HG Wells choice of setting for “The Red Room” is an eerie, spooky castle with a haunted atmosphere. The location of the setting is a big castle. The author created an atmosphere of tension, and kept the reader in suspense. People having fear about something in the red room create this.
The setting that was chosen for “The man with the twisted lip” was East London. The setting is highly polluted and dirty, medical treatment was high in price and if you didn’t have the money it wasn’t available. This setting was very appropriate for this story because as a reader you can image the sort of place it is. Also at that time in East London police weren’t very good at solving crime.
In “The Signalman” there is a lot of tense moments. For example, “You look at me “ I said forcing a smile, “as if you have dread of me”
“I was doubtful”, returned the signalmen,
“Whether I had seen you before”
This is one of the many tense parts in the novel, because the signalman shows fear as he asks if they have met before. It makes me as a reader think why the signalman shows fear?
The signalmen himself in the story is described as looking mysterious, “A dark shallow man”. To me this adds and builds up tension because the signalman was thought to be mysterious when he is known as a highly educated man?
The sort of language used to describe the setting also contributes to the atmosphere, for example, “stepped in the glow of an angry sunset”. Here the narrator is describing the evening, as darkness is about to fall. The vivid red sky. This contributes to the story because it uses describing words to create the atmosphere creates. We also see tension in the short story in one of the conversations between the visitor and the signalman. The visitor says to the signalman “I believed you to be a contented man?” the signalman replied, “I believed I used to be, but I am troubled sir, I am troubled. The repetition of “I am troubled” creates tension because it is strange about what is troubling the signalman this also adds ominous to the story. The reader is curious as to what is troubling him. We then have to wait in suspense to find out what the problems is.
In “The Red Room” there are also a lot of descriptions of the setting, the mood and the atmosphere of the castle. “I come to the landing and stopped there for a moment listening to a rustling that fancied I heard….”. This suggests spookiness because someone is listening and expecting something to happen. The title of the story “The Red Room” suggests that the story is going to contain some danger and horror in it. Also another tense moment in the story was “I left the door wide open until the candle was well alight, and then I shut them in and walked down the chilly echoing passage”. This contributes to the atmosphere because it suggests that the room is dark and glooming. The passage is empty so you can hear echoes. The sort of language used in “The red room” is unearthly, spooky. The words used describe the setting, mood and atmosphere of the story.
In “The man with the twisted lip” there is a lot of descriptions of what is seen. “On examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the window sill, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the bedroom.” This is describing what is seen in detail and where its been seen by the investigation team. This contributes to the atmosphere because it is a murder scene, which makes the story spooky because it is a mystery, which makes you wonder where Neville Saint Claire is, and makes you want to read to the end to find out what happened. The language used in “The man with the twisted lip” is sinister it suggests evil, eerie; mystery and also phantom which makes you has a reader imagine the atmosphere.
“The Signalman, “The Red Room and “The Man with the Twisted Lip” have many different and similar. Some of the similar are that in all three stories are written in first person. This makes the reader share and experience of the significant setting; also all three stories become Victoria because at the time she was queen. Another similar are all three stories have darkness, flicking candles and glooming, shadows and light. The Red Room and The Signalman have sign of supernatural and unnatural, both stories are also linked to phantom and sprits. A different in the three stories is that they are all set in different settings.
