In Prince Prospero’s castle there are 7 rooms of 7 different colours; the first was all blue, second was all purple, third was all green, fourth was all orange, the fifth was all white, sixth was all violet and the seventh being different was black but had scarlet windows! The number seven is relevant as it may remind the reader of many mystical things such as the seven deadly sins, seven stages of man or the creation of the world which happened in seven days. Poe may have used this number to bring all these relevant effects into mind as the reader is reading about the rooms. Its is even more relevant when at the end Prince Prospero dies is the seventh room, which may be linked to the idea of the seven stages of man; from birth to death!
None of the 7 apartments had any light just the tripod which stood in the corridors opposite each window and ‘glaringly illumined the room’. The seventh room had images of black and red so could be linked to the idea of death, which is symbolic as the main theme of the story is the idea of escaping death. However in Prince Prospero’s castle he has an element of death which is shown as the last room!
Another symbol is the giant ebony clock in the seventh room, which is a personified throughout the story – ‘from the brazen lungs of a clock’ and ‘the voice of the clock’. The clock symbolises death and throughout the story it reminds the readers that death is near and yet again the idea of not being able to escape death is bought it.
In all Poe has been successful in being able to create a gothic atmosphere in aid of the influential language, setting, lighting and the use of the colour red and black, which in the story symbolises death. Using the powerful language he was able to play with the readers mind and fright them when the mysterious figure arrived unknowingly into the castle. The atmosphere throughout the story was dark and fearful which would have left the readers frightened.
‘The Signalman’ by Charles Dickens was set in the Victorian times, the era of the steam trains, in an isolated railway cutting. It is about how a signalman twice sees a spectre before a major accident. A man passes the cutting and the signalman mistakes him to be the spectre. He confides in the narrator (the passing man) who in turn suggests that they were just coincidence. In the end, it is clear that the spectre was warning the signalman of his own death which occurred while he was working near the tunnel.
Down below the drop of the cutting there are railway tracks and a hut, where the feeling of isolation is felt strongly. Both ends of the cutting is covered by the nothingness of the tunnels, never is there much light but at the night all is dark. Eerie noises can be heard and terrifying shadows are cast giving the reader a feeling of a deadly end!
Dickens, like Poe, uses strong language throughout the story, causing the readers mind to be able to imagine the setting and therefore scaring them like intended. ‘On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky’ this phrase gives the reader the impression of no way out, it’s almost like hell.
Continuously throughout the story the colours red and black, like the masque of the red death, is mentioned creating suspense and establishing the atmosphere of death! The red is shown through the danger light, which when flashes builds up tension within the reader; the black is all throughout the story which is shown through the darkness that covers the cutting!
In addition Dickens over emphasises on how dark and deep the cutting is, this is important as it helps to create an atmosphere and what's more creates tension within the reader. However unlike in ‘the masque of the red death’ the darkness and shadows is created naturally which again adds to the tension and building up of the atmosphere. Furthermore the drop of the cutting helps to establish how dark it must really be down near the hut, and it also helps the reader to understand how isolated the signalman must be.
Charles Dickens has been very successful in creating the appropriate atmosphere needed; he used complex words which built up the imagery in the readers mind. He builds up tension throughout the story by the use of long sentences, personified words and the use of strong language. By emphasising the darkness and how deep the cutting is, it makes the reader get the image of hell and gets them to understand how it feels being detached from reality.
‘The Red Room’ by H.G. Wells, is based in a castle, where the ‘Red Room’ is said to have a ghost’s presence init. The narrator is trying to persuade the three old people to let him stay in the room for one night to be able to prove that there is no ghost and that it is all a myth. After much debate, the old people give in and the narrator is shows to the red room. When inside the room, the narrator tries to cover the room in light, however, soon the candles one by one blow out and when it is relighted in would go out again. The narrator becomes frantic and soon out of fear is unconsciousness. When woken he says that fear is the reason why everything happened in the room, it is all to do with the mind playing games!
The castles long, subterranean passage led the narrator to an isolated part of the castle where the red room was. The passage was dark and shadowy, ‘chilly and dusty’. Metaphor is used when the author is describing the path ‘a shadow came sweeping up after me, and one fled before me…’ However the use of colours, ‘…Vivid black shadow…silvery illumination…’ helps create a broad image of the passage.
Darkness again is emphasised, like in the signalman, the corridors leading to the red room were dark apart from the ‘moonlight, coming in by the great window on the grand staircase’, and the room is also so dark that the narrator’s candle ‘failed to pierce the opposite end of the room…’ The darkness creates a mystery of the room and intrigues the reader to go on. The spooky description on the red room helps the readers to imagine the eerie atmosphere.
In ‘The Red Room’, the title itself has the colour red init, which makes the reader think of unpleasant events to do and in addition echoes the event that happened in the red room of the story. Black is bought into the story through the darkness both in the passage and in the room itself.
H.G Wells has been successful in being able to create an appropriate atmosphere by the use of his powerful language creating many strong images in the reader’s mind, which is an aid to helping them understand the setting and environment of the story.
In a gothic horror story it is very important for the right atmosphere to be created in order to get the reader to feel scared and to have the build up of tension. In each of these three stories just that has been done, with the use of colour, complex language, strong imagery and lighting the reader is able to feel the steady build up of anxiety and fear as they read through the stories.
Fear is present in all three stories which is a key element to any gothic story; this is because when fear is present within the reader’s mind, it helps to build the tension as only a reader knows what they are scared of so within the darkness they see their own fear.
Lastly what is also reflected in the three gothic stories is the Victorian attraction to the idea of superstition and the impossibility of ever knowing what is real, making the reader make up their own mind about the mystery that surrounds the setting.
