The interior settings play a significant part in most of the stories. The man with the twisted lip, there is an opium den. This sets the scene to a dark and gloomy setting, just as the authors did with the exterior setting. The authors are always using dark and gloomy symbolism. The opium den is described as ‘gloomy’, ‘dark’ and ‘black shadows’. This gets you on the edge, and you want to read on. In comparison to The Red Room which uses shock and surprise. Where it says ‘the young duke had died’, it goes on to say, ‘headlong down the steps’. This immediately shocks you because it is such a horrific death. This therefore is a very important part of the setting. In addition, when the candles start to go out, the character panics. The writer uses phrases such as ‘suddenly went out’, ‘black shadow sprang back to its place’ and ‘darkness was there.’ This excites the reader, and you want to read on. Also the writer uses short, sharp sentences to emphasise the panic and terror, which the character is feeling.
Also the sub characters help to portray the eeriness of the story. In The Red Room, there is a man with a ‘withered arm’, and another with ‘decaying yellow teeth’. To the reader this is a very unpleasant and sickening thought. The people who spread the myth of The Red Room help to give out a horrific feeling to the story. In The man with the twisted lip, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle describes the people in the opium den as ‘bodies’, not as people. This shows that he does not see the ‘bodies’, as humans. He only looks at them as ‘bodies’, and nothing more.
In addition some stories use isolation or the unfamiliarity of the main character, with the setting, such as The Signalman. This uses isolation, ‘solitary’, ‘lonesome’ and ‘shut up’. These quotes all support the view of isolation. Also in a way Isaac Scratchard was isolated, from a social life. He was 38 years old and living with his mum. He never had ‘a sweetheart’. In his neighbourhood, his nickname was ‘Unlucky Isaac’. This clearly backs up the idea that he didn’t have a social life. In The man with the twisted lip, Watson finds himself in the opium den. This is very unusual because he had never been there before. Even more surprisingly, he discovers Sherlock Holmes is there as well. Holmes and Watson were surprised to see each other. ‘I was certainly surprised to see you here.’ Watson said to Holmes.
‘But no more so than I am to find you.’ Holmes replied. With them being partners, you would have expected them to know what each other was doing.
All of the stories were pre 1914, and appealed to a contemporary audience, such as The Signalman. In the 1860’s the railway was a new invention, and for Charles Dickens to use this, mixing it with supernatural activities, was for a contemporary audience. Also The man with the twisted lip, written in 1891, the author chose to base the story in the same streets which were used by Jack The Ripper in 1888. This therefore would have appealed to contemporary audience, rather than an audience of this time.
To conclude, I believe that all of the authors were successful in bringing suspense to the storyline. They did this by using the words in the right places and the right times. Also the words that they chose, all add up to making each story exceptional at what it was trying to accomplish.
