The horror of the final wish is purely left up to the reader’s imagination. This would help in giving the story a furthermore element of suspense. Many stories end like this, to make the readers mind think more, they want them to ask for follow-on book in some cases.
The `Monkeys Paw` was set in an isolated, and to certain extent a confined area, in a house called Laburnam Villa in the suburbs. The weather seemed to be overcast and a storm brewing, the perfect scenario where the characters see to be far away from any help, and it’s made harder by the weather. The main action had a tendency to take place at night and the atmosphere throughout the story appeared to be very uncomfortable and strange. ‘ Of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst.’ All of these factors contribute in setting the mood of the story and give a feeling of fate. This gives an indication that the story may hold a tragic finish. The atmosphere was created very early in the story, ‘the night was cold and wet’ said Mr White. The concept of fate early on is further emphasised when the monkeys paw drops to the ground and the writer then says ‘The talisman fell to the floor and he regarded it carefully’. This adds suspense. From this we can assume that the talisman may be dangerous and has a significant part to play in the rest of the story.
The `Red Room` tells the story of a Room in an old broken down house which had been said to be haunted, the narrator had been sent to investigate the theory, after spending one night there he found out through experience that the only supernatural activities in that room was from the fear in his own imagination. Again the location was isolated and restricted to one house or more so to one room. In this story the setting was set inside the house.
The room was reasonably well described, the author tells us that there are 2 big mirrors, a chair, a table and a bed. The information given isn’t enough to picture the room, but enough to have a sort of idea.
We also know that he is staying in a castle, this is told is not so much detail though. The typical horror story setting, a spooky, rainy night in an isolated area with the lightning and thunder to add to the effects.
The `Red Room` is about the power of fear, and how much you do it to yourself. The start of the story starts with a man in the castle with three old pensioners, none of which are named. This adds tension, as he hasn’t socialised with them, and anyone of them could be a suspect, if anything happens. The 3 pensioners are talking about the red room the one that the man is going to spend the night in, the man is going to stay in the room for a night to prove that there is no ghosts there.
The three old pensioners are so scared of the room they will not even show him where it is, only give directions.
When the man reached the room, he inspected it to see if he found anything out of the norm. He lit some candles so that he could see the room, in light. He sat down on the chair in the room thinking to himself that there’s nothing wrong with this room.
Just after midnight one of the candles went out, he got up and went over to relight it, thinking it must have been a draft, as he relit it another candle went out. This started to scare him, he started to frantically run around the room trying to relight them all, but they kept going out. While running around the room, the man gets hurt, he is not sure though whether it is if he has hit objects around the room, or if someone has been hitting him. Eventually even the fire in the fireplace goes out and the man is knocked out.
In the morning he is awoken by one of the pensioners. The man says that there are no ghosts, but it is fear itself.
This is a good ending and can also make the reader think twice about what he has read. The final line hits the reader hard, and they may even think back to when `all they feared was fear itself`.
The `Judges House` is about a university student called Malcomson who has made his way to a small town called Benchurch.
The student has gone there to study, and get away from everything.
In Benchurch he ends up staying in one of the hotels called `The Judges House`, he chose this place as it looked peaceful and quiet enough for him to revise.
When the student walked around town he had heard rumours from the local people that a very strict judge used to live there. He loved to give the sentence of `hanged` and to some extent that the place was haunted.
When the student settles down to do some revision he is not in complete silence as there are a few squeaks and rats and mice running underneath the floorboards, but I’m sure this is better than pounding music and mates coming in and out of the room.
One night he is distracted when all goes quiet, the squeaks stop, the rats and mice are silent. He is curios why all the noise has stopped, he take a look around the room, to see a large rat, sitting on a armchair. This continued throughout the nights that he studied there, each night he turned around to see if it was the same rat, and it was. After the first time he saw the rat, he was fascinated but didn’t pay close attention, further on throughout the week, he noticed that the rat had been chewing on the bell rope. He thought to himself that that was what rats do, but then he realised that is was a bell rope. He was freaked out and assumed that the rat was intelligent, and was cutting of the rope, so that he couldn’t ring it for any help. He then came to his senses and turned around to go back to studying. After a few minutes, he was still curious and turned around again. This time he had noticed that the judge in the picture had gone, and was sitting in the armchair with the now cut off bell rope in his hand. The judge rose, and hung the student with the bell rope. In the morning Malcomson was dead. The owner of the house found him but it was too late to do anything. He was another victim of the Judge.
