The minor characters in Judge’s House also play an important part. In this story there is a strong contrast between the minor characters. Mrs Dempster is the voice of logic and reason as she tells Malcolm that there are no “bogies” in the Judge’s house. “Bodies is all sorts of things except bogies!”
“I tell you, and bogies is rats and don’t you get to think anything else.”
Then there is Mrs Witham who is a strong believer in the paranormal and lets us know about the history of the house, she tries to warn Malcolm from staying in the Judge’s house. “Not in the Judge’s house!”
In the other story I read called The Red Room there are many likenesses with the characters in Judge’s house. The protagonist is once again a sceptic and a stranger to the place where the story is set. Even at the end of the story when he has been badly injured and nearly killed in the Red Room he still says that the only thing that haunts the Red Room is the fear of the people who stay in it.
“Eight and twenty years I have lived and never a ghost have I seen as yet.”
“And that is, in all its nakedness – fear!”
The minor characters in this story are all believers in the stories of what has happened in the Red Room and believe that a ghost haunts it although they are not agreed on who the ghost is. They give the main character many warnings about staying in the Red Room. The minor characters are very old which may represent wisdom or knowledge; also some of the minor characters have disabilities.
“It’s you own choosing, said the man with the withered arm”
“This night of all nights?”
The third story I read was The Signalman. In this story the main character is once again a stranger to the area and does not know the other man whom he meets. The other main character in this story is the man who works at the railroad; he brings a real sense of mystery and suspense to the story.
The location of the places in the mystery stories are very important as they can create tension and set the scene for the rest of the story. In The Judge’s house the location is very important. It is set in a small, rural village in a large, old, detached house. The location is very isolated which mean that there is no chance of the protagonist receiving help if he is in trouble, this adds suspense.
“Desolation is the only suitable term conveying any suitable idea of its isolation.”
In The Red Room we once again find an isolated location. The house that the Red Room is in is far away from any other houses and the Red Room itself is isolated from the other parts of the house.
“I shut them in and walked down the chill, echoing passage.”
Then in Signalman the hut from which the railroad worker operates is very desolate. This adds to the mystery of the story, as nobody else is there to see this figure beside the light.
“This was a lonesome post to occupy.”
Another pattern I have noticed is that the places in the stories all have bad histories behind them. In Judge’s house the evil Judge has wrongfully hanged many people.
“Not the Judge’s house.”
In the Red Room many people have died and the old people in that story feel that those who died still haunt the room.
“The tale of the timid wife and the tragic end that came to her husband’s jest of frightening her.”
In Signalman a terrible accident had occurred at the post where the railway worker operates.
“The memorable accident on the line happened.”
As with the other elements of the stories I have looked at the are many similarities between the plots of the different stories I have read. In all the stories I have read darkness is used to represent something sinister or unknown. In The Judge’s house the rat will only come out at night. The rat is a representation of evil in the story, we know this because of the way the rat is described and the fact that the only book that hits it is the Bible.
“The rat with the Judge’s baleful eyes.”
In The Red Room we see a case of pathetic fallacy, this is where the weather reflects what is happening in the story. For example if there is a storm then something bad may be about to happen. Also in The Red Room repetitiveness is used to emphasise points.
“It’s your own choosing,” is repeated twice by the old man and, “This night of all nights,” is repeated many times by the old woman. This shows us just how strongly the minor characters believe in the supernatural. Another main feature is that The Red Room and The Signalman are written in the first person narrative. The only problem with this is that we know that the author must survive which takes away from the suspense.
At the time when these stories were written mystery stories were very popular. Many people around this time believed in the supernatural, I feel that this makes the stories more enjoyable as the authors really believed about what they were writing. This was also around the time of Jack the Ripper and Sherlock Holmes. I have enjoyed these stories, as they are short but still full of description and suspense.
