Compare The Pre-1914 Short Story ‘The Red Room’ With The Modern Short Story ‘Farthing House’

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Compare The Pre-1914 Short Story 'The Red Room' With The Modern Short Story 'Farthing House'

The pre-1914 short story 'The Red Room' is what you would expect of a traditional gothic horror story. It is set in an ancient castle, with creaking doors, shadowy corners, and a general sense of eerie foreboding. The whole story is based around the fear of the narrator. In comparison, 'Farthing House' is almost the opposite; it is set in an ordinary nursing home in modern day England, and its ghost brings more complex emotions, of melancholy and sadness, rather than the pure fear brought by the ghost in 'The Red Room'. Both these stories are written in the first person narrative, allowing the reader to live through the narrator's experiences and share their emotions.

The settings of 'The Red Room' and 'Farthing House' are a complete contrast; 'The Red Room' has a traditional gothic horror setting, while 'Farthing House' is set in a modern nursing home, with tearooms and flowers rather than shadows and fear.

The setting of 'The Red Room' contains many traditionally gothic features, which help to get into the imagination of the reader, for example,

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