The narrator is dismissive of the old people’s ideas and is almost making fun of them; he wants everyone to know how sceptical he is towards the paranormal.
After his experience of the Red Room, he is more open-minded and realises that he cannot give an explanation for every issue that arises.
This is different to Bessie, from ‘The Black Cottage’, as she has a human fear of Shifty Dick and Jerry conquering her father’s house. Bessie has a strong character both physically and mentally, but delivers a strong sense of duty and loyalty.
Wilkie Collins who also wrote ‘The Woman in White’ and ‘Moonstone’ wrote the Black Cottage in the middle of the Victorian period, 1856. It is a psychological thriller that, although lacks the supernatural element, is still recognisable to Victorian genres and style literature.
‘The Black Cottage’ highlights that it is set on the moors during the night:
‘The mist was rising,
A heavy rain was beginning to fall.
Never did the lonely prospect of the moor
Look so dreary as it looked to my eyes that evening.’
This is classically associated with isolation as help on the moors is not easy to acquire and it being night emphasises how alone and helpless Bessie is.
The story delivers a lot of information on the cottage and the background of the family to allow the reader to almost experience the lives of Bessie and her father, the scene is set in the beginning without any fear and this provides a glimpse of the characters everyday life.
Wilkie Collins generates suspense inside the reader by leaving a young woman on her own without any help. He has used certain devices to do this such as making her father leave her alone in an old, isolated cottage on the moors. Wilkie Collins has used a women as the main character as, stereotypically, they are more at risk to getting attacked and more powerless in defending themselves; with Bessie defending her fathers’ house and her friends’ purse she is also protecting her virginity and innocence whilst remaining respectable and loyal. Bessie is a modern heroine, not a typically weak, male dependent female as she clearly shows that she can look after and protect herself:
‘It is one thing to write fine sentiments in books
About incorruptible honesty,
And another thing to put it into practise.’
She talks about herself as being honest and innocent, on how she will do all she can to protect the pocket book, silverware and herself as it is ‘the right thing to do’.
Bessie obviously has a lot of pride and cares what other people think about her:
‘No, I am not the sort of woman to walk
A mile and a half through the rain,
To tell a whole kitchenful of people that I am afraid.’
She will not allow herself to be seen otherwise for the sake of her own feelings. The way she comments on not telling a ‘kitchenful of people’ that she is afraid comes across as her not wanting to ruin her status –to remain looked up to and respected. This is also shown in her desire to not be looked down upon by her friends and other women around:
‘My pride revolted at the idea of
Presenting myself in the character of a coward
Before the people at the farm,
Timidity among women is something to be laughed at.’
Bessie is sentimental and caring so although a modern heroine, she is still given a very feminine role which is shown at the end of the story. For a Victorian female, a happy ending is marriage so at the end of the Black Cottage she gets married to a respectable farmer’s son –who was there for her when she ran from her attackers.
The names Shifty Dick is a typical type of name from the Victorian period as the characters tend to reflect their personality/nature in their names, this enables the reader to visualize that character more and allows the reader a deeper understanding. This contrasts with ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Signalman’, as in ‘The Red Room’ we are not told the characters names which adds mystery and secrecy to the atmosphere and in ‘The Signalman’ we only identify with what they are, not who they are e.g. the Signalman /the Narrator. In the ‘Black Cottage’ we are told the names of the characters so, although less mysterious, the reader is able to identify with the situation. Therefore, in ‘The Black Cottage’, Bessie’s circumstances become more frightening as we can picture ourselves in her position.
Bessie does not change dramatically throughout the story, but she does become more aware of the dangers in the world and this makes her a stronger character mentally. She encounters characters that she would not normally associate with and this ‘opens her eyes’ to what you could call the ‘real world’.
Wilkie Collins gets the father to go away on business to leave Bessie on her own; from then on, he builds up the atmosphere of the story by expecting Bessie to look after a pocket book. This provides the reason for Shifty Dick and his accompanier to attack the house. The misty weather confirms the isolation that Bessie is in by shutting off the outside world and penning her into the house. Shifty Dick and Jerry then announce her loneliness, which is when the reality of her true seclusion first becomes apparent:
‘You are alone in the house, my pretty little dear.
You may crack your sweet voice with screeching,
And there’s nobody near to hear you.’
This patronizes Bessie by treating her as if she is cannot defend herself so they try to break her with the fear of being alone and by her vulnerability.
Bessie does not come across as being scared at first because she is comforted by the fact that she is not wealthy, this gives less reason for her to be mugged. When the pocket book was left in her care, she become concerned about the welfare of it and hides the pocket book away from danger. Bessie proves herself to be independent, she becomes quick thinking and confident when her attackers come to steal the book:
‘The threats of the two villains would have
Terrified most women out of their senses;
But the only result on me was
Was violent indignation.’
Bessie presents a sudden streak of braveness that evokes anger towards the two men; it appears as if she is shocked with her change of character and her strong feelings towards them.
The climax of the plot comes whilst Shifty Dick and Jerry break into the house and Bessie has to escape to safety into the darkness outside:
‘I must trust to the night and the thick darkness,
And save my life by running for it,
While there is yet still time.’
Here the darkness represents safety, whereas in ‘The Red Room’ the darkness is the evil unknown. It becomes a battle of good against evil, the readers are willing Bessie to reach the protection of the farmhouse and this generates an enthralling read. The evil here in the ‘Black Cottage’ is represented differently to the other stories as it is a human fear, whereas in ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Signalman’ there is a supernatural fear tormenting the characters.
‘The Red Room’ is similar to the way ‘The Black Cottage’ is developed as is also uses isolation to create an eerie atmosphere, but ‘The Red Room’ continues with this by the determination of the narrator to get to the Red Room regardless of what might be there. His journey to the Red Room is described as if it is the passageway to hell:
‘The long, draughty, subterranean
Passage was chilly and dusty,
And my candle flared and made the
Shadows cower and quiver.’
H. G. Wells builds up the suspense by the tension from the passage so that by the time the narrator has reached the room he has already acknowledged that there is something bizarre going on. He uses personification with the candles in saying that they made the shadows ‘cower and quiver’. This gives life to the candles and makes them appear to be ‘fighting’ off the darkness to make it scared, vulnerable and inferior. The train tunnel in ‘The Signalman’ provides the contrast, similarly, to light and darkness. The narrator comments on how it seems like ‘a dungeon’ and it is described in detail as being eerie, dismal and dark:
‘The gloomy entrance to the black tunnel,
Where there was a barbarous, depressing and forbidding air.’
The narrator also remarks on how unnatural the cutting comes across and how no light ever ventures towards the tunnel, as if the light itself is scared:
‘So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot,
That it had an earthy, deadly smell;
And so much cold rushed through it,
That it struck a chill to me as if I had left the natural world.’
It appears that the sunlight is scared of the darkness for some reason; as if there is something unholy about the tunnel that the pure, untainted light cannot stand. Frequently we are told about the ‘gloomy red light’ just outside the cutting that can lead to all sorts of meanings, such as trying to lure in the Signalman where he would meet his death from the two lights coming from the train. The trains’ two lights could even represent eyes from hell coming to snatch him away from life and deeper into the ‘unnatural world’ –there are several ways in which it could be interpreted.
Personification is also used in ‘The Signalman’ to describe the train tunnel,
When the narrator is alone he starts to question the supernatural but at the same time attempts to joke about the situation yet still remains in denial:
‘Odd! Did I do that myself
In a flash of absentmindedness?’
Personification is used to describe the candles as they become symbolic protection against the darkness, when they get put out ‘as if they had been nipped between a finger and thumb’ the narrator begins to really get scared as the only protection he has is being snatched away from him, candle by candle. The use of shadows and the figures in the ghostly moonlight chills the atmosphere, and produces tension that forms a gripping read.
The writer uses the narrator to show the readers that no matter how brave, cocky or arrogant someone may be, they are guaranteed to end up showing fear if put in the right conditions. In ‘The Black Cottage’ Bessie feels safer when she is alone, but in ‘The Red Room’, the narrator is frightened when he is alone so two different techniques are used but both are effective in their own ways.
The climax of ‘The Red Room’ is when the narrator is inside the room being traumatized by its presence; this is the key point, it is what the storyline has been leading up to. It is where most of the action takes place as throughout the book the readers have been ‘tiptoeing over fear’ as the atmosphere thickened, but now the fear has a hold of the narrator and is controlling him. We can see that the narrator is indicating that he is feeling uneasy and very weary by his cautious actions:
‘I stood ridges for half a minute perhaps,
Then, with my and on my revolver, I advanced,
A sudden twinge of apprehension swept over me.
The narrator holds his gun to protect himself but it also shows us that, still, he does not entirely believe in the supernatural because holding a gun would not necessarily help him defeat a ghost.
Unlike ‘The Red Room’, the climax of ‘The Signalman’ reveals the reason why the signalman was having the visions; it gives an answer that has been building up suspense throughout the story. ‘The Red Room’ does not give a straight answer; it leaves you wondering why the room is in that state to begin with and what is going to happen to it.
‘The signalman’ was written in 1865. It is a psychological horror tale about a man, whilst walking on the moors, came across a distressed signalman who had visions of a ghost warning him about something. It was written by Charles Dickens who also wrote ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Bleak house’, Charles Dickens was a comical writer who was interested in Psychology which plays a significant part in ‘The Signalman’.
The setting is near a tunnel cutting used by trains that were modern machinery back in 1865, modern settings are not commonly associated with gothic horror which makes this location almost unnatural and out of place –to the narrator it seemed “as if I had left the natural world”. It is solitary and dismal which similarly also is found in the other two books that have been discussed, in addition to the contrast between light and dark, which can be found in all three books, there is a contrast from height as well:
‘The cutting was extremely deep,
And unusually precipitate.’
When the narrator finds the signalman below, he calls out to him and immediately we encounter the first bizarre sign; instead of looking at the narrator he looks directly towards the mouth of the tunnel, this leaves unanswered questions that add mystery and anxiety to the atmosphere. The narrator comments on how the signalman is far below him ‘down into the deep trench’, the height distance between them is regarded as more than what meets the eye as if it is made to represent another world, age or even as if he is looking down upon hell.
“So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot,
That it had an earthy, deadly smell;
And so much cold wind rushed through it,
That it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world.”
The narrator comments on how dark and daunting the train cutting seems and is slightly reluctant to go down the zigzag path towards the signalman, the personification of the ‘angry sunset’ symbolises this great contrast and we get the impression that something is not quite right.
‘The Signalman’ begins in a creepy setting where the character of the story is instantly set, the reader meets the signalman who seems suspicious and we are instantly drawn into the story as we want to find out more about him. The signalman, we discover, is well educated:
‘He had worked at fractions and decimals,
And tried a little algebra.’
Nevertheless, he is lonely, which at an angle comes across somewhat chilling. Typical gothic-horror characters seem cunning and with the help of having a good education, it suggests they could outsmart their victims so the readers are cautious and suspicious over him. He is paranoid of the supernatural presences surrounding the area and is very aware of his responsibilities as being a signalman, almost to the extent that suggests he may be slightly senile. The narrator, however, differs to the signalman by being levelheaded, rational and scientific –if not a little over-opinionated. He appears friendly and honest and the readers are inclined to trust him as you see the story through his eyes, it is too complicated without a secure narrator as the story line becomes too complicated and confusing.
The relationship between the two men had only begun once the story had started, this allows the readers to get to know each character as if they had just met themselves and is a good way to introduce each character to the plot. Both characters enjoy spending time with each other as they seem lonely, their personalities almost mirror the opposite of one other since their perceptions towards life appear different.
The narrator thinks rationally and scientifically towards the paranormal, whereas the signalman has developed into being overly cautious and anxious over the figure at the mouth of the tunnel. With the signalman being so apprehensive over ghosts, the readers start to feel wary of what is happening and begin to speculate whether the signalman really saw a ghost.
The story starts developing once the two characters met and become acquainted to each other; it brings two lonely people together who incidentally start to figure out why the Signalman had been receiving supernatural hauntings. Charles Dickens builds up the suspense in the atmosphere by the Signalman twice ‘falling with colour whilst turning to the bell which did NOT ring and looked out towards the mouth of the tunnel’, this makes the reader ask why he does this and thus create a more mysterious atmosphere. The Signalman appears cautious and anxious when he is alone, which he often is, inevitably encouraging the readers to become frightened.
