This makes us wonder whether he is the cause of her fear. But no details of the mystery have been revealed. The next interesting tension builder is the fact that her sister died two years ago. This builds tension as Helen says that her sister’s death is the reason that she wants to talk to Holmes. This is obviously relevant to the story so it makes the reader wonder what has happened to the sister and also builds up tension and mystery. Also, Helen starts filling in more details which make the story much more mysterious, “heard a low clear whistle” and also “We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked”. To add to the mystery we are told that the sister shrieked out, “Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!” This makes us wonder what this band is and adds greatly to the mystery
The plot unravels and we are kept reading, as the mystery isn’t revealed until the very end. The story uses some smaller encounters to heighten the tension, such as the first encounter with Dr. Roylott (Helens father). This encounter sees Dr. Roylott trying to intimidate Holmes. “See that you keep yourself out of my grip,”
Another encounter is with the baboon in the garden of the mansion. The setting here also contributes to the tension, as it is night time and the main characters shouldn’t be there. “What seemed to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself on the grass with writhing limbs, and then ran swiftly across the lawn into darkness.” This creates a brief moment of tension, and the reader wonders what this monstrosity is. It is encounters like this that are used to build up tension. They are small areas of action within the plot, designed to keep the reader interested and also to build up the main plot. The tension is also built up through dialogue, in what Holmes says to Watson
“Do not go to sleep; your very life may depend on it. Have your pistol ready in case we should need it.” The dialogue is used like this to create a feeling of apprehension. The reader wants to know why Watson is ordered not to go to sleep.
Another way in which tension is built up is at the end, with the description of Dr. Roylott. This builds tension, as every feature of him is described, starting from the feet, moving slowly up the body describing what Roylott is wearing. This creates tension, as the reader is reading this description thinking what could have happened to Roylott. When the description reaches the head, we find out what has happened to Roylott. When we find out what has happened to Roylott, all the tension in the story is dispelled and Holmes explains what has happened.
The setting in The Speckled Band contributes to the mystery and the gothic style of the story. Most of the action takes place at night, in the mansion. The perimeter walls of the mansion have “unrepaired breaches”. This makes the reader think that the mansion is in a state of disrepair. Also, a “dark road” led them up to the mansion. Descriptions of the setting are used to build the tension and the mysterious feeling of the place. In this story, darkness is used as a setting for all of the mysterious events that take place. Also the room, in which Holmes and Watson must stay the night in, is dark. “We must sit without a light”. The setting of darkness creates more fear and tension than daytime.
In The Red Room tension is built up, first by a dialogue between the strange old people who live in the house and the main character. “Eight-and-twenty years, I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen yet”, “Eight-and-twenty years you have lived and never seen the likes of this house, I reckon.” The reader wonders what this ghost is like; if indeed there is a ghost. These are elements of mystery and intrigue, which build upon the tension in the story. Also the old people themselves are mysterious and have strange disfigurements. “The man with the withered arm”. When another old person enters the room, he is described in detail;
“He supported himself by a single crutch, his eyes were covered by a shade, and his lower lip, half averted, hung pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth.”
This man appears strange and the man with the withered arm “gave this newcomer a short glance of positive dislike” the reader wonders why this dislike is there. Suspense in The Red Room is mainly built up by description, whereas in The Speckled Band a lot of tension is built up through dialogue. The Red Room is very descriptive as, for most of the time, the narrator is on his own. Most of the tension is built up through description and the sentences are generally extended, to fit the descriptive words that have been used within the story.
The dialogue at the beginning though, does help build up the mystery and tension surrounding the castle. When the narrator wants to go to the haunted room, the old woman keeps on saying, “This night of all nights!” This adds to the mystery of the whole story.
Tension is also built on during the narrator’s journey to the red room, “its shadow fell with marvellous distinctness upon the white panelling and gave me the impression of someone crouching to waylay me. I stood rigid for half a minute perhaps.” This encounter makes the reader tense and makes the reader wonder what will happen next.
When the narrator reaches the red room and goes into it, he is at first comfortable. This is a ploy the writer has to lure the reader into a false sense of security. Suddenly, tension rises here as the writer describes what is happening in the room. The narrator is being deprived of light, and being plunged into darkness. This causes quite a lot of fear and tension as the reader wants the narrator to get out of the room. This is effective as the darkness creates tension, both with the character and the reader.
The setting in The Red Room contributes to the effects of tension and mystery, as it set in a large castle, in which most of the room are deserted. Also the whole story is set at night so the ordeal has a lot more tension. There are shadows, which look like other things. “Its shadow fell with marvellous distinctness upon the white panelling and gave me the impression of someone crouching to waylay me.” Another point is the corridors, “The long, draughty, subterranean passage was chilly and dusty, and my candle flared and made the shadows cower and quiver.” This corridor builds on tension as the writer describes it, and it is a feature of gothic writing.
The mysterious element isn’t built up much in The Red Room, as the genre is a ghost story. This means that most of the writer’s time is devoted to creating tension and fear in the reader. The mystery in this story is about what is in the red room.
The tension is built up mainly through dialogue in The Speckled Band, whereas in The Red Room the tension is built up mainly through description. Even though these are the main ways, The Speckled Band does use description, but is not as reliant on it as The Red Room. The same also applies to The Red Room as it does use dialogue, but doesn’t rely on it as much as The Speckled Band does. Also, the setting of The Red Room is much more important to the story than the setting of The Speckled Band. The derelict castle in The Red Room is central to the story, as it has long corridors, deserted rooms and a haunted room. In The Speckled Band the mansion is quite central to the plot, because it was the site of the murder, but the setting in general doesn’t help build the feeling of tension as the setting of The Red Room.
Both stories build up tension in slightly different ways. This is to be expected as the stories are of different genres. Neither of these stories have drastically different ways of building up tension. Though The Red Room doesn’t build up mystery as much as The Speckled Band does. The Speckled Band is far more mysterious than The Red Room as the genre of The Speckled Band demands that it is mysterious.
