What gives this story a gothic feel is the way any other ghost tale does, in that it has a presence of some kind which once lived and now comes back to haunt the living. The monkey’s paw features elements of gothic literature i.e. by having a castle, large house, and sconce. This story also provides atmosphere which is the key to move the reader, ‘the night was cold and wet… “of all the beastly, slushy, out of the way places to live in, this is the worst.”’
In the opening paragraph of The Body Snatcher, the reader is introduced to the characters of Fettes and “the undertaker, the landlord”. To fit the gothic genre, the story uses various types of characters; the main character is Fettes, who is a weak and unbalanced character. He contrasts to his accompaniment, Macfarlane who is a strong, dissipated, obsessive and unscrupulous character who only likes to get his own way as shown when he kills Gray for just being a nuisance. The reader is told that Fettes is a drunken Scotchman and a man of education; he drinks five glasses of rum a night. The reader wonders why Fettes drinks so much, perhaps to escape from reality or depression, the fact that the reader is not told much about Fettes creates suspense. We are later told that Fettes has medical knowledge; and may therefore have been a doctor, but something must have happened to make him in the state of mind he is now, the reader speculates that it is something to do with his career.
The setting of the story creates horror and tension as it is set in an out of the way pub, the reader is expecting something to happen to do with the pub. This story also begins with a typical horror cliché, ‘one dark winter night!’ This classic setting provides an unsettling atmosphere and the reader is alerted to the probability of something disturbing happening. The use of tone setting words such as ‘dark’ help to emphasize the way in which words can affect the overall picture of the story and the way in which fear and suspense are built.
This contrasts to the way the reader’s curiosity is aroused in the opening of The Signalman. The setting is not a spooky, daunting one, it is normal and the fact that it is set on a railway line creates a modern feel which contrasts to the Body Snatcher and other ghost stories. As the story is set on a railway line, it creates a more curious and mysterious feel as the reader speculates that something will happen ‘out of the blue’.
The tale starts with a dramatic and gripping line which instantly grabs the reader’s attention. When the narrator yells, “Halloa! Below there!” the signal man looks ‘down the line’ as if he were oblivious to the fact that the voice unmistakably came from up above. This first line introduces the narrator who is left anonymous throughout the story. The strange opening instantly builds up mystery and suspense as the reader waits anxiously for what is about to happen next. Also the reader does not know what sort of person the narrator really is. When the narrator is a character in the story, it makes it easier to know how the person is feeling; this makes the reader more aware of the character and so can begin to relate to them.
The Signalman is more mysterious and gripping than the Body Snatcher as no information is given to the reader about the characters. Something strange happens at the beginning of The Signalman unlike in The Body Snatcher and the reader wants to know why, ‘remarkable manner’. The signal man dives straight into the story without really building up the tension beforehand with the scene, unlike the body snatcher where the scene is set and the tension is gradually built up with the frightening atmosphere.
The Body Snatcher is written in language of the early nineteenth century, it is often verbose with the use of words that are not used today such as crapulous, ensigns and indemnified. The language is poetic throughout the story with the use of metaphors, similes, euphemism and oxymorons, this helps to add mystery and suspense to the story as well as make it sound old fashioned and traditional. However, the story is very literal and the title is a good example of this. It is very atmospheric and detailed giving the reader a clear view of the situation and scene.
The Signalman in some ways conveys some language like The Body Snatcher. It is quite formal and old fashioned for example ‘perosed’, ‘saturnine’, ‘abhorrence’ and ‘perspective glass.’ Like the Body snatcher, the dialogue is very emotional for example The Signalman’s fear. A lot of alliteration is used, ‘vague…vibration…violent…vapour’, ‘frozen figure.’, ‘wind…wires.’
It has many adjectives to convey fear and horror e.g. ‘dreadful calamity’, ‘cruel haunting’, ‘nameless horror.’
Some of the language in The Signalman is unlike the Body Snatcher, there are uses of personification of nature such as ‘angry sunset’, ‘gloomy light.’ There are no similes, and several words are used for ghost - ‘spectre’, ‘ghost’, ‘appearance.’
In the Body Snatcher, Macfarlane is described to have the “finest, broad clothe, whitest of linen, a great gold watch chain and speckles of the same precious material” whilst Fettes is described as “bald, dirty, pimpled and robed in his cloak.” The reader notices how they are contrasts and opposites of each other. MacFarlane is portrayed as a wealthy, highly respected doctor whereas Fettes is seen as the “tramp” who is an unemployed alcoholic. This symbolically gives the idea that Macfarlane is in a higher class and status to that of Fettes. Fettes refers to Macfarlane as “toddy” and the few silent seconds that Macfarlane had until he noticed who it was, creates a tense and anxious atmosphere. The frightened face of Macfarlane also builds tension and suspense. The reader is told that Fettes was given money from Macfarlane but he “cast it in the rain”, this powerful metaphor used shows his feelings towards the money as if it was “dirty”. Fettes mentions that “God allowed Macfarlane to live”, this implies that Macfarlane cheated death or is meant to be dead. Macfarlane dashes towards the door when Fettes asks, “have you seen it again?” the reader is left puzzled with many questions left unanswered. The tension heightens when Macfarlane panics and urgently exits. The mention and reminder of “it” causes him to be petrified, the reader does not know what “it” is but realises that it has a dramatic impact on both Fettes and Macfarlane’s lives.
A man had become sick and a doctor had been called, Fettes later finds out that the doctor who is on his way to the pub is Doctor Macfarlane. Fettes repeats Macfarlane twice with a sense of deep emotion; it now becomes obvious that Fettes knows Macfarlane but the reader is bewildered and wonders how and this creates tension and suspense. The mention of Macfarlane instantly makes Fettes sober and so it must have been a terrible shock for him. Fettes talks about the “rum and sin” which shows, on his face, the reader does not understand and becomes intrigued and willing to know more. It seems that he is hiding something, this makes the reader frustrated, agitated and ‘on the edge of their seat’ as they wish to know what Fettes is talking about.
The landlord had heard of their conversation, Fettes warns him by saying that “MacFarlane is not safe to cross and those who have, repented too late.” Louis Stevenson uses the same method as before to build suspense. Fettes drank three glasses instead of his usual five showing that the encounter with Macfarlane had brought back disturbing memories from the past he wished and thought were forgotten.
In The Signalman the narrator seems to be reliable and tells the story truthfully, he is an onlooker who sees the horror unfold for The Signalman. Mystery and suspense is built in this way as the narrator is clueless to what is going on and has to come back the next two days, the reader wishes to read on to find out about the signalman. The signalman is defined by the reader as the central character who draws the most attention. His mysterious personality is shown from the beginning as his actions are not those of normality, he “looked down the line” when the voice he heard was clearly from up above. The peculiarity of his actions is highlighted when Dickens uses capital letters, “turned his head towards the bell when it did NOT ring.” Later, inexplicably, he asks the narrator if he felt the words he used to call down to the signalman “were conveyed to you in any supernatural way”, this is much unanticipated to the reader and builds quite a chilling atmosphere too when he says “don’t call out!” when telling the narrator to come back the next day. His strange attitude is continuous throughout the story, he is “educated above that station”, this tells the reader that he should have a better job as he was once a “student of natural philosophy.” The narrator points his abnormal behaviour out, “his manner…” made “the place strike colder to me.” The reader knows that the signalman is not stupid which cannot compensate for his foolish behaviour, we are not able to question his education and this makes the story he tells of the spectre more frightening.
The signalman when hearing the bells ring creates tension due to the narrator not hearing them, the reader believes that the signalman is imagining noises and this creates an unsettling and tense atmosphere. His character is very rational, it makes him more real but he goes pale at one point, “in a word I should…with a fallen colour.” He may have done this, the reader assumes, due to a presence such as a ghost tormenting him, but it is not known and so the strangeness of his personality is shown further which again builds tension and makes the reader wonder.
The end of The Signalman is very dramatic, the story ends with a twist but throughout there is a lot of foreshadowing leading up to an expected ending. The structure and the way Charles Dickens sets the order of events create suspense. When the signalman tells the narrator about the first two accidents, the reader is expecting a third one to happen in the near future as with all stories and this creates suspense.
The Body Snatcher and The Signalman both, in my opinion, are good horror stories and although they build suspense and fear in various different ways, they still both make the reader anxious and tense. In my opinion, that is the key to a horror story.
