At the end of the story there is a solution 'the haunted Red Room' was only a theory and wasn’t real. It was just the persons imagination and human mind playing around and making the person think that there is some sort of ghostly presence in the room. When in the end it comes to show that it was nothing and that the human itself was creating the thought of terror.
In this story 'The Man with the Twisted Lip' is about a mystery 'murder' which is investigated be detective Sherlock Holmes. Throughout this story there are many scenes which create suspense. The two main questions that were to be answered in this story was 'who was the murderer?' and 'What happened to Mr St Clair?' the writer creates suspense by keeping the reader gripped till the end .There is a solution in the end, When we found out that Mr St Clair was disguised as 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' and that there was no murderer.
'The Signalman' was written in 1865 in the late Victorian times. In that time Railways had just been invented and Dickens, the writer had a train crash in real life, so I think that’s what influenced him to choose the railway setting. So he was trying to portray the sense of mystery on a newly invented railway, where he himself experienced an incident on. The writer has used real places and settings throughout the whole story.
'The Man with the Twisted Lip' was written in 1891 also in late Victorian times. Conan Doyle, the writer, set his story in the streets of Victorian London. At that time London had dirty, filthy streets, there was high crime, beggars, prostitution, pollution and invect police. He chose this type of setting because it was the perfect type of setting for a mystery crime scene. He was trying to make out a real life mystery setting, so it was like a real life situation to the reader. He uses real places in his story.
'The Red Room' was written in 1894 in late Victorian times, this story is like one of those classic old 'ghost stories' which are usually set in haunted house and mansions. The writer of this story, HG Wells chose the haunted setting of a castle, because it was one of the typical settings for a ghost story. He is trying to set an image to the reader of an old castle setting, where a mystery scene is likely to happen, the writer has invented the places himself in the story. He uses effective description of the imaginary settings so that the reader can picture a real setting.
I will be examining the settings of Charles Dickens 'The Signalman' and analysing its effects. Dickens uses a lot of detailed description
'vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into violent pulsation' He has created an effect of sudden movement, like shaking or something about to head his way. This shows a sudden change in atmosphere.
'Skimming away over the landscape' this shows an effect of speed over the landscape, fast direction. The writer used the word 'skimming' as in the train was so fast that it looked as if it was 'skimming' away over the landscape.
'The cutting was extremely, and unusually precipitous' the writer describes detailed cuttings in the path, he creates tension when describing every little detail carefully of the surrounding atmosphere.
'terminating in a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to the black tunnel' the writer describes the setting looking 'gloomy' this creates an effect of the red light standing out with a gloomy look and the 'gloomier' tunnel, describing to us the darkness of the entrance but using the word 'gloomier' so it has a more scary sounding effect to it. This sets a tense atmosphere with the 'gloomy' surroundings.
'Blackness of the tunnel'
The writer describes the tunnel 'black' he creates an effect of darkness. The tunnel which is so dark it looks black. This creates a frightening atmosphere in the reader’s mind of the described tunnel.
Now i will be examining the settings of HG Wells 'The Red Room' and analysing its effects. In this story there is also a lot of detailed description of the settings and surroundings.
'queer old mirror at the end of the room' He is describing the way the mirror looks 'queer' creating the mysterious weird look effect of the room. This shows an unusual old looking atmosphere of the room.
'Deep-tome. old fashioned furniture' In this quote the writer is describing the way the furniture looks like in the room, stating the way it is 'deep-toned' and 'old fashioned' the writer is trying to give the reader the impression of an old style looking surrounding of the room .
'Chilly echoing passage' the sounds and feelings of the passage are 'chilly and 'echoing' creating a spooky setting of the passage.
'A monstrous shadow' He describes the shadow using the word 'monstrous' so that it sound as if it is not just a normal shadow but a noticeable shadow commenting on it building up tension.
'Large sombre room' describing the room's atmosphere being 'large' 'sombre' picturing the described setting in the readers mind. This creates a setting where an incident might occur.
Finally, I will be examining the setting of Conan Doyle’s 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' and analysing its effects. Throughout this story there is allowed of descriptive writing used for the settings.
'an endless succession of sombre and deserted streets' In this quotation Conan Doyle uses the words 'succession' 'sombre' and 'deserted' to describe the quiet, empty streets of London, creating a mysterious atmosphere showing emptiness, a described scene where a crime might be likely to occur.
'Murky River moving sluggishly' the writer describes the river 'murky' meaning dirty. The Thames was very polluted and foul in industrialised Victorian London. He also describes how the river is moving 'sluggishly' this creates a crime scene setting, in many crimes which involved bodies found in the Thames. This is what it might be trying to point out to the reader.
'A flickering oil lamp' this creates an effect of a dark place casting moving shadows on the wall. This creates an eerie and ghostly atmosphere.
'A steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap' The writer describes the flight 'steep' and the 'black' gap. This creates a mystery setting leading down to the mysterious way down to the 'black gap' conveying the fear of the unknown. this creates suspense
'He collects pillows and creates an eastern divan' this describes Holmes actions when creating his 'eastern divan' He applies exotic touches to his Victorian bedroom. this creates an effect of a mystical process and set in a calm comfy thinking atmosphere.
In all three story settings there are many different similarities and differences.
All three stories are written in first person narrative, so they are quite similar when describing sense and feelings, like temperature, hot or cold, they all use some sort description of the senses around the atmosphere. Using adjectives like hot/cold describe the feeling of the surroundings when in contact with an object or something felt by a person, this effect the sense in the readers mind when reading the story. All three stories also state the different light settings like the darkness of the surroundings. This is mentioned a lot when it comes to describing the setting, all three mention the amount of light in the atmosphere, the blackness, gloom, and the different types of light settings. There is also quite a lot of similar description used about shadows like changing shapes e.g. flickering candles and movements of shadow and wind.
One difference about all three stories was that they are all set in three completely different settings.’ The signalman' is set on a quiet railway setting 'The Red Room' is set inside an old fashioned castle and 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' is set in the old dirty streets of London.
In all three stories you can identify where the place is, the reader could tell for 'The Red Room' that the setting of the place was set indoors because of the description used for the surrounding and the atmosphere inside as for 'The Signalman' you could identify that the story was set on the railways because the writer had chose clear descriptive writing to describe a real life 'railway' settings and as for 'The Man With The Twisted Lip' you could tell that the story was set in the horrid old streets of London because the writer had used extreme description of the state of London at that time.
Out of the three mystery stories, some were considered to be man-made hell holes and some were natural hell-holes.
