GSCE ENGLISH LITERATURE COURSEWORK - PRE 1900 PROSE
GCSE LITERATURE COURSEWORK
The literary Tradition
Pre 1900 Prose
In this essay, I will be examining the way in which pre-1900 writers create effective ghost/horror stories. I will do this by analysing five different stories. These stories are The Monkey's Paw - W.W Jacobs, Let Loose - Mary Cholmondeley, The Lawyer and the Ghost - Charles Dickens, The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe and An Arrest - Ambrose Bierce. These writers have used a range of different literary techniques to make their story effective. I will be discussing five of these techniques in the essay.
To create an effective ghost story certain techniques have to be used, and these techniques are even more important when writing a ghost/horror story to make the story suitable to its genre. The first technique is Setting and Atmosphere.
This technique is used to create the right atmosphere for the scene. It has been used in all of the stories, and by doing this the authors have created the correct mood for a ghost/horror story. Although Setting and Atmosphere is present throughout all five stories, it is used mostly in The Monkey's Paw and Let Loose.
In 'The Monkey's Paw', Jacobs uses Setting and Atmosphere to begin his story. A couple with their son are inside their house, as the weather is bad outside, and are resting for the evening. By using Setting and Atmosphere to start his story, Jacobs sets the scene for a ghost story from the beginning.
"Without the night was cold and wet, but in
the small parlour the blinds were drawn
and the fire burned brightly"
From this quote, you can tell that the scene is being set for a ghost story. The mention of the weather also lets the reader imagine the room and the surroundings e.g. outside, and as the quote also states that the blinds were drawn and the fire burned, shows that Jacobs is contrasting the weather outside, which is cold and wet to the inside of the house, where it is warm and cosy.
Another example of Setting and Atmosphere is in 'Let Loose', in which Cholmondeley is writing about the main characters feelings as he enters a crypt in a sleepy town, in Yorkshire. He is doing this as he has been asked to write a report about frescos, and there is one inside of the crypt.
"I felt the cold breath of the crypt upon
my face"
This quote is relevant to Setting and Atmosphere, because it is showing how the atmosphere of the crypt scares him, and how ghostly and spooky everything is. Also the use ...
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Another example of Setting and Atmosphere is in 'Let Loose', in which Cholmondeley is writing about the main characters feelings as he enters a crypt in a sleepy town, in Yorkshire. He is doing this as he has been asked to write a report about frescos, and there is one inside of the crypt.
"I felt the cold breath of the crypt upon
my face"
This quote is relevant to Setting and Atmosphere, because it is showing how the atmosphere of the crypt scares him, and how ghostly and spooky everything is. Also the use of personification makes the reader imagine exactly how unbelievably terrifying the crypt is, as it is compared to having human characteristics. The words "cold breath" can be linked to death and the connection, entering the crypt has to do with death.
The second technique, used to create an effective ghost story is Supernatural. For something, to be Supernatural it must not be able t be explained logically or by science; this is of course a necessary technique needed to create a ghost story.
Supernatural is used well in 'The Layer and the Ghost' and 'An Arrest'.
In 'The Lawyer and the Ghost', Dickens is writing about a man who has been reduced to staying in a cheap rented room, and is slowly getting drunk, as he is doing this he hears noises in the cupboard and eventually realises it is a spirit. This is a good example of Supernatural as one of the main characters is a ghost.
"If you hurled it with ever so sure an aim,
it would pass through me,... I am a spirit"
This quote shows the technique of Supernatural, as he is a spirit and he proves this by saying that if anything was thrown at him, it would pass through me, this explains to the reader that he is a ghost as the most common characteristic of a ghost is being able to pass through things. Also as other humans can see him, it shows that he is a supernatural being and this cannot be explained logically.
Another example of Supernatural is in 'An Arrest', in which the main character is on the run from prison, as he has just murdered an officer.
While he is in a dark forest, he sees the officer that he has killed.
"..., the jailer as white as death and
bearing upon his brow, the livid
mark of the iron bar"
The technique of Supernatural is obvious in this quote, as he is seeing the ghost of the man that he has just killed. The words 'white as death' show the reader exactly how inhumanely pale he is, even though the reader knows he is dead, it is scary to imagine this. Also as the mark where the main character hit him is visible, it shows that the main character isn't imagining the officer, the way he was before his death but how he looks now. This shows that it is his ghost that he is imagining.
The third technique is Suspense. When writers use this technique they make the readers anxious, by wanting to know what will happen next in the story. Suspense is an important technique needed to write a ghost story, as it can also help create an element of fear.
Suspense is used throughout 'The Tell-Tale Heart' and 'Let Loose'. The story is told through the eyes of a mad man who, every night is trying to kill the man he lives with, he fails every night but eventually succeeds.
"I kept quite still and said nothing.
For a whole hour, I did not move a muscle"
This quote creates Suspense, because the reader anticipates what is going to happen next. Also this quote is slowly building up to the main climax of the story (the murder).
Another example of Suspense is in 'Let Loose'. Cholmondeley uses Suspense when, the main character is being give instructions from the clergyman, on how to open the doors of the crypt.
"... be careful that you lock the first door
... before you unlock the second, and lock
the second also while you are within"
This quote creates suspense because the reader thinks about why he (the main character) is receiving such specific instructions, what will happen if he doesn't follow them and if he will get locked inside the crypt.
Another technique used is, Unseen Terror. It is an important technique as it is essential, to a ghost story to frighten the reader, especially when the writer can do this by leaving it up to the reader's imagination to get scared. Unseen Terror is used in 'Let Loose' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.
In 'Let Loose', Cholmondeley uses Unseen Terror, to scare the readers that something terrible will happen next.
"No blood was drawn, but the second time
the grip was stronger than the first.
The third time, perchance"
This quote creates Unseen Terror, as it is left to the reader's imagination, to picture a deformed hand gripping a person, and the fact that the hand is getting stronger, everytime it kills someone, frightens readers and make them fearful of the hand.
Unseen terror is also found in 'The Tell-Tale Heart', where the main character is hiding the evidence of the murder he had just committed.
"First of all, I dismembered the corpse.
I cut off the head and the arms and the legs"
This quote is an example of Unseen Terror, as the reader imagines, a gory scene, with a crazy man standing over a disfigured body covered in blood.
The last technique, which creates an effective ghost/horror story, is Irony. Irony is used when authors, write the opposite of what they actually mean. Irony is very obvious in 'The Monkey's Paw' and 'Let Loose'.
In 'The Monkey's Paw', Irony is used when a monkey's paw is believed to be able to grant three wishes. Thinking this is true, one of the characters wishes is to receive two hundred pounds, but he is also cautious that the paw may bring bad luck instead of good. His son who is encouraging him to wish, questions how wishing for money could hurt him.
"How could two hundred pounds hurt
you, father?
This quote shows Irony, because we as readers later find out that due to the death of his son, he is given two hundred pounds compensation money. While he has received the money, he was also hurt in the process by the death. The language used in this quote, shows sarcasm by the son. The fact that he is questioning his father also shows how sure he is that money will not hurt his father, it will only make him happier.
Another example of Irony is in, 'Let Loose'. The main character is talking about a young girl who has passed away, he is even more shocked, as he had only had seen her the night before.
"..., the little girl whom I had taken on
my knee the evening before, had died
in the night"
This is an example of Irony because, later on in the story another man, who the main character had just briefly met also dies, so this makes the reader think that anyone that he speaks to or even sees, are in danger.
In my opinion, the technique that was most effective was Unseen Terror, because I believe that it is the most needed technique, for a ghost story because it is the technique that really frightens the reader.
To me, the most effective story, was 'The Tell-Tale Heart', I enjoyed this story because it was different to other ghost stories that I have previously read, as it gave a stranger perspective because of the way that it was told.
