The inside of the castle is said to be big as it has many doors and lots of staircases e.g. “you come to a door, and through that is a spiral staircase and halfway up that is a landing and another door covered with baize. Go through that and down the long corridor to the end, and the red room is on your left up the steps”. This explains that the house is vast and very big and that it takes a little bit of time to go to a certain part of the castle. Also it describes the passage which leads to the red room as being “subterranean”. This explains that the passage is underneath the castle explaining that the castle is big. The passage is also described as “the echoes rang up”. This explains that the castle is big enough to transmit echoes everywhere.
The time of day “The Monkey’s Paw” is set is at night e.g. “the night was cold and wet”. This time of day is typical in this sort of story because night represents shadows, fear, darkness as well as the things lurking at night. This adds to the level of tension by making the reader feel that at night lots of terrifying events occur. This is important because the time of day is an important bit in a horror story and this makes the story more intimidating adding more to the tension.
The time of day is set and night as it says in the text “this nights of all nights". This explains that the time of the day in the castle is at night. It also says “if you go to the red room tonight-“. This also explains that the time of day is set at night. I also notice that the old lady repeated “this nights of all nights" but they are spoken differently. The first quote is said with an exclamation showing that she is warning him and that today is a bad night however when she repeats it she asks it as a question and this shows she is curious whether the character will actually accomplish what he wants to do. The narrator also says in the text “If I see anything tonight”. This shows that the time of day is at night as he is speaking in the present tense and that night is now.
Pathetic fallacy is used in “The Monkey’s Paw” when it says in the text “the night was cold and wet”. This describes the weather as being wet and the human nature as feeling cold. Also it says “brightness of the wintry sun” which describes the pleasant morning in the story and that the weather is sunny. This adds to the level of tension in the story because the night creates frightening thoughts and it is a bit strange for the sun to be in a horror story causing suspense and making them wonder why anything bad has not occurred yet. The second quote is a bit strange because of the language calling the sun “wintry” because the sun is hot and light is shone whereas winter is cold and dark. I think the reason why the author has used this word is because he wants to add to the tension by making the reader feel that even though the sun is out something bad will happen.
Pathetic Fallacy in “The Red Room” is also used as it says in the text “its black corners, its germinating darkness”. This describes that the room is dark and is growing like a seed around him making him feel scared. This adds to the level of tension by making the dark seem petrifying the reader feel that the darkness is growing as it is alive. This affects the language because the darkness does not “germinate” and only seeds do this when they are changing into a plant. The author is describing the darkness and developing like a seed and growing.
Isolation is used in “The Monkey’s Paw” because in the text it says “that’s the worst out of living so far out”. This explains that the surroundings where the family live is isolated and away from civilization. It also says in the text when the father complains “out of the way places to live”. This explains to the reader that they are living away from people and that they are living with nobody to talk to and have pleasure with someone else’s company other than themselves. This is typical of a ghost story because it makes the surroundings more chilling because of them being by themselves and when help is needed they have no one to aid them so it makes the horror of the story be able to make the family scared. This adds to the level of tension by making it more unnerving and for the reader to feel afraid.
Isolation in “The Red Room” is quite different from “The Monkey’s Paw” because the character is in a castle which has its own grounds, pathways and a very big garden. It says in the text “grand staircase”. This explains that the castle is big and the staircase is huge and that there is more than one. This is typical of a horror story because a castle has many hidden secrets inside it and that can be haunted and anything could be lurking in any of the rooms as well as something arriving or moving around outside or come inside. This adds to the tension immensely because it makes the reader wonder what is so distressing about a room that is said to be haunted and scary and they know that a castle is big and alarming and that many events have taken place there. The settings are similar in a way because they are both set at night as well as being isolated from civilization and that they are also 19th century stories.
The language used in “The Red Room” is archaic which is language that is old. It says in the text “eight-and-twenty years”. Nobody says in the modern world says their age like that so it shows that the language is old. When the narrator first speaks he says “it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me”. The word “tangible” is used and this word is not used that much in the modern world showing that the word is an old word. The author also creates suspense by using repetition for example “It is your own choosing”. The old man uses this type of language and warns the man not to enter the red room. He is leaving the decision to him.
The author has used various terms to portray the old pensioners in the story by calling them “grotesque custodians”, “decaying”, “withered”, “pale” and “wrinkled”. These words are associated with inhuman beings and make the old people appear old. He has also used many metaphors and similes such as “it was like a ragged storm cloud sweeping out the stars”. It describes the feeling of the man being afraid as if a storm was coming towards him to hurt him. He also used “darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye, crushed the last vestiges of reason from my brain”. The author has made this sound as if the man is close to death and “crushing the vestiges of my brain” indicates that he is on the verge of losing all of his thoughts.
H.G.Wells has created a sense of chilling atmosphere by using these types of words. These words add to the tension by making the story seem old as well as making it more realistic.
The language in “The Monkey’s Paw” is old fashioned and strange as it says “without the night was cold” or “father and son were at chess”. Normally people would say that it was cold outside and father and son were playing chess. W.W.Jacobs I think has deliberately used old fashioned language to make the story old and weird. Before the character of sergeant-major arrives at the house the atmosphere in the room was calm and soothing as the author used words such as “soothingly” , “hospitable” , “brightly” and “condoled”. It shows that the house was at peace and nothing bad was happening. However when the sergeant-major does arrive the atmosphere is instantly changed as words such as “hastily” , “hush” , “presumptuous” and “magic”. These words tell the reader that what the guest is going to say is not good and that it fills the reader with suspense.
The language is similar because they are both written in old language and powerful vocabulary has been used by each other writers.
The characters in “The Red Room” are the three old people and the young man. The three old people cause the reader to be afraid of them because of their actions and their body features for example “the man with the withered arm”, “the man with the shade” and “her pale eyes wide open”. These show that they are disabled and have problems. They also speak in an unfriendly manner to the man and each other for example “the man with the withered arm gave this newcomer a short glance of dislike” and to the man he says” It’s your own choosing”. They cause the reader to feel that they are terrifying and that they raise the suspense and the tension of the story by warning the man over and over and try to dissuade the man from going into the room e.g. “ this nights of all nights “ trying to make the man feel scared. Even though the reader does not find what is so bad about this night they know that it is a warning.
The old people affect the reader by making the reader feel uncomfortable in why they are unfriendly to each other and the man and they are trying to dissuade the man from going to the red room. The atmosphere they make is frightening “A monstrous shadow of him crouched upon the wall”. This makes the reader feel that the old people are trying to make the man feel scared. The man also describes them as “the three of them made me uncomfortable”. This explains that they are frightening him.
The man describes their way of speech and their clothes as “they seem to belong to a different age” and “an age when things were spiritual were different from this of ours”. He describes their clothes as “the cut of their clothing, fashions born in dead brains”. This explains that their clothing is of an old fashion and they behave like old people of olden times.
The man in The Red Room who is going to stay the night is not afraid of anything. When the man says “it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me” the reader instantly finds out that this man is not afraid of anything and that he is proud and that he believes that he does not believe that ghosts exist.
The way he speaks tells the reader that he is not scared and that he doesn’t believe in ghosts as he says “it’s my own choosing”. The reader then knows that he is confident of going into the red room and also when he say “you will show me this haunted room of yours, I will make myself comfortable there”. The arrogance in this story suggests Hubris. Hubris is exaggerated pride or self-confidence. However that changes when he walks down the passageway to the red room as he says “listening to a rustling”. If he is so confident he shouldn’t care about the rustling of whatever happening so this tells the reader he is afraid in his own way even though he doesn’t show it. He also is afraid when he sees a shadow as it is crouching “I stood rigid for half a minute”. This tells the reader that he is afraid. This adds to the tension because the reader is in suspense about what is going to pop out from the shadows.
He is also shown to be afraid when he enters the room “closed the door behind me at once”. This tells the reader he is afraid. When he is in the room he opens all the curtains and lights candle and the fireplace in the room “I lit it”. This shows that he is afraid of the dark. He starts to get very scared when he notices that all the candles seem to be going out on their own accord “What’s up? I cried, with a queer high note getting into my voice somehow”. This tells the reader that he is indeed petrified of the candles being snuffed out. He then in his confusion trying to light the candles hits his head and then loses consciousness. When he wakes up he is then regretful of his arrogance and this suggest Nemesis. Nemesis is an act of effect or retribution. He has been hit on the head because of his doubts in believing that the red room was not haunted. He then believes that the room is haunted as he says “Yes said I “the room is haunted”.
The characters in “The Monkey’s Paw” are The White Family, Sergeant Major Morris and the business man from Herbert’s Workplace. The White Family lives in an isolated area and do not like it “Path’s a bog and road’s a torrent”. They are at first acknowledged as people who don’t like getting into trouble and are friendly family “father and son were at chess”. When the sergeant major arrives they are eager to listen to his stories outside of the country. This makes the reader to think that they haven’t been out that much anywhere then where they are living. When they hear of the monkey’s paw being able to grant wishes they immediately start laughing and this shows they are arrogant suggesting Hubris “laughter jarred”. They are also arrogant when they jest about what they want to wish for example “Don’t you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?” This shows that they disbelieve in the magic. This causes the reader to believe that they are haughty. Then when Mr. White wishes for his wish he then sees faces in the fire and he begins to feel a little bit afraid e.g. “with a little uneasy laugh”. Also when it says “with a little shiver”. This adds to the tension of the story because it makes the reader wonder whether the wish was granted and fills the reader with suspense.
When the business man shows up Mr. and Mrs. White are scared about what has happened to Herbert. When they are told that he was caught in the machinery and when they are then told that the money that they found for his death is £200 they are instantly shocked “put out his hands like a sightless man and dropped a senseless heap to the floor”. This tells the reader that the family that remains now believes that it was the monkey’s paw’s doing. This also suggest Nemesis because they disbelieved in the monkey’s paw they have paid for it.
When one week pass the old man wakes up to find his wife crying by the window and then she suddenly exclaims that they should use the monkey’s paw to bring back Herbert “we’ll have one more”. This makes the reader believe that the woman now definitely believes in the magic of the monkey’s paw. She is blinded by the love of her son that she does not realize the consequences of making the wish “Do you think I fear the child I have nursed”. When she says this the reader wonders what the dead body of Herbert will appear like. Mr. White realizes that when his son will appear it will not be the same person he knew as his son “For God’s sake don’t let it in”. This makes the reader think that he believes in the stories of magic. When his wife rushes out to open the door the reader is eager to know what the thing that is coming into the house looks like. However Mr. White grabs the paw and makes his last wish before she opens the door making the reader feel that he believes in the magic of the monkey’s paw.
Sergeant Major Morris is described as “tall, burly man beady of eye and rubicund of visage”. This tells the reader that he is intimidating. When he enters the house he tells them the story of the monkey’s paw but he also fears for the family’s safety when Mr. White wants the paw example “But I warn you of the consequences”. This tells the reader that he is warning them before hand of the paw’s abilities. When he mentions that he had the three wishes he says it with fear and suspense “I have’ he said quietly and his blotchy face whitened”. This makes the reader feel that the paw has created something bad in this man’s life. This creates tension in the story by making the reader wonder why the man’s face whitened when he mentioned that he had three wishes. When he says that before he came across the paw another man had three wishes and his last one was death “the third was for death”. Also when he says this, the family are silent “his tones were so grave that a hush fell upon the group”. This tells the reader that the sergeant has much to hide about the paw. When Mr. White asks if the sergeant would have another three wishes the sergeant replies “I don’t know” and he repeats this twice.
This causes the reader to think that this man has had a lot of pain from the monkey’s paw in his life. When he throws the monkey’s paw into the fire he warns the family explicitly that if they keep it, it is not the sergeant’s fault if something bad befalls them “If you keep it don’t blame me for what happens “ and “but I warn you of the consequences”. This tells the reader that the sergeant, when he had wished, faced consequences for his wishes and that he warned the family about that they should be careful what they wish for.
The man in “The Red Room” is similar to the family in The Monkey’s Paw because they are both arrogant in believing in the haunting or curse that they are faced with and in they faced many consequences and retribution. The sergeant major and the three old people are similar because they are characters who warn the others of the consequences of their actions.
The Plot is the story in a play, novel or film. The plot affects the novel, film and play because it is the structure of it. The plot builds up the story and keeps it together to make it more interesting and for the reader to understand what it is about. The plot relies on a deadline by making the reader feel more nervous as the story progresses for example when the man in the “Red Room” is walking through the passage to the “Red Room” making the reader fell suspense when he is walking to the room and the time of going to the room is very slow as lots of things happen very slowly when he approaches the room.
This causes the reader to rely on the story for something bad to happen as it says “I stood rigid for half a minute”. This displays suspense by making the reader anticipate what is going to happen next. When the man is moving towards the shadow with his revolver the reader is eager to know what will happen next whether the man will get hurt or what is the shadow, “Then with my hand in the pocket that held my revolver I advanced”. This creates suspense. When the man enters the room he describes room he mentions “the shadow in the alcove at the end in particular had that undefineable quality of a presence that odd suggestion of a lurking living thing”. This creates suspense and makes the reader feel that something bad is going to happen in the room. Also when he lights the candles and then are extinguished by themselves it creates suspense by making the reader wonder why they just went out like that, “While I stood gaping the candle at the foot of my bed went out”. When he is frantically trying to light the candles the shadows seem to grow as if they are alive “darkness closed upon me like the shutting of the eye”. This is a simile as it describes that the darkness is closing around him very quickly like the eye shuts.
The plot of “The Red Room” relies on the belief that a young duke died in “The Red Room” and that there inside the room the ghost of the duke is inside. The old people in this story believe in this story whereas the young man believes this as illogical. The reason why the plot relies on this belief is because to make the story more interesting for readers to read as well as telling the reader understand why the room is haunted.
The character that underestimates the power of the legend is the young man as he tells the three old people that he is not afraid of ghosts for example “I have lived and never a ghost have I seen as yet”. This tells the reader that he doesn’t believe in the legend of “The Red Room” and it makes the reader believe he is mocking the legend of the red room as he also says “you will show me this haunted room of yours and I will make myself comfortable there”. The character of the man is underestimating the power of the room and makes it up by retribution. When the man goes into the “Red Room” he does not anticipate the forces at work inside when all the candles go out and the atmosphere in the room goes very scary. When the candles are being extinguished the reader feels that the legend of there being a ghost is true and that there is really a ghost inside the room. So the reader starts being afraid of the ghost in the room.
In “The Monkey’s Paw” however the plot of the story relies on the progress of time because it is depending on the people’s wishes in what they want and what will happen when they do make the wish whether it will be good or bad. Suspense is built up in this story when the sergeant major arrives “heavy footsteps came towards the door”. This makes the reader wonder who the person is with these and why they are coming. Also when the major talks about the monkey’s paw he says it very quickly “Nothing” said the soldier hastily”. This tells the reader that he is hiding something that he doesn’t want to tell the family. When a worker comes from Herbert’s place to inform the family, he causes suspense by walking by the gate three times and then finally coming through the fourth time “three times he paused at the gate and then walked on again”. This makes the reader feels suspense about why the man is coming to the house. “The Monkey’s Paw” relies on an irrational belief in legend about the monkey’s paw appearing to grant wishes to the user and that a spell was put on it by an old fakir (holy man) and that he wanted to show people that fate controlled people’s lives and that those who did interfere with fate would be punished. The character’s that have underestimated the power of the monkey’s paw are the White family as they mock it and believe that it cannot achieve giving wishes “the idea of our listening to such nonsense”. This tells the reader that the family does not believe in the legend of “The Monkey’s Paw”.
When the son of the White family dies this tells the reader that the legend is true and that it is not a coincidence that Herbert died and that the monkey’s paw does grant its user wishes. They are similar because in each of the stories the main characters are foolish and underestimate the power of the legends and that they both suffer because of their doubt of their legends and the story that relies more heavily on the plot is “The Red Room” because it makes the reader believe that something bad is going to happen in the room as well as going predictably because the “Monkey’s Paw” when used grants the user the wish they want but it could be any wish so it doesn’t rely on the plot just as much.
Sound Imagery is when the sound in the story is displayed as images in the brain making the reader feel suspense, fear and scared. It is used to make the reader imagine the sounds in the story such as silence which displays fear and when there is silence it is like there is nothing alive. H.G.Wells uses sound and silence in “The Red Room” by making the sounds in the story scary. When the young man hears “the sound of a stick and a shambling step on the flags” the reader wonders who it is that is coming.
This builds suspense by making the reader anticipate who is coming. When the young man goes through the passage it is described as “echoing passage”. The sound of an echo reminds the reader that when there is an echo it feels like there is more than one voice talking. When the young man comes to the landing of where the “Red Room” is he hears a rustling in his imagination or so he thinks “listening to a rustling that I fancied I heard”. This tells the reader that the sound of the rustling is unnerving the young man and worried about his surroundings.
When he is satisfied there is no sound “satisfied of the absolute silence” he enters. This quote makes the reader imagine that there is total silence with the man trying to hear if there are any sounds. It also tells the reader that the young man is afraid of something being there. When the young man mentions that “the echoing of the stair and crackling of the fire was no sort of comfort to me”. This makes the reader imagine that there is a fire crackling and echoing of stairs and this builds suspense as if there is something bad is going to happen. When he says to the old people that “Fear that will not have light nor sound” it makes the reader think that fear is in everyone including himself and that it has no sound. The repetition of words in “The Red Room” such as “silence”, and “echo” makes the reader feel that there is silence surrounding him and that the echoing of the sounds makes the reader feel there is a presence in the same room as him.
“The Monkey’s Paw” however uses sounds and silence to build suspense for e.g. “the gate banged to loudly and heavy footsteps came towards the door”. This builds suspense by making the reader feel that who is coming with such force and heavy footsteps. Also when the Sergeant-Major describes what happened when the first man made his wish and the author describes his voice as “His tones were so grave”. This suggests to the reader that something very bad has happened and this builds fear by making the reader wonder why he’s so sad. When the weather in “The Monkey’s Paw” becomes scarier as it says “the wind was higher than ever” and “the sound of a door banging upstairs”. This makes the reader think that the power of “The Monkey’s Paw” is causing these things to happen and this causes the reader to be scared. When the whole family sits down together the text says “a silence unusual and depressing settled upon all three”. This makes the reader think that “The Monkey’s Paw” has made the family scared and worried. When the man from Herbert’s workplace arrives and was silent “he was at first strangely silent”. This makes the reader wonder why the man is silent and this makes the suspense for the reader.
Visual Imagery is where the reader is imagining the images and objects in the story. “The Red Room” uses a lot of darkness and shadow imagery such as “a monstrous shadow of him crouched upon the wall and mocked his action as he poured and drank”. This causes the reader to feel fear about why there’s a big shadow there. Also when the man describes the shadows coming up to him “made the shadows cower and quiver” and “a shadow came sweeping up after me and one fled before me into the darkness overhead” as well as “the shadow in the alcove at the end in particular had that undefineable quality of a presence that odd suggestion of a lurking, living thing that comes in silence and solitude”. These quotes make the reader visualize that shadows are alive as if they have a mind of their own to move just like a vampire hates the sun and just like the shadows are not present when there is daylight.
Darkness that is in “The Red Room” is when the man is examining the room as he says in the text “in its black corners, its germinating darkness” as well as “the remoter darkness of the place and its perfect stillness too stimulating for the imagination”. When he also says “I simply turned and saw that the darkness was there as one might start and see the unexpected presence of a stranger”. All of these quotes cause the reader to visualize the darkness growing and being alive as a human person. “The Monkey’s Paw” however uses less describing of shadows and darkness and only the odd five or six sentences are there such as “a house steeped in shadow and silence” as well as “darkness was oppressive”. This makes the reader think without Herbert the house is sad and darkness has taken over the light. The use of shadows describes them as being alive “was throwing pulsating shadows on the ceilings and walls”. This makes the reader think that the shadows and breathing and alive. These stories differ because the red room uses a lot of sentences concerning darkness and shadows whereas the monkeys paw doesn’t.
The light of a fire brings warmth, light and makes darkness go away. For e.g. in the “Red Room” it says “so as to be closer to the others and to the fire”. This shows the reader that there is warmth in the fire. It also says in the text “fire’s flickering kept the shadows and penumbra perpetually shifting and stirring”. In the “Monkey’s Paw” on the other hand it says “proffered seat by the fire”. The guests get the seat by the fire so they can keep warm. Also when it says “fire burned brightly”. This causes the reader to understand that people need the light to see and keep the night away.
However there is a downfall to the light of a fire. Fire can cause shadows to appear as it says in the red room “dark against the firelight”, Also when it says “Cracking of the fire was no sort of comfort to me”. This suggests if it was silent then the sound of the fire can cause fear. As well as that it can burn as it says in “The Monkey’s Paw” “Better let it burn”. This suggests that fire can be harmful as well as bringing light and warmth it is also dangerous to touch.
Daylight is used in each story by appearing to be good and brings light as it says in the red room “I opened my eyes in daylight”. This means that when one opens their eyes they can independently see showing that daylight brings light. Also when he says the old people are no longer acting weird and agitated “ no longer abstracted “ and “ as one who grieves for a broken friend”. This suggests daylight brings clearness of mind such as a werewolf at a full moon at night being insane and when he becomes sane and returns to normal it is at daylight.
In “The Monkey’s Paw” daylight is described as being. “brightness of the wintry sun” also “it streamed over the breakfast table”. This suggests daylight brings warmth and happiness. Seen objects in the story are important because it makes the reader imagine what the object looks like such as “The Monkey’s Paw” “ordinary little paw dried to a little mummy”. This makes the reader imagine what it looks like. It makes them wonder what it’ll feel to hold it. “The Red Room” objects that are important when seen is the Chinaman on a bhul table. This is important because it shows and makes the reader imagine what it would look like if it was real and also tell the reader why the man reacted to it.
The look of individual character affects both the reader and the characters is by making the reader imagine what the person looks and make the reader understand what their age and physical disfigurement such as the three old people in “The Red Room” as the woman is described as having “pale eyes” and the two old men are described as having “withered” arm and “the man with the shade” also “decaying yellow teeth”. This causes the reader to feel fear and disgust from the old people’s characters and the characters are displayed as creatures rather than people because of their physical features “grotesque custodians”. The look of the man from Herbert’s workplace is described as smart e.g. “well dressed” and “wore a silk hat of glossy newness”. This suggests the man is clean and smart plus causes the reader to think he is well dressed and is rich. The character is affected because it displays him as smart and clean. These characteristics affect both the reader and the character.
My conclusion is that both writers are successful in building suspense, fear and tension. H.G.Wells has created a lot of suspense by making the character of the young man go through many things. He has created tension and fear by using similes, metaphors and personification. One of similes that I liked very much is “darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye”. It is a powerful simile that describes darkness as living. He has used language effectively to describe the surroundings and atmosphere and builds up tension and suspense. He has used archaic language to make the story more ancient and interesting. He makes the surroundings more scary and alive.
W.W. Jacobs is also successful in creating suspense, tension and fear. He uses less complicated vocabulary than H.G.Wells to make the language easier to understand however he uses old archaic language. One of my favorite metaphors is “pulsating shadows on the ceilings and walls”. This makes me feel as if shadows are alive. He has used many words to build up tensions such as words to build up tensions such as “heavy footsteps came towards the door” and “three times he paused at the gate”. This builds suspense and tension. They are both good writers and their stories were enjoyable to read. The moral of “The Red Room” I think is “do not underestimate anything or you will pay retribution”. “The Monkey’s Paw’s moral I think is “be careful what you wish for”.
After reading both of these short stories I would say the one that I enjoyed the most was “The Monkey’s Paw” because it filled me with suspense and I wanted to know what happened at the end. “The Red Room” was alright but it was a bit dull and a bit boring. There was no ghost or anything evil so the ending was a bit of a letdown.