Then he moves onto the corridor in which the 'Red Room' is situated. The first thing noted about this corridor is the shock it gave him to see moonlight streaming through a window, illuminating everything and making it look black and silvery, which is almost unreal because it is only imaginable in a scary movie. He then notices that it looks untouched and there are thick layers of dust to prove that no one has been there for a long time. As he begins to move around he notices a shadow of what, to him, looked like a figure 'crouching to waylay' him. He is very paranoid and is becoming extremely nervous.
Once he finds out that it was only a statue his nerve has restored and even when he passed another statue that moved it 'scarcely startled' him. This could have been caused by the influence of the older people, who have put more thoughts in to his head, which he could just be over reacting to. When he arrives at the door of 'The Red Room' he remembers that it was just outside the door that the young duke had begun to die. I have found this quotation:
'Here it was, thought I, that my predecessor was found, And the memory of that story gave me a sudden twinge of apprehension'
His predecessor being the Duke, who never left the ‘Red Room’ .Alive, he may be having second thoughts about entering, and he could be thinking about the joke, played.
Once inside the 'Red Room' he carries out many acts to make himself feel secure and to reassure himself. Once he has locked he in him describes the room in great detail so that the reader feels involved in the young man's 'systematic examination'. Once the examination was complete he says himself to be 'in a state of considerable nervous tension'. He then barricades the door as a back up for the lock and lights all of the available candles to flood the room with light. He settles down and recites poems to take his mind of the task, this doesn't work so he looks for others ways to occupy himself.
The story of the ‘Monkey Paw’ would not hold much superstitious value today; if someone said they had a magic ‘Monkey Paw’ no one would take them seriously. Pre 20th century times were rife with superstition especially when it came to items said to hold magic in them and they would be intrigued by a magic monkey paw.
However the idea that someone could return from the dead after being mangled in machinery would disturb them, as they didn't understand people with disabilities and viewed them as not normal. The location of their house would make us feel uncomfortable because it is so remote, we would feel cut of and vulnerable. Where as people would have been living in this type of location 100 years ago.
'The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.'
This quotation gives a chilly feeling because when a street lamp flickers in the modern world we think that something is going to happen but over a 100 year ago this did not both people and they just got on with life.
Both these stories involve superstitions but neither have an actual ghost, “The Red Room” is a tale told by the characters in the story, which the main character sets out to uncover the truth.
‘Eight and twenty years, said I, I have lived, and never a ghost have I seen as yet.'
This quotation is saying at twenty eights years old I have never seen a ghost and its also giving you a feeling that he/she strongly believe that ghost are not true,
Similarly in the “Monkey's Paw” the characters aren't sure that what the sergeant major told them about the paw was true.’
The idea of our listening to such nonsense! How could wishes be granted in these days?'
This quotation is saying this is their ideas of believing that ghosts are present also asking a rhetorical question.
The main characters in the two stories are very different, the man in the “Red Room” is very unconvinced, and tries to be open minded but he doesn't take ghosts very seriously.
'I half suspected the old people were trying to enhance the spiritual terrors of the house by their droning insistence.
This quotation is saying that old people were trying to improve their spiritual terrors of ghosts in the house and being dull with no idea but having firm mind about spiritual things.
And
Well, I said, if I see anything tonight, I shall be much the wiser. For I come for business with an open mind.'
This quotation is saying if this person see anything to night in the ‘Red Room’ he will be much wiser, also have an open mind for a business.
Where as Mr. White believes in the paw from the start, he believes in it so much that he wouldn't even trust the rest of his family with it. However they both change throughout the stories, in the ‘Red Room’ the man learns true fear and he becomes more open minded, Mr. White learns not to cheat fate and to listen to warnings as he starts to hate the paw.
