This story has an interesting twist at the end, because the narrator decides it is not ghosts that are haunting the characters, but their own fears.
The three characters are servants for the absent owners of the castle. They live in the castle to keep it safe. The narrator is in the castle having a drink with the servants, he is telling the servants that he does not believe in ghosts and that he has never seen one "Eight-and-twenty years I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen as yet" the narrator is choosing to stay in the room through the night. The three old servants try to persuade the narrator not to stay in the room. They try to make the narrator understand that it is his choice and has nothing to do with them "Its your own choosing". As soon as the narrator left the three servants he started to see shadows moving and hear strange sounds. Throughout the night he saw and heard lots more. He saw candles and fires blow out without a trace of them ever was being lit. In the morning the narrator woke up to find he had a bandage on his head and not being able to remember the previous nights events. The narrator explains to the servants that the room is haunted but not by a specific person. He tells them that the room is haunted by fear.
H G Wells scientific theory about the ghosts is that they are actually your own fear. People get so scared by what people have said that they create fears (subconsciously) and begin to see and believe in strange things.
W.W.Jacobs wrote 'The Monkeys Paw' in 1908. It is a story based on the fairy tale idea of a man who has three wishes. It has very ordinary characters living in a very ordinary house in a mundane setting. The setting of this story is very different to that of 'The Red Room', which starts as a classic ghost story.
In this story there are four main characters. We are not given much description of them. Mr and Mrs White live in a small house together with their son Herbert. The fourth character is 'Sergeant Major Morris' the only detail we find out about him is that he likes a bit of a drink.
The tale is about a sergeant major that bought a monkey's paw in India. It is rumoured that the paw is magical. The sergeant major gives the paw to Mr White and his family. The sergeant major warns Mr White and his family that it may have terrible consequences and should be careful about what they whish for. Mr White did not believe the sergeant major and made a wish for some money. When the money does not materialise straight away the family doubt the paw has any magical powers so they go to bed.
In the morning the son goes to work and the day is going as normal until a man from Herbert's place of work comes to the house. He tells Mr White and is wife that there was an accident and that there son has died. The employers have sent compensation. When he hands it to the shocked couple they find it to be the exact amount that the father had wished for the night before.
The mother is naturally very distraught at the news of her sons death when weeks later she remembers the paw. She grabs the paw and makes a second wish. She wishes her son back to life, but then Mr White realises that Herbert has been dead for weeks and will have started to rot and that he will look horrific. The father looks for the paw frantically, when the son starts knocking at the door. Mr White finds the paw and uses the last wish to wish away his son.
Both the stories start with all the characters in one room on a very dark stormy night, this creates atmosphere. Both stories involve an old couple and a much younger man. In both the younger man is the victim of the ghosts or magic. Both stories manage to suggest great danger by someone trying to persuade someone else not to do something. In 'The Monkeys Paw' the sergeant major tries to persuade Mr White not to make the wishes. In 'The Red Room' the old servants try to convince the young male that it is not wise to spend a night in the room. 'The Red Room' has a very old theme to it. The castle is old, the servants are very old and the actual stories and tales of the room go back a long way. 'The Monkeys Paw' is about something exotic and magical.
I prefer 'The Monkeys Paw', because it is easier to read and understand. It uses more straightforward English, whereas 'The Red Room' uses very sophisticated words and goes in to an extreme amount of explanation about everything, including the movements of the characters. That makes it a lot more tedious, a lot harder to read and less interesting.