Through- out page 206 action is being released mainly again using short sentences, the writer is constantly using short then long this gives the sense of pace, as if the tension is rising and lowering. I feel this as it is like the way the young against the old which symbolises the inexperienced against the wise and relates to the tension within the story just like the sentences are longer and shorter.
The old Lady seems to be in a mind of her own in most parts especially when it says “with her eyes fixed steadily on the fire” this gives the reader a hint that she is dreaming or just generally mesmerized person who has a lot of stories to think about it gives a impression that she has led a long and enchanting life.
All the characters bar one all are silence; it is like they’re thinking of either bad/good times that had happened, maybe in the red room.
The main character at the start of page 207, just decided that he wants to visit “the red room” just to test for himself if the rumours of it being haunted are true. When he does he seems to be asking a lot of questions, I feel that the readers are getting frustrated why he is doing this. He probably is nervous and not sure whether to believe his companions in the same haunted room.
A release of anxiety is given when the narrator says “ close together, dark against the firelight” this seems also fearful as “dark” is used and the reader is feeling tension to read on it also gives a lot of imagery and fright.. The writer describes it as if it was a picture of the dark corridors and the suspense of what is going to happen beyond the suspicions of the elder people.
They as in the pensioners seem shocked as the man with the shade says “are you really going?”
This shows that he rest of the elderly people are feeling disbelief of the bravery that he is showing.
The narrator says,” whose charge her ladyship had left the castle” basically says that it is the old peoples job to check around the castle and mainly it seems the red room. The reader at this point could have been thinking why leave pensioners in charge of this castle? I feel that the writer meant this to happen so that it would give a bit more mystery to the story of this Red Room. Knowing that this is the gothic genre H G Wells really included all the conventions from it. For example “omens and witches” are mentioned. The writer is mentioning the supernatural, maybe because he is telling the reader that that is what lies ahead in the red room, but the reader finds that it is clever but at the same time is weird. The overall structure of this page 207 has mainly long sentences.
The reader now could be ready for something unexpected. As the reader continues to realise that gothic terms never really end they realise that the writer is creating tension and fear at the same time H G Wells uses adjectives such as “chilly and dusty” dusty to mean that as the castle is old and that it gives a feeling being dusty that no one has been there for a long time, also as the man is walking down the corridor in the story then leaving footprints in the dust could make it easier for something or someone to follow him which he believes is happening. In the same sentence it says “shadows cower and quiver” quiver gives a sense of movement and makes the reader feels as if there is someone else apart from this young man in the corridors , it sounds as if Wells is describing a dark scary night but all he is applying is the tenseness of the man walking down the “ subterranean passage” this gives off the feeling of anxiousness and a desperate need to find out what lies beyond that passage. The writer cleverly uses ways to still preserve and continues to give a gothic feeling he mentions “echoes” “shadows” it seems ironic how shadows are able to be shown when it is dark and gloomy. As he explains the affect of light the corridor he makes it sound beautifully illuminated by the moonlight instead of the expected scary dark passage ways with cobwebs defining that it is getting on- old. At this point there is hardly any tension just mainly imagery. For example, the writer mentions to moon and usually if it is dark with a moon people could think of a wolf howling this could be imagery and therefore gives out a sense of terror of lies beyond in the darkness A castle is such an appropriate location and here what we do not know is far more frightening than what we do know. A castle is a perfect example of what we do not know! It is full of rooms, corridors and stairs. As the story continues, the young man explores the castle on his journey to the red room. On route to the red room, he comes across what looks like a figure in front of him only to find it was an ornament of a Chinaman on a Buhl table. Then as he approaches the door to the red room, the tension builds and he enters very quickly closing the door behind him. He finds himself in a huge red walled room. As he continues to arrange the room, the tension is allowed to fall giving the reader a certain release. As he becomes more aware of the shadows in the room the tension rises again.
He seems to lock the door, be hide him he would not have done this if he had no means of escape. He mentions the young duke’s death, which makes the reader wonder whether he was scared to death or if there was actually something “tangible”, there.
"The shadow in the alcove at the end in particular had that indefinable quality of a presence, that odd suggestion of a lurking, living thing that comes so easily in silence and solitude."
Again, this shows us how darkness is far more frightening than being able to see and knowing what is there. Tension is built by how the young man expresses his feelings. To conquer his fear of the unknown the man places a candle in an alcove in the corner of the room.
Tension mounts as her begins talking to himself, but after listening to the eerie echoes, he gets more frightened than before. The tension increases now all the time. He is getting more nervous and he feels the need for more candles. He has to get some from the corridor and he lights them and places them around the room. His spirits lift but there is also tension created through his black humor. He may be watching what he describes as "cheery and reassuring little streaming flames," but he is getting nervous and he jokes about how he should warn any ghost about tripping over a candle on the floor.
Then it happens. The first candle goes out, casting a black shadow on the wall. The second candle goes out and the tension in the story is boosted as there is uncertainty about why the candle went out. Although the man does not feel any draft, he claims that it was a draft that blew it out. He tries to reassure himself by lying to himself although he has a deeper feeling that he may not be alone. He has to dismiss this from his mind otherwise he would become the victim of his own fears. As he goes over to re-light the candle, it goes out, then another and another. Then one is extinguished in front of him while he is looking at it.
Then gothic genre is mentioned for example “mystery” basically saying there is no meaning to what there was ahead of him. or “candle”. Candle is mentioned quite a lot and I think the writer does this to show so that there are only two sources of light and that both are low.
The light symbolizes the truth. Without light, there is no truth. If the light goes out he has no way of finding out what is in the red room. The darkness creates the tension and fear. In light, we can see but when it is dark we cannot see and therefore tension and fear is everywhere. When the man says that the shadows take another step towards him, he is saying that fiction is closing in on him and as it does, he is been drawn away from the truth. That is why he tries to get out.
When the narrator is in the room he feels that he wants to make sure that everything is to his liking “peering around each article of furniture” he is being quite nosey checking no one is there. The writer doesn’t explain why he does this, only the reader works out that to withhold a reason of explanation.
The structure of page 209 is almost one long paragraph just filled with plenty of commas. Hardly any punctuation is used; the writer has kept it simple. Half way down on page 209 a long sentence says “I pulled up the blinds…/before closing the shutters” this tells me that he wants to check to see if there is any other way bar the door that the ghost could get in.
Checking all round, I think he also does this to make sure that one of his fellow old friends doesn’t pay him a visit t scare him so that he would believe what they have said about it being haunted.
From what the text says and tells the reader about his comfort he still doesn’t really feel that he is welcome, as it says “no sort of comfort to me” he now feels a little more relaxed as earlier. After he had started lighting candles around the room for him to actually be able to see. He seems to no where exactly to put them I think this tells us that he is in a more nervous tension that ever before, it sounds as if he is waiting to be proven wrong about he rumours of the ghosts. Now I think the narrator feels that it is haunted and he is getting more nervous and scarred. “My first match would not strike”
Within the pages 210-211 I noticed there is a lot of an adjectives the writer is keeping to the basics of the story but including many hidden phases that needs a bit of thought on but once understood is clever. The structure seems shorter then other paragraphs, he doe this to create a mystery to the haunted room.
As more candles went out I think the narrator is going into more of an absent mind, more paranoid and worried. I can tell this as in the second paragraph it says “flame vanished…/thumb and finger” it is implying that the ghosts can touch make things move. You can tell that he is getting even more panicky and he says “queer high note in my voice” the narrator even says that he is “trembled so much that twice I missed”.
There is a lot more punctuation amongst these paragraphs. Exclamations marks have been used to create a sense of fear.
The writer still maintains the tension up until the old man wakes up, that is when the reader knows about the red room and doesn’t feel the urge to find out about it.
At the start of page 212 I notice that the paragraphs are getting longer as if the writer is trying to make time to go slower so the reader can be in more depth with the reading. Also in the room the writer makes it so the narrator Panic comes as the room plunges into shadows with him racing around trying to keep up with the candles as they go out. Approaching the epiphany, the tension is further highlighted, as the sentences become shorter. Clumsily he knocks his thigh against the table. His downfall begins. From here on he loses control. It is as if he is in sinking sand and the rope stopping him from sinking completely snaps. He loses his quest for the truth as he tries to light the fire with the last candle. He runs into something and knocks himself out. For me this is the epiphany.
Then there is a gap in time; tension starts to unwind slowly. He wakes up the next morning after being rescued at dawn by the old people. He personifies fear with the red room. He has had a fight with his fear and in the end his fear wins. For me, the red room symbolizes one's own fear. Nothing is actually in the room except what one believes is there.
I think the old people at this point all are in disbelief. The old woman has got involved in what is happening around her as if she just walked out from the picture perfect frame from the beginning when she was perfectly mesmerised. The old man and woman are desperate to find out what lies in the red room. So many questions are wondering the heads of the reader just like they would the others. One could be why does he have blood on him? They could think it is related to the escape of the Red Room.
The old man from the haunted room tells all of the candles and about how it is haunted. This might not create tension as much as it has done, but it is still vital to the reader as it is just concluding and outlines what tells us fear of anything can control the mind if we let it. The man in the story is brave as he does not believe the stories, but his fear seems to creep upon him in every second in the Red Room. When the narrator says “but” this gives suspense of what is in the room and what haunts it. As the old people says “well” they sound quite desperate as if they really want to know. I noticed fear is always used with a capital “F” making it the most important word in the play as that is what it was based on; it is also an important part of the gothic field. This could be H G Wells ways to maintain, create and release tension by using that punctuation.
On the very last sentence of the Red Room it mentions “sin”, but H G Wells hasn’t made anything happen to make it so evil in the first place.
The narrator is a lot different to normal people. He is young and has had a meaningless life so far or he would not be in the castle, is pointless.
I noticed that throughout the story one main prop has been used. In this story it is candles, I feel the writer has used candles throughout the story because it create maintains and releases a gothic genre to it. And the fear that surrounds all the paragraphs full of many verbs and adjectives such as “racing” gives the feeling of how his heart was beating when he was walking through the “chilly and dusty” corridors.
The tension in the story is mainly maintained using fear and the verbs for action and lots of descriptive words describing the dark corridors, which ends up in the Red Room. I feel the highest point of tension in the story is when the young man is about to enter the Red Room. Another way the H G Wells maintains and builds the tension is the structure, which is different all the way through it. At the beginning the structure begins with long paragraphs giving it a sense of pace which could mean that the writer wants the reader to read slower to make them suspicious of what is going to happen, also the story ends in the daylight this contrasts with the dark making the characters feel happier and like they have lived another night and finally their misunderstandings of The Red Room has ultimately been solved. In the middle H G Wells structures the paragraphs shorter and more descriptive. He does this to give a sense of sharpness and to give more mystery to the short story.
All in all I believe that H G Wells does maintain, create and release tension using different ways such as language devices like hidden metaphors and very strong imagery.
The overall structure has been planned according to the tension amongst the characters and storylines. The tension in the story is unknown is some places, in any passage relating to the unknown could build tension and in almost all passages it does.
In the story, the man has a revolver. This symbolises violence, which leads to conflict, and conflict builds to tension. Fire symbolises warmth and wards of the evil but the fear that was in the room with the young man it was like fear was another person , the using of capitals for that word fear , does to the reader symbolise it was like a person stalking the young man like the shadows that were in the story. The old people with disabilities symbolises the fear inside him and how he would not like to end his life. However, at the en, he does become like them, talking in there style about what had happened.
Without vocabulary for example adjectives and verbs etc, the Red Room wouldn’t make sense and the writer wouldn’t have produced such an outstanding gothic and fearful tale of The Red Room.
In my opinion using gothic genre and frightening things is what mainly creates the tension and as the gothic genre has been used all the way through this piece then H G Wells certainly created, maintained and released the tension of The Red Room and through-out keeps the attention span to it’s full, and that is what always makes a great short story.
By Verity Treverton-Jones 11e