The Red Room Essay

Fear is created through the characters by Wells’ descriptions of them. He uses phrases like ‘decaying yellow teeth’, ‘pale ayes wide open’ and ‘clumsily’ which allows you to imagine what these three old people look like and how they act towards each other. A lot of tension is created through the old pensioners because they do not really talk to one another, leaving a lot of silences, and making the young man feel tense and apprehensive. Wells’ use of first person brings the reader more into the story and lets the reader feel some of the young mans tension and fear. Fear is also created by the characters with what they say: the old man with the withered arm repeats ‘it’s your own choosing’ again and again, while the old woman echoes herself saying ‘this night of all nights!’ These two phrases create fear and tension when said by the old man and woman because it is as if they know something rather horrible, and we don’t, but they wont tell us because they want us to find out for ourselves.

Wells creates fear and tension through the setting by using a gothic setting. Gothic settings, whether in books or on television, are very scary because of all the darkness, shadows and unnerving sculptures. The use of a gothic setting is the best to make a scary story, because the setting in a story can reflect the attitudes and personality of the characters. In ‘The Red Room’, H. G. Wells describes Lorraine Castle and her subjects as ‘grotesque’, ‘queer’, ‘germinating’, and ‘sombre’. These descriptive words help picture an unnatural and eerie scene, which makes the story and what is being said in it have more apprehension and anxiety because you are aware of what the surroundings are like.

Imagery is an important creator of fear and tension in ‘The Red Room’ because there is so much of it. H. G. Wells’ use of light and dark in the story is a good provider of fear and tension because the use of dark enhances the frightening features of Lorraine Castle, especially when there is only a small amount of light. Also, Wells’ use and description of shadows in the story creates fear and tension because shadows are very dark and mysterious, and you never know if something horrifying is creeping around in it. H. G. Wells personificates the shadows in Lorraine Castle to intensify their creepiness: ‘a monstrous shadow if him crouched upon the wall and mocked his action.’ This quote embodies the shadow into an abnormal form which mocks the old man with the shade. As well as that, during the story, the strength of the shadows change. When the young man is confident that there is no such things as ghosts, the shadows ‘cower and quiver’ as if they are scared of him, but then they become more dangerous and ‘sweep after him’ just like they are little children playing a game, and then again, the shadows seem powerful: ‘it’s shadow fell with marvellous distinction upon the white panelling, and gave me the impression of something crouching to waylay me.’ This makes the shadows seem very secure and confident. Wells uses other effective imagery to describe the shadows, like ‘it’s germinating darkness’ and ‘an ocean of mystery’, but not only does he describe the shadows and the darkness with great imagery, but he also uses very good imagery to describe the small amount of light: ‘my candle was a little tongue of flame’ and ‘beyond it’s island of light’. This imagery reminds the reader that there is a lot more dark than light in the story, because every description about the darkness is as if it were a giant monster, completely over-powering, and the description about the light is as if it were a small island in the middle of nowhere.

I think H. G. Wells creates fear and tension through all of the above, and maybe in even more ways. He creates it through the way he tells the story: his style, and the language he uses. I think that the way he describes all the darkness in the story, is the best way he creates fear and tension in his story of ‘The Red Room’.