obsessive superstitious person who will do any thing to be cured. The way that Gertrude and Rhoda are described in The Withered Arm causes the reader to consider the existence of the paranormal and creates tension ands suspense.
‘Her delicate vitality, sapped perhaps the withered arm’
Here we can see that Gertrude slowly deteriorating and is not the sweet young wife she used to be.
‘Behind her stood Rhoda Brook, her face drawn, and her eyes red with weeping. Here Rhoda is down trodden but still shown as an innocent person. Gertrude can also be seen as evil as she was the one who appeared in the dream in the first place. She could be involved with witchcraft because it’s She is the person who actually got hit down. Also the fact that she mixes with hangmen and Trendle show the fact she is going to the evil side of society. The reader does not know which one is the real source of evil even though Rhoda is the only one to exist this is left in suspense, which creates tension. As well as the consideration of the paranormal, how could this nice young house wife turn into an obsessive mean character.
In The Red Room the language describing the journey to the red room is effective as it shows the sinister and cold feeling of the house “The echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase”. Darkness is a vital part of the red room; “subterranean passage” suggests darkness and an enclosed room that I think is compared to a tomb. The descriptions “deep-toned”, “chilly” and “echoing” are effective words, which sets the atmosphere and mood for what is about to occur in the red room. This leaves the reader guessing what is about to happen in the ghost-haunted room and in response the reader is on the edge of their seat. The descriptions in the house, such as “queer old mirror” and “door creaked” along with the many repeated warnings “This night of all nights” and repeated references to the old people’s fear, darkness and shadows reminds the reader that this is not an ordinary house.
There are a lot of similes, metaphor and personification used for darkness and fear in the red room “fashions born in dead brain”, “little tongue of light”, “ocean of mystery” and “like a ragged storm cloud sweeping out the stars”. The effects of this are that the reader and narrator shocked and suspect that something might happen in the future.
Hardy’s use of Language in The Withered Arm makes the supernatural element of the story more effective. Vivid phrases from the characters let the reader know what is on their mind and suspension is created as the reader suspects something.
“You never told me what sort of hand she had,”
Tension is created by the fact that Rhoda is so inquisitive about Gertrude but she does not go and speak to or see her personally. This use of language shows that Rhoda is suspicious of Gertrude which brings up the point of the paranormal – the unknown; in this case Gertrude.
Hardy describes each character intensely in order to shock the reader and provoke their imagination of the paranormal. ‘Gertrude’s own husband; his countenance lined, his eyes dim, but without a tear.’ This provokes the reader’s imagination and one suspects that Gertrude this time has gone too far. Hardy describes Farmer Lodge’s reaction to Gertrude’s act, he is in disgust and the reader expects that he thinks she is under the influences of paranoia. ‘Her blood had been ‘turned’ indeed - too far’ The effect of this is suspicion of the paranoia and deep shock.
Here Hardy gives an intense description of Gertrude and one realises the fatality of the paranormal and a deep uneasy atmosphere is created.
In conclusion, in The Withered Arm tension and the paranormal are seen in all chapters of the story; in the third chapter, ‘I have one little ailment which puzzles me.’ And in the ninth chapter ‘Her delicate vitality, sapped by the paralysed’..Each one leaves a question unanswered so tension is easily created. The main section of paranormal and tension was the fact that everyone dies except Rhoda who carries on her life in the milk shed. The short story is ambiguous because nothing is definite and the reader must use their imagination to predict the future in each part of the story. This is the basis of tension and the paranormal throughout the short story. This creates an effective way of creating suspense and makes the story very mysterious and exciting.
In conclusion, The Red Room is an effective book as it provokes the idea of the paranormal. I think darkness is the most important part of the red room, as darkness seems to be what the narrator is most scared from “closed upon me like the shutting of an eye”, “wrapped about me in a stifling embrace” and “sealed my vision”. But at the same time it is very scientific as Wells at the end proves that the paranormal does not exist.
‘There is neither ghost of earl’
‘Black fear, and there will be – so long as this house of sin endures.’
Explains that the shadows provoke the thought that because you can not see there must be something there when there is noting just the idea.
