Where most of the story is happening Dickens creates the atmosphere of a menacing environment where the spectre appears and has the supernatural feel to it even before you hear about the ghost. The signalman later on as the narrator is about to leave asks the narrator “those words you said were they conveyed to you in any supernatural way?” To this the narrator replies “no, no I think not” which shows that the narrator is now dumbfounded and is worried as the signalman tells him he has “troubles” and would “explain if he would be so kind as if to come back tomorrow night at eleven o’clock.” This is where the mystery is apparent.
In the Signalman there is one main event which is that of the haunting as in the Vendetta which is the killing. This is because there is no need for any sub-plots and this is a short story and there would be too much time wasted in describing and telling this event.
In the Vendetta Maupassant doesn’t spend that much time describing the murder of the widow’s son Antoine or of Antoine himself. He doesn’t even tell us whom, or why his murderer killed him.
The Signalman’ features a lonely train signalman who works in a signal box by a railway cutting. He has been visited by a “spectre” which appears just before a fatal accident takes place. The other main character, which is also the narrator, meets the signalman and is told of his sightings. They try to interpret the warnings of the ghostly figure. As the two develop a friendship, the narrator returns to the railway cutting to visit the signalman but finds that he has been killed in an accident that the ghost had warned about.
In a way, the two stories are similar as their themes are based on the same topics: mystery, supernatural and the unknown. They both involve premonitions of fate and the future. In ‘The Signalman’, the narrator attracts the attention of the signalman by shouting “Halloa! Below there!” These were the words recited by the ghost who warned him of an accident that would happen in the near future. Also, these were the words shouted by the train driver as he alerted the signalman of the speeding train heading towards him.
Whilst I The Vendetta Widow Savereni train’s her dog to kill as she has no strength and she mentions no bloodline relatives that are men who could seek revenge.
In ‘The Signalman’, the signalman inhabits a small, “solitary and dismal” signal box. He stays in the “dripping-wet dungeon” for hours each day with nothing to do except to occasionally “change that signal, trim those lights, and turn his iron handle”. Dickens may have created this character to express his sympathy for those who are lonely. He may have wanted us to pity the signalman, as he is a “well educated” man constrained by a primitive occupation. This sympathy was heightened because of the death of the signalman. Possibly the fact that Dickens does not give the signalman a name shows that he is deemed unimportant to most people. Dickens may want us to counter this view and to think that all human beings are important.
Whilst in The Vendetta the Widow lives in a picturesque house next to the cliff face. This house is also very big and from the outside looks beautiful.
The Signalman ranges over a period of only three days. Dickens concentrates on the main characters and is more succinct in telling the story and putting his views across. As the plot concludes quickly, when we read of the signalman’s death it is more shocking. In the Vendetta the plot is set over a matter of weeks as The Widow must train her dog and prepare her itinerary.
The two authors also introduce the stories in different ways. Dickens opens the story with speech, the narrator shouts, “halloa! Below there!” This starts the story off quickly, as with the Vendetta that is concentrated over a period of weeks so the widow can prepare her “attack” on her son’s murderer.
Dickens uses a first person narrative style, while Maupassant’s uses a third person narrative style. Dickens’ style guides us through the plot as if we are there, closely speculating the events of the story. The following quote describes the cutting and demonstrates the effects of Dickens’ narrative style well; “it was made through a clammy stone that became oozier and wetter as I went down”. This allows us to feel as if we, ourselves, are descending down the “zigzag path”. Although this is very realistic, this style has constraints; the narrator is unable to know what the other characters are feeling, he can only give his thoughts and feelings. This also adds to the mysterious atmosphere. Maupassant’s narrative style means that The Vendetta is possibly not as vivid as The Signalman is, but the narrator is able to state what the character is thinking and feeling.
David Hughes
