How do the writers create episodes of fear and horror in Pre-20th century stories?
The Pre-20th century horror stories include: “A Terribly Strange Bed” by Wilkie Collins, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Arthur Conan Doyle, and “The Sea-Raiders” by H.G. Wells. These stories are similar in many ways but also have their differences; mainly the type of fear they generate. “The Sea-Raiders” tends to draw on a fear of the unknown and it has a more grotesque approach with the creatures, but a “Terribly Strange Bed” makes you feel scared because you are not sure who is doing this to you and if it’s really happening, as the mechanism of the bed is very fiendish. Similar to “The Sea-Raiders”, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is also a fear of the unknown as it is a mystery, but it also creates an episode of horror because the two of the characters are sitting in the dark and there have already been previous murders. The main emotions generated in all three stories is fear and horror but it is perhaps a different type of horror we are used to today, as all the stories are set in around 1880, even though you feel that some of the events could still occur now.
“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” (by Arthur Conan Doyle) is a classic Sherlock Holmes murder-mystery story. In this episode, Mr Holmes is visited by a young Julia Stoner who tells him of a series of cryptic happenings, which includes her dear sisters’ murder, at the time of some unnecessary construction. Julia now fears for her own life, so Mr Holmes and Dr Watson immediately take refuge in her room to decipher the low whistling that can be heard during the night. After sitting in a darkened room for hours, our mystery is solved. It is revealed to be a poisonous snake, controlled by Julia’s step-father’s whistle. Unfortunately for Julia’s step-father (but fortunately for us) his plans are overthrown by Sherlock Holmes’s skills as a detective, and in the end his own snake kills him.
The fear produced by this story is physical as well as mental as it is written in first person (it is an account from Dr Watson.) Therefore you can put yourself in his position: you are able to see what he can see and feel what he feels. For that reason you can empathise with him whereas if it was written in third person you would feel more detached and not feel as much emotion. The darkness creates a very prominent atmosphere and effect on the scene. “The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness”. Vision is one of our most needed senses and without it we feel vulnerable and panicky, which is just what Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are feeling, especially as they do not know what they are waiting for. “I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of breath, and yet I knew that my companion sat open-eyed within a few feet of me”. This quotation shows the complete darkness they were surrounded by; it was so dark that Dr Watson could not recognise his surroundings. The utter silence that is also in the room and is mentioned in the quotation makes the scene even more unpleasant; darkness and silence combined can create a ghastly effect: you have no idea of what is going on around you and your mind can start to play tricks on you, a very psychological fear is involved in this story. The physical fear involved is triggered by the snakes; especially for people who dislike them anyway. The imagery used considering the snake is very vivid and as the story is written in first person it makes it even more powerful. The thought of a snake sliding down onto a bed is a terrifying one, especially in the dark, when you are not fully aware. The change of pace makes the scene very compelling and makes the change of pace from slow to quick very noticeable. To show the slow pace Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses repetition of the word ‘and’ when describing how slowly Dr Watson feels time is passing, from the repetition you can tell how long he has been waiting. “Twelve o’ clock, and one, and two, and three.” As it is so slow you can tell something dramatic is about to happen. The author has drawn out the scene to make such a large build-up, and then the pace changes so quickly with just one word: ‘suddenly’. The pace and the scene is completely turned around from slow and uneventful to quick and full of activity and movement. The words the author uses can be quite ironic sometimes, especially when describing the sound of the snake: “a small jet of steam escaping continually”. Many ‘s’ sounds and words are used, which, (without saying so) sounds like a snake’s hiss. They are very sinister, but at this time the narrator and readers still do not know what they are hearing. At one point the writer uses adverbs to make a dramatic scene even more powerful. The adverbs “lashed furiously” are used in the most pivotal and climatic point in the whole scene and they make it even more so because it describes how he is doing something that is powerful anyway and we still do not know what it is he is “lashing”. Many adjectives are also used to describe a yell of pain in much more detail. “A hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in one dreadful shriek.” This yell sounds much more scary and terrifying because it is described in so much detail and many emotions are put into this one sudden sound. Arthur Conan Doyle has used many of the normal horror conventions (darkness, silence) and also many adverbs and adjectives to make a scene or sentence more dramatic and alarming.
