We assume there are ghost in the east wing because we are told so little about the east wing and our imagination can only run wild and imagine that something supernatural lies there, usually ghost.
The storyline in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” is completely different to the other two stories this story has nothing to do with ghosts but instead it is a detective story, red herrings are incorporated in the story, these red hearings lead us to believe things that are not true an example of one is “it seems likely enough that the weighed coat had remained when the striped body had been sucked away into the river”. This is a red herring because it makes us believe that the man is dead and his “striped body had been sucked” in to the river, when really this is trying to distract the reader from the more important event in the plot, the twist ending.
Scary settings are also used to create suspense all three of the authors use setting to create suspense, but all three authors use completely different methods. The author of the red room uses personification, adjectives, and lots of figurative language to create a suspenseful seting. H. G. Wells describes shadows using personification to give us the idea that the shadow of the man with the shade is “a monstrous shadow”, this shows the shadow has monsters quantities. But when the narrator walks up the stairs, the “shadows Cower and quiver” this is effective in creating suspense as it makes the shadows seem alive and to have human qualities.
On the other hand the author of “The old Nurse’s story” describes the setting using positive and negative images, for example to describe the house he has used “great and stately” to show the house in a positive light and “with many trees closely around it” to show isolation, this is a negative image. It is the contrast between positive and negative images that creates suspense in this story.
In the final story “The Man with the Twisted Lip” the author uses a variety of long and short sentences, to describe the seting, he also uses personification, similys, and a variety of adjectives. He describes the location of the den using a long sentence to give a gloomy atmosphere, he describes the location in “a vile ally lurking behind the high wharves” this gives us the impression that it is in a hidden place and most likely to be illegal.
The authors of the three stories used unusual characters to add to the tension already built up by the storyline. The other characters in the red room are made sound unusual through the use of abnormal descriptions. For instance “the man with the with the withered arm” and “the man with the shade” those kind of character descriptions create tension as we do not know who they are and what they’re doing because the author does not specify a name for these characters.
Likewise Elizabeth Gaskell the author of “The Old Nurse’s Tale” describes the unusual character, the ghost child unlike the description for a typical child she uses descriptions such as “evil child”. This creates effect because children are usually innocent, but Elizabeth Gaskell describes the child maliciously creating an incredible impact on the reader.
Dissimilar in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” the only unusual character is Boone Hugh, which the reader is surprised to discover that, Neville St. Clair was in fact pretending to be Boone Hugh. He did this by wearing an artificial scar, a twisted lip and a scruffy orange wig.
Narration is used to draw the reader in and to add to the suspense previously created by the setting. The red room is narrated in first person “I was about to advance and stopped abruptly” this helps the audience with to empathize with him. The narration used in the red room is linear narrative which means it is in order. This helps the reader understand what is going on as it is all in order.
Unlike in “The Red Room” “The Old Nurse’s Story’s” conversational style narrative pulls us into the story as she re-tells her story to us. Also the narrative is fragmented narrative meaning that it is not all in chronological order, and includes flash backs.
The conversational style narrative is effective because the reader feels although she is re-telling her story directly to us, this engages the reader into the story dramatically, the fragmented narrative may also give a clearer understanding of what is happening because some of the events are explained further using flash backs.
Similarly to “The Red Room” in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” narration is also in first person this way the reader finds things out the same time as the narrator does this adds to the suspense. We find out that the narrator “found the den that” he “was in search”, the same time as he does. This enhances the suspense because we are able to empathize with the narrator effectively, when the narrator is shocked so are we since, we discover the emotions at the same time as the narrator.
Sentences structure is one of the key methods used by the authors, of the three stories to build tension. The author of the red room uses a mixture of long and short sentences to create different effects and audience reactions. Such as the way he describes the light in a room using long and short sentences, he begins by using a short sentence he describes the room as being “quite brightly illuminated”. He then further adds to the tension by using a long sentence “but there was still light in the room that staved off the shadows for me.” This suggests that he uses a short sentences to create sudden shock, and a long sentences that’s low the builds up tension to create an eerie suspenseful atmosphere.
Equivalently to “The Red Room “The Old Nurse’s Story” also uses short and long sentences to build tension throughout the story. But in addition to “The Red Room” Elisabeth Gaskell has included figurative language in “The Old Nurse’s Story” to further intensify the tension.
Entirely different to the other two stories in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” the sentences are used to give facts and clues to the reader. The story is written in recount text rather than figurative language.This alternative method also is excellent in building up tension. Recount text builds tension because the reader is told exactly what happened, this restrains different reader’s imaginations from interpreting the sentence alternatively in their minds, and instead the reader interprets the sentence as the writer expected us to.
All this suggests that “The Red Room” and “The Old Nurse’s Story” have many similarities and a few differences, although “The Man with the Twisted Lip” is a completely different genre of story it also has a few similarities to the other two short stories. However I believe that “The Red Room” by H. G. Wells is by far the most effective story in creating tension and suspense. The story line creates tension when they reader discovers the final unexpected twist in the plot, that the is no ghost in the story, HG Wells creates suspense in the seting by using personification, adjectives and lots of figurative language. Tension and suspense is also created through the description of the unusual characters, the first person linear narrative and the use of long and short sentences. This is why the red room is the most effective story in my opinion.
By Vas Panayi IIES