Compare the ways in which Charles Dickens and H.G Wells convey an air of mystery and suspense

Furthermore, in "The Red Room" ambiguity is once again used to create suspense. "The old woman...never seen the likes of this house...many things to see and sorrow", with this an air of suspense is created as the reader is oblivious as to what the old woman is talking about. Hence, building suspense in the story as the reader becomes very eager to find out what she is talking about, especially because this is setting the story. Hiding the information and keeping a level of ambiguity builds suspense. In "The Signalman", Dickens also uses ambiguity in setting the plot in a different context, but provides the same effect. In "The Signalman", ambiguity is used to thicken the plot and build the reader's attention to a particular event: "When you have found it, don't call out! And when you are at the top, don't call out...What made you cry 'Halloa! Below There!' " The use of withholding information here is that the reader is not aware of why he should not "call out", and the reader is also forced to wonder of what importance "Hallow below there" holds. The effect of the ambiguity in this instance is that in "The Signalman", the reader is not told of the entire story until the prologue when the reader is able to make sense of it all and the ambiguity turns into irony. The reader is kept in the dark; they are forced to come to their own conclusion. Their imagination is then used and this enables the story to convey an air of mystery and suspense as the reader is further made to wonder.

Language and imagery also form a critical part in both "The Signalman" and "The Red Room" in forming an air of mystery and suspense throughout the short stories. The language in such Gothic stories must provide very detailed and convincing descriptions to form the necessary image to the reader - mostly a gloomy image. The language in "The Signalman" and "The Red Room" is such that an air of mystery and suspense can be created and both Wells and Dickens have successfully used language and imagery in order to create this feeling of mystery and suspense.

Description in the short stories proves to be a vital, integral function in order to provide an air of mystery and suspense, the language is essential as this gives the basis of creating mystery and suspense. In the "Red Room", the use of language is seen more explicitly than in "The Signalman". The language provides a dark and negative atmosphere: "grotesque custodians"; "shaky" and "atavistic". Through using such descriptions, the author is painting a very persuading image into the reader's mind. The negative image and thoughts are entered into the reader's mind and this leads to tension and then suspense. Similarly, the negative descriptions can also be found in "The Signalman", however, not so extensively: "shadowed", "violent" and "crooked". With this negative use of language, the reader becomes susceptible to the tense atmosphere; thus, resulting in suspense being created. This technique enables the stories to create an atmosphere with mystery and suspense, however, this is much more predominant in "The Red Room" as its use for description is much more avid.

Furthermore, imagery is also used in both short stories in order to extend the negative image and create a greater feeling of mystery and suspense. The imagery provides an atmosphere whereby the reader can be absorbed into the story and become forced to speculate and anticipate - thus, creating an air of mystery and suspense in both short stories. "The Red Room" uses such imagery to create a very tense feeling: "germinating darkness" this referring to the unhealthy growth of evil in which the protagonist of the play is being surrounded in. Suspense is created immediately out of fear for the character and mystery is created through what has caused it and what will happen next. This is also proved with the "sombre reds and blacks", this example depicts an image of blood and deaths with the use of such colours: reds - where the effect is increased through the title as well, "The Red Room" and blacks, which correspond to colour of darkness. The imagery here is very vivid and creates a distinct image in the mind of the reader; an image that personifies a dark, negative and evil picture and thus creates mystery and suspense. However, in "The Signalman" the imagery that is used is seen less often throughout the play, however, there are some examples, which can be seen: "dark sallow man, with a dark beard and heavy eyebrows". The imagery here is that of a description of a figure, and expresses a dark image. This conveying an air of mystery as the image is created in the mind of the reader and becomes eager to find more information about the image created. The effect of the imagery here is that the reader is then set a clear image about the character and one which is negative, this build the mystery to find out about the character.

In addition, the supernatural element is a technique, which was very popular during the Victorian era and one that was commonly used. The effect is one that has been used in both stories: "The Signalman" and "The Red Room". Wells and Dickens have used this idea to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and confusion for the protagonists, this leads to create a sense of mystery and suspense whereby in an event a realistic effect cannot be found but only the supernatural effect is plausible.

In "The Red Room", Wells has used the supernatural element to create a very eerie atmosphere; it has been used to create a very distinct image and creates a lot of drama throughout the story. A clear example of the supernatural in "The Red Room": "the human qualities seemed to drop", this is explaining, that unexplainably, the surroundings and the plot no longer seems to be that of a normal and human nature. Wells has left this event very suddenly, to allow the reader to figure out the effect of this because they will have come to the reasoning that if it is no longer of human nature, there must be "magic" involved. This enforces a high level of mystery to the story and the reader can no longer expect the rest of the story to be of a "human" nature, hence the suspense is then built. Similarly, "The Signalman", has also used such effect to build the atmosphere: "there must be a deception of his sense of sight". This explaining, that the Signalman has seen something very peculiar, and something that cannot be real - hence the reader is forced to believe of a supernatural sight. The effect of this is that the reader has now been forced to believe of a supernatural occurring; hence, the reader is also forced to believe that there will be similar actions in the rest of the story. The effect of the introduction of the supernatural ensures that the reader is speculative about all further actions and how they have taken place; "unquestionable that remarkable coincidences did continuously occur" - making the reader further believe of the existence of the supernatural creating great mystery and suspense.

Mystery and suspense is also built in both short stories with there being a clear physical presence of the supernatural in both short stories. Wells and Dickens have included the supernatural in the stories to interact in some way with the characters; this creates mystery and suspense, as the actions of the supernatural are unexpected.

In "The Red Room", there is a clear presence of the supernatural while the character is in the "haunted" room, which immediately enforces an air of mystery and suspense to the reader. "The shadows seemed to take another step towards me", this provides a clear indication to the reader that the supernatural is present. Due to the supernatural being present the reader is forced to ponder what will happen next as the actions are "unexpected", thus creating an air of mystery and suspense through curiosity. Similarly, the presence of the supernatural is also evident in "The Signalman": "A disagreeable shudder crept across me"; and "the slow touch of a frozen finger tracing out my spine", this creates mystery and suspense in the story as the supernatural is having an effect on the character and the reader does not know what effect it could have on the character in the future. However, the presence of the supernatural in "The Signalman" is contrasting from "The Red Room" as the reader begins to believe that the events taking place are due to supernatural; this creates mystery and suspense. The Signalman explains his story of an event, and how there was the presence of the supernatural; the reader is then forced to believe that the event was due to the supernatural. This creates mystery and suspense as the reader does not know what the supernatural could do in the future.

Furthermore, one additional technique that is used to create an air of mystery and suspense in both stories is the way in which the authors have created a setting for the stories. The setting provides the basis upon which the rest of the story will be told - an eerie and dark story will generally be followed by a negative story, as is the case in "The Red Room". However, it is clear that in "The Signalman" there is a much greater sense of building the story and setting with ambiguity, which later turns into irony. Yet, even though different, both create a definite air of mystery and suspense.

The setting in "The Red Room", is one, which exemplifies isolation, it gives a very dark and negative image - as is the case in many Gothic stories. In "The Red Room", the setting of scene is much more efficient and clear than in "The Signalman", Wells has been able to effectively portray the image that he wanted whilst setting the scene: "chilly and draughty". In "The Red Room", there is the use of a haunted, draughty castle that has been of an abandoned state for many years "the blackness of the chimney" suggesting the use has become bare and has begun to become derelict. The manner in which Wells has successfully described the setting is crucial where there is a negative image given, this is the exact image that Wells would have wanted to give and this conveys mystery to the reader to find out why it is such a negative image. The setting presents a lonely scene when exploring the castle giving a large sense of being isolated: "the echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase". This isolation builds great suspense as the protagonist is alone and can receive no help if there is any trouble.

"The Signalman" is similar with an element of isolation in the setting; however, there is actually great contrast in the setting as Dickens focuses on building the plot, rather than creating a haunted setting. While writing about the setting of the event, Dickens has focused on creating ambiguity rather than the sense of fear and isolationism created in "The Red Room". The setting in "The Signalman" is different where is focuses on building a much more ambiguous setting that is later found ironic. "The angry sunset", this metaphor is used to build the setting when the character approaches the Signalman. The metaphor used to create the setting shortly after "Halloa! Below there!" This creates a sense of mystery as the reader is wondering why the sunset would be angry; this is also due to the ambiguity. Hence, creating enormous mystery as the reader is puzzled. The ways in which Wells and Dickens build the setting is very contrasting; yet, both provide an air of mystery and suspense. "The Red Room" is based upon fear and being isolated creating suspense in the mind of the reader. Whereas in "The Signalman" Dickens has chosen to use ambiguity to build an air of mystery.

The ways in which H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens have conveyed an air of mystery and suspense are both similar and contrasting. Both "The Red Room" and "The Signalman", use the effect of ambiguity throughout the stories to build a high level of mystery and suspense, they contain similar uses of language, yet, different forms of imagery. They have different level of supernatural presence and contain contrasting settings for the stories. Yet, they both stories still succeed in being able to create an air of mystery and suspense. "The Red Room" is much more effective in being able to create the air of mystery and suspense in the effect of imagery, in that the story is very successfully able to create mystery and suspense with distinct and vivid imagery grouped together with the fact that a lot of the imagery corresponds with the title and with the colour "Red". "The Signalman" however is able to create this atmosphere much greater through the stories ability to keep the reader tense with continuous ambiguity, this keeps the reader in speculation and it forces the reader to come to their own conclusion.

Neil Gujar