Ghost stories were first written in the bible, they carried on being written to convince people of life after death, and the continuation of the soul.

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        Ghost stories were first written in the bible, they carried on being written to convince people of life after death, and the continuation of the soul. This was believed up until the 1600’s/ 1700’s where people started questioning the stories and wondering whether they are true.

        The age of rationalism, the 18th century, ghost stories were dismissed as untrue, as people were getting more cautious over their beliefs.

        At the start of the 19th Century writers such as W.Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens and H.G.Wells, started writing ghost stories as a form of entertainment for the public.

        Modern ghost stories raise questions about whether the soul continues life after death, as modern society is unsure about supernatural existence.  

        In the three ghost stories I have studied, ‘The signal man’, ‘Inexperienced Ghost’ and ‘The Dream Woman’ the settings have al been different. The setting is a key element in creating a scary atmosphere in the readers mind, e.g. traditional settings include and old abandoned house, an overgrown field or a castle.

`        It is vital for the author to describe the setting as detailed and as clear as possible to the reader. The better the author does this, the more effect the story has on the reader.

        A good example of describing the setting well is from ‘The Signal man’ by Charles Dickens, it reads, ‘I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head. His figure was foreshortened and shadowed, down in the deep trench.’

‘the cutting was unusually precipitate, it was made from clammy stone, it became oozier and wetter the further I walked.’ This describes the setting very well and puts a clean image of the dark, wet, cold, gloomy railway cutting into the mind of the reader. This is also a typical example of a scary setting for a ghost story.

        In ‘The dream Woman’ the setting is also very traditional, ‘The Dream Woman’ is set in an inn on the outskirts of a dark forest on a night which happens to have  a thunderstorm. Again W.Wilkie Collins goes into great depth describing the setting. The setting in this particular story is engineered to create a scary atmosphere. ‘Isac went round with the landlord, and held the candle while the doors and lower windows were being secured. He noticed with surprise the strength of the bolts, bars and iron-sheathed shutters. “You see, we are rather lonely here,” said the landlord when W.Wilkie Collins describes the shutters and bars, it makes the readers think that here is some kind of abnormal presence around the inn. This will create tension in the readers mind.

        In ‘The Inexperienced Ghost’ by H.G.Wells the time spent describing the setting is minimal, and this lack of detail shows in the overall effect of the story. ‘The Inexperienced Ghost’ is not a traditional ghost story as it has a comical theme, as if it was meant for young children to read. H.G.Wells only actually writes a couple of sentences describing the setting, which is an old fashioned gentleman’s country club. He describes the corridor as narrow but well lit with candles. The meeting with the ghost happened in the middle of the night with no one around. Again this is a traditional settingfor a ghost story crating a mystical eerie feeling.

        All three ghost stories have traditional settings, which help create tension and a super natural feel.

        In the tree stories the characters are very different, and all three have different approaches to the ghosts.

        In the ‘Signalman’ the ghost is a mysterious spectre, which appears before an accident is about to happen. At the start of the story ‘I’ the first person is describing the signalman. He describes him such a way it makes the reader think that the Signalman is actually the ghost. “I had shaded my eyes with my hand before I saw him at all, he had his left hand at his chin, and that left elbow rested on his right hand, crossed over his breast.”

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‘A dark sallow man with a dark beard and heavy eyebrows.’ The actual ghost is described as ‘someone else’, ‘the left arm is across the face, and the right arm is violently waved.’

        Instead of being scared of this supernatural presence the Signalman is curious on what it is trying to tell him. At the end of the story it seems as thought he spectre was trying to warn the signalman of his own death by imitating the train driver shouting and waving at him.

        In ‘An Inexperienced Ghost’ the characters approach to the ghost is completely as ...

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