“The signal man” was written in the time of the cutting edge technology of the industrial revolution in the time of the creation of the steam train and the last decade of queen Victoria’s reign. In the 18th century there was a great vogue for short stories that included the supernatural and other genres like who dunnit’s etc. In the 1860’s technology was at the peak of its development so the train station and the signal box were great settings for this story. “The red room” is the most recent of the three stories. The setting of this story is primitive as it is a story of fear and classical horror e.g. ghosts, shadows and owls. Again in this story the element of the unknown plays a great part in this story to add suspense. The man with the twisted lip is one of the many stories from Sherlock Holms as there was a great vogue for short stories and Sherlock Holmes was a legend for creating great short crime stories so this story was a big hit in the short story market. This story took place in real location in central London in the time of queen Victoria’s reign and the time of Jack the Ripper causing gruesome crimes so Sherlock Holmes had a great context and ides for his crime stories.
‘The Signalman’ setting effects are very unique in terms of setting and atmosphere Charles Dickens uses a lot of effects to create this supernatural atmosphere that is link with the natural world. He does this by creating images of the setting as hellish surroundings e.g. the mouth of the tunnel was like a deep clammy and precipitous entrance. What Charles Dickens was doing here is creating a normal natural sight into a supernatural sight. “A rough zigzag descending path …” cutting was extremely deep and usually precipitous this quote is referring this place as a dangerous steep descendant leaving the natural world. Narrator descends “through a clammy stone that became oozier and wetter as it went down. This is referring that this is a repellent dank and wet thermal and tactile images that are creating an unpleasant impression. The other direction “a gloomy red light and the gloomy entrance to a black tunnel” this is referring that the tunnel is a mouth to the entrance of hell. All these effects add to the atmosphere in terms of the natural and supernatural and natural adding together.
‘The Red Room’ was written in time 1890’s where superstition played a great part in many upon the civilisation of London’s minds, and the castle Lorraine was unheard of so this was a great location obscurity to write a story about the investigation of the underworld in a haunted house. The effects that are created scary and queer effects that has a tint of from the truth. “ The long draughty subterranean passage was chilly and dusty, and my candle flared and made the shadow cower and flicker” this clearly quote clearly shows my point about obscuring the truth it does it by a long-winded description of an area with an intention of adding fear and queerness to create product supernatural effect. “I put down my empty glass on the table and looked about the room and caught a glimpse of myself, abbreviated and broadened to an impossible sturdiness, in the queer old mirror” the same type of effect are created the mirror is used to create a supernatural feeling to the passage.
The way that ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ created an atmospheric setting is the idea hiding and obscurity. Also idea of blending the surroundings in this story played a great part in this story e.g. the opium den was the blending between the underworld and the upper world of London, this was because the rich and the poor came to buy opium of the den. “The hour when a man gives his first yawn at the glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work down in her lap”... “ Others talked together in a strange low monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own thoughts”. This is how the man with the twisted lip created effects that contributes to the atmospheric setting.
The way that these stories similarly create effects that contributes to the atmosphere is by the idea of the element of unknown this skill is used in many genres e.g. horror, mystery, supernatural and crime stories from ever since stories where written.
