The man is warned by three other characters who are frightened of the room. They are old which usually means that they are more experienced and know what they are talking about as opposed to a twenty eight year old know-it-all. So when they tell him to be careful and tell him that it is "his own choosing" it makes the reader afraid that they might be right as they have been living in the house for far longer than this man has. The elderly characters have upsetting appearances. For example, one of the men has ' a withered arm'. It is as if they all suffered from something unknown, or that the fear has, and still is taking their life away. Not only is the setting frightening, but the other characters are too.
At the end of the story each elderly person tells the narrator who they suspect is the ghost of the Red Room. The old lady thinks it is "the poor young countess who was frightened". The man with the withered arm thinks it is the "old earl", and finally the man whose eyes are under a shade, knew it was Fear. The fear in the story is characterized as a shadow, darkness and terror. This idea plays on our primitive anxieties about darkness and the unseen.
Throughout the story, there is a strong sense of mystery. There are so many aspects of the story that are unidentified. The reader does not know the names of the characters, the plot of the story, who or what is haunting the room or what makes the candles go off. All of this ambiguity creates more fear for the reader. It is one thing to be scared of a big monster, who can be controlled, and quite another to be terrified of a shapeless, nameless, unseen spirit.
This unidentified shadow scares the man. When he enters the room he arranges seventeen candles so "not an inch of the room but had direct light of at least one of them". After he lights these candles he feels more at ease as there are fewer shadows, fewer unknown corners, and, therefore, less fear.
Given that the house and room are so silent, it is natural to be particularly aware of the sounds. But being more aware and more attentive denote fear. When you're afraid, you get the adrenaline rush making you faster, more wary, and on edge. The twenty eight year old man hears everything around him, and notices little things, like how there is no dust on the floor of the room.
The setting of the story is in a very desolate house, with only three old people living in it. The man refers to the "absolute silence" more than once. It gives the reader an eerie, creepy impression of the house. It appears deserted. The fact that two people died in the Red Room, is not a pleasant thought and makes the reader more frightful. On his journey to the red room he comes across figure that turns out to be a china ornament. The corridor that leads to the Red Room is narrow, and closed. There are no windows, or any form of escape. This is daunting because there is no way to flee. Having a frigheting setting that Frankenstein is set in Inglostadt, Dracula in Transylvania. Both of these stories have the indefiniteness. Neither specify where in Inglostadt, or in which region of Transylvania. In "The Red Room" the reader is oblivious to where this haunted house is.
The story is set at night. Night time is always more frightening than day. At night it is when predators go out to hunt, it is when there is no light, and when everyone is asleep. Night time is a classic time to set a story. It is linked with creatures such as werewolves and vampires. It is no surprise that H.G.Wells chose to set his story at night. This is a standard gothic element that is present in Frankenstein and Dracula, two of the earliest examples of gothic horror.
After reading this story, I see that the greatest method H.G.Wells used to create fear is the unknown. When the reader does not know, they do not know what to expect, and therefore think up their own version of the worst that could happen. In 'The Red Room' nothing really attacks the man, nothing comes out of the darkness, it is just because he does not know what is going to happen, does not know what to expect that he becomes afraid, and starts hurting himself trying to keep the room alight.
