“… vanished four candles at once in different corners of the room.” So it sounds like almost like some ghostly presence or something is going round extinguishing the candles. The story ends still with tension but not nearly as much because once the narrator is out of the red room he reveals what is really in there and this significantly lowers the tension.
“Fear! Fear that will not have light nor sound, that will not bear with reason…” so actually the only thing that is really in the red room is a man’s fear of the supernatural even when there is none.
The setting of the story in Lorraine Castle creates tension and suspense because castles are seen as dark and scary places to be wandering in at night, and the fact that Lorraine Castle is deserted makes it even worse.
“… deserted on the yesterday instead of eighteen months ago.” It creates tension because we wonder for what reason was the castle deserted for. The rumours of what exists in Lorraine Castle and its supernatural reputation help to create a lot of tension.
“In which the young duke had died,” this creates tension by; again, leaving us wondering what killed the duke in The Red Room. The description of the passageways the narrator has to travel through to get to The Red Room
“The long, draughty, subterranean passage was chilly and dusty…” the fact that the passage way is unusual to what we are used to and makes us think it is in someway inhospitable, and, what has made it so chilly and draughty? Why does nobody use it? These are all questions it leaves us, the reader, thinking which creates tension. The description of The Red Room itself increases the levels of tension,
“…blackness of the wide chimney and tapped the dark oak panelling for secret opening.” He feels suspicious of the room and also feels small inside compared to it, this helps to create tension because we are unaware of what is in the room and there is a sort of other worldliness to it. This setting fits the gothic genre set in a castle and this helps to create tension.
Suspense is also built in the story by the characters, in particular the old people, who are the keepers of the castle. The description of these old people helps to create tension because they are almost non-human,
“..his lower lip, half averted, hung pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth.” The language in this sentence is very important, there is use of a lot of adjectives, decaying, averted etc. there is also alliteration, pale and pink. These are used because they sugest there is something wrong with the people in the castle and that maybe the castle has a history of disfigurement and so on, the language also creates tension because it makes us feel unconfertable and makes the narrator feel nervous. This description makes them sound as if they are some sort of monsters but also makes us wonder what caused them to look like this, did the red room have anything to do with it? The old people do not only create tension through their looks but also through what the say.
“But if you go to the red room tonight –“(“this might of all nights!” said the women) “you go alone.” This creates tension by making us wonder why don’t these people wish to visit The Red Room, and, what is it about tonight especially that makes it even worse to go to The Red Room? The old people start to make the narrator feel tense.
“…the oddness of these three old pensioners…affected me in spite of my efforts to keep myself at a matter-of-fact phase.” What the old people have said and the way they are acting has caused the narrator to start to feel nervous and loose his level headedness. The old people also affect the reader because they make the narrator feel uncomfortable then they also make us feel uncomfortable, also there general appearance and the description of them makes the reader feel uneasy as they have a sort of unknown quality about them.
H.G. Wells uses a first person narrative because this means that we know exactly what the character is feeling and not just what the narrator says he is feeling.
“…listening to a rustling that I fancied I heard; then, satisfied of the absolute silence…” If this had been in third person narrative and not first then we would not have been able to understand what the narrator was worried about as easily. This gives the reader a much better knowledge and understanding of what the tension levels are. Because they know exactly what is going on in the characters head. The narrator feels different amounts of anxiety and tension throughout the story. When he starts the story he is tense but not much because he is confident that ghosts do not exist.
“…it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.” He feels that the idea of ghosts and their existence is stupid, so this is why he uses tangible so that the language suggests it would have to be real and not just a rumour. As he travels to the red room his anxiety grows because things like the shadows and echoes begin to unnerve him so he is becoming jumpy,
“I was about to advance but stopped abruptly.” So certain things are beginning to make him think twice about going to the red room the level of tension decreases in the story because the narrator manages to put his mind at ease.
“My precise examination had done me good.” When the candles start to go out the level of tension hits its peak and the narrator becomes tenser than at any other part of the story.
“With my head bowed and my arms over my face I made a run for the door.” He is now so tense he is trying to escape from the red room. As the story draws to a close the tension falls dramatically when the narrator and the reader realise that there is actually not a single thing supernatural in the red room.
“Fear! Fear that will not have light nor sound.”
The author’s use of colour adds to the atmosphere increases suspense and tension firstly because he calls the story The RED Room. The use of red creates tension because red is commonly associated with evil and danger. So a room that is named after that colour must either be evil or dangerous, or maybe both. So the use of red creates tension by suggesting this about the room and its content.
“…blackness of the wide chimney…dark oak panelling…” H.G. Wells describes the room as being very dark and continually uses adjectives which make the room sound very mysterious, blackness, it sounds like we can only just tell what is in the room and, dark oak, it is made to sound like it is old and almost unreal and to a twenty-eight year old narrator it would seem very unusual indeed. The colours used in The Red Room are also very sombre none of them are joyful colours they are all described as dark and lifeless.
The use of sound and contrasting silence creates suspense and tension. The writer sometimes makes it sound almost like the narrator is being chased through the passageways or watched in the castle.
“…echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase…listening to a rustling…” The echoes are personified to make it sound like the narrator is not alone almost, and, the rustling sounds as if someone is there and makes us wonder who or what is making the rustling. All of these things help to create suspense and tension.
The writer also uses light and dark and the contrast between them helps to create suspense and tension in the story. The story is also set at night when most bad things are meant to happen.
“Picked out in everything in vivid black shadow or silvery illumination.” This shows that the story was et in the night and this is very important in creating tension we because we commonly associate night time with bad things and the supernatural. Which is a contrast to the day time where everything is safe and we can see all that happens? The fact that he ahs set it at night makes it easier for H.G. Wells to create tension and suspense; he creates most of this through his use of shadows.
“…a shadow came sweeping up after me.” The personification of the shadows makes it sound like the narrator is again being chased in the castle by something unknown. The narrator also feels very nervous in the dark and this increases the tension.
“one could well understand the legends that had sprouted in its black corners, its germinating darkness…” The language in this sentence like, “germinating” and “sprouting” gives us the impression the darkness is somehow growing and engulfing the red room and the narrator. This type of language creates a lot of tension and suspense. Because it sounds like the darkness is overtaking him and this could result in something happening to him. The description also enables him to understand how the rumours in the red room could have started which makes him very nervous. Light and dark are obviously very symbolic, dark represents danger and the unknown whereas light means we are safe because we can see everything around us and it is harder to be fooled by noises or shadows in the light.
Tension and suspense were constantly created in The Red Room by H.G. Well’s using various techniques, the writer uses a lot of different techniques to keep the reader wondering and to make sure that tension and suspense are always present in the story. In my opinion there is no one technique which is used to greater effect than any other one. I think that they are all used in equally effective amounts and they all help to create suspense and tension.
