The two stories are set in completely different locations. One, ‘The Judges House’, is situated in a very stereotypical location with its ‘fortified’ fences and high windows. And ‘The Signalman’ is set in an industrial area, on a railway cutting in the ‘darkness’, which has stereotypical elements such as it generally being set at night, however it is still not the kind of place you would expect a mystery story to be set. So ‘The Judges House’ is by far the most stereotypical as it has many of the conventions of a mystery story setting.
The choice of characters is important in both stories, the choice of characters helps build up the tension better where another character may not have done. A young character may enjoy being scared or may even be thrill seeking, this will give him lots of confidence against fear. An older man would be more scared however would have also have gained confidence throughout his years of life.
‘The Judges House’ has a young, budding character who wanted to be partially isolated from everyone ‘it certainly satisfied his wildest ideas regarding quiet’. This suggests that he has little fear as isolation would be daunting scary for a normal human being. Malcolmson could be described as a stereotypical young boy, who knows no fear. Even after the lady in the inn said ‘”Not in the Judge’s House!”’ Malcolmson still had the guts to stay in the house even after the lady had told him the horrifying chronicle about the Judge’s House ‘the abode of a judge who was held in great terror on account of his harsh sentences and his hostility to prisoners’. Malcolmson showed no fear however as the story progressed towards the end he started to realise his misjudgement, he is also unlikely to believe in the superhuman and therefore the possibility of the dead Judge coming back to haunt him , this is the mind of a mystery story stereotype. The fact that the rat turned into the Judge would not have been believable if you had of told Malcolmson beforehand.
‘The Signalman’ isn’t a very different type of character from Malcolm Malcolmson, he is confident and assured but he seems uneasy around the words ‘Halloa! Below there!’ this is due to something that has happened beyond his experience, we later find out that this was because he saw his own death although he thought he saw someone else dyeing. The Signalman seems a bit uneasy at points in the book for example at the start ‘instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about and looked down the Line’ this shows how the Signalman was a bit shaky around the visitor, in my opinion the visitor was the only burden of the Signalman. The Signalman obviously does believe in supernatural beings to some extent ‘"You had no feeling that they were conveyed to you in any supernatural way?"’ this suggests that the Signalman was worried about what he saw the last time someone shouted ‘Halloa! Below there!’. The emotions of the visitor change throughout the story when he first appears he says ‘"You look at me," I said, forcing a smile, "as if you had a dread of me."’ This makes the traveller look very calm and comfortable however at the end of the story the visitor says ‘”Ah”’ this is because he just found out that the phrase used by the train driver was the same as the dreaded phrase that the Signalman hated.
Malcolm Malcolmson, The Signalman and The Visitor are alike in someway for example their emotions change as the story progresses and thy usually start of confident however they later have a reality bite as they realise what is actually going on, this then makes them very scared. The Signalman is slightly different to Malcolmson and the Visitor he partially was scared all along, mainly of the visitor. Malcolmson is a stereotypical mystery story character as he is confident and throughout the story his emotions change.
‘The Judges House’ likes to explain the scenery around the characters as well as using small amounts of onomatopoeia to imitate sounds. For example when the narrator is describing the house he says ‘It was an old, rambling, heavy-built house of the Jacobean style, with heavy gables and windows, unusually small, and set higher than was customary in such houses, and was surrounded with a high brick wall massively built’ this puts a powerful image in your head on what the house actually looked like. The author does not use onomatopoeia too much but when he does it is used to describe the actions of the rats ‘and a squeak and a scamper followed’ this is really the only instance where the author uses onomatopoeia in the story. Sound is one of the big parts of the story as it describes the rats, which play a big part in the story, as the Judge evolves from one of them. ‘This evening the scampering of the rats began earlier’ this kind of phrase suggests that the rats are going to be key and this creates tension, it was primarily the noise of the rats the he could here until he saw the giant rat.
In ‘The Signalman’ I cannot find one instance in the whole story that uses onomatopoeia, he uses sound to describe only the bell and the way people are talking ‘It rings my little bell’ this is not describing the way it was ringing but it was the only example of sound being used to describe the scene in the story. The author is constantly using phrases such as ‘and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch’ this is a moving and powerful phrase it really gets you into the story and can even make you feel like you are there yourself. This kind of phrase is the roots of a story and really creates some atmosphere.
Both stories use the scenery to create atmosphere but I think that ‘The Judges House’ is better as it uses both the scenery and also sound to create an atmosphere, this is more stereotypical of a mystery story.
‘The Judges House’ has a very modern and simplistic sentence structure when compared with other stories from that period. The sentence length also changed during the build-up to the part where the judge appears, the length of the sentences shortens. ‘There was a singing in his ears.’ this is an example of a shorter sentence; they are effective during high tempo parts of a story as they get the point across quickly and sharply. The author also uses repetition to create suspense, for example the giant rat keeps on coming down from the bell rope, the first night the author used the phrase ‘For a while the rats disturbed him with their perpetual scampering’ then on the second ‘This evening the scampering of the rats earlier’ and then on the third night Malcolmson actually sees the rat ‘There, on the great old high-backed oak chair beside the fireplace sat this enormous rat’. This repetition builds up so that every night Malcolmson sees the rat, this gives you the impression that eventually this was going to lead to something. ‘The Judges House is full of similes and metaphors, ‘His eyes fairly glowed like hot coals’ this is a immense simile and it really gives a great description on what it was like there. As for adjectives I think laden is a simple yet effective adjective ‘the great alarm bell was laden with rats’ it is a good synonym for packed or loaded. ‘The Judges House’ uses adjective all over and there are hundreds in the story which are uses to build up tension and also help contribute towards the atmosphere of the story.
‘The Signalman’ uses a much more complex sentence structure to ‘The Judges House’ which makes it slightly harder to read, although the basic storyline is pretty easy to understand. ‘One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came; but, instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about and looked down the Line.’ this is an exceedingly long sentence which uses punctuation such as semi-colons to keep it going on, the last paragraph of the story is made up into one sentence. The author also builds up tension using repetition, where the ghost was ringing the signalman’s bell and the signalman kept going outside and looking into the tunnel, however the other man could not hear the bell ‘Did it ring your bell yesterday evening when I was were and you went to the door?’, this tells us that the other character couldn’t here the bell and gives the story a sense of mystery. ‘The Signalman uses few if any similes or metaphors, if this was included it could help create more of an atmosphere. The story does not use anywhere near as many adjectives as ‘The Judges House’ however as I have said before I like the phrase ‘and saw the wet stains stealing down the walls and trickling through the arch’ it doesn’t use powerful adjectives yet it is still a sentence that makes you feel uneasy.
‘The Judges House’ is by far the most stereotypical story as it uses lots of description using adjective and similes. This would also be the more modern story for me as it is written in a far easier style to understand than ‘The Signalman’
‘The Judges House’ ends in a very stereotypical way, with the protagonist in the story dying and the spirit or ghost in the story living on. I think the story ends in fictional terms as fairly realistic ‘here at the end of the rope of the great alarm-bell hung the body of the student, and on the face of the Judge in the picture was a malignant smile.’ It basically ended with the judge hanging the boy and a crowd rushing in but after the judge had turned back into a rat and reappeared in his picture on the wall.
‘The Signalman’ also ends in a very stereotypical way, the protagonist dying and the ghost getting away. I think that it ends in a slightly more realistic way than ‘The Judges House’, as the judge transforming to and from a rat made it slightly more unbelievable, the visitor in ‘The Signalman’ ends up in psychological breakdown because of the coincidence, or maybe not, of hearing the train driver say ‘Below there! Look out! Look out!’.
In conclusion I think that the writer who created the best mystery story was Bram Stoker, ‘The Judges House’. I think this because it is more stereotypical and includes more of the elements of a good mystery story. I think that it used writing techniques effectively such as repetition, and I also think it is very descriptive in its use of similes and adjectives.
