“I can assure you,” said I,”that it will take a very tangible
ghost to frighten me”
Instantly the reader is lured into the eerie atmosphere. The presence of the old people at this stage gives a certain sense of tension with their mysterious appearance, especially the man with the withered arm. The fact that there is no knowledge or history of the house at the beginning of the story is in itself quite mysterious.
The central protagonist comes across to be quite arrogant, especially when he says
“eight and twenty years ,” said I “ I have lived and
never a ghost have I see as yet”
But when the old women replies;
“and eight and twenty years you have lived and never
seen the likes of this house”
The haunted mysterious house theme that H.G.Wells is trying to get across is instantly set. At this point there is a distinct sense of inhumanity within the story. The tension is built now by the mention of the ghost along with the disturbing presence of the old people with are in complete contrast to the young man, acting as if they know something he doesn’t. Well’s also describes the mirror that is in the room, this also helps adds to the creepy atmosphere as it distorts objects or people. The story then continues to the mentioning of the red room itself a supposed haunted room located in the mansion. The tension builds rather rapidly here as the young man makes his way cautiously to the red room.
“It’s shadow fell with marvellous distinctness upon the
white panelling and gave me the impression of
someone waiting to waylay me”
This is one of the vivid descriptions of the young man before he enters the red room. As soon as the young man enters the red room the atmosphere changes completely with the young man himself becoming quite nervous. There is quite a high-tension factor at this point as if there is a supernatural presence within the room. This perhaps could be to do with the way that H.G.Wells gives the room a very gothic feel using description such as dark oak, big mirrors, sconces bearing candles and china candle sticks all of which add to the ghostly atmosphere. The tension continues to build from here onwards as the ghostly presence becomes clearer. One by one the young mans lit candles start to extinguish. The young man tries to reassure himself by being facetiousness but it is unsuccessful. At this point the young man is extremely paranoid due to the fear of the unknown and because of how scared he is, he is letting little things pester him and make him even more nervous. This is probably the highest tension point throughout this story. After this young mans experience with the ghost the tension level decreases. His attitude towards the old people changes as well, he acts towards them with a slight amount of respect now that he knows that they were right all along.
Susan Hills Farthing House also has many ways of building tension. It starts off completely different to The Red Room with a slightly personal and urgent feel to it. The third paragraph starts
“I daresay that it has made me vulnerable too, that
this has brought the events”
Here the impression is made that the central protagonist is reliving some deep disturbing past or memory. This alone creates some tension due to this reason. Later on in the story there is a slightly ominous feel to what may happen. Susan Hill creates tension then by describing the surroundings such as the gravestones along with the remote surroundings all of which increase the eerie atmosphere. When the narrator goes on to describe her aunt we get an impression that she is slightly isolated, this makes her a quite mysterious character. The old house that the narrator stays at has a certain sense of melancholy about it