Jessica Peacock Year 9F.
does not put an emphasis on the setting but more on fear itself.
The language techniques are key to setting the fear. To create an air of intimidation and to make everything seem depressive, the stories use language techniques such as, “monstrous shadow”, “angry sunset” and “gloomy red”. Onomatopoeia is often used to scare the reader and also to make the reader hear the sounds people in the story are hearing. Some examples of onomatopoeia as used in the selected gothic stories are, “oozing stone”, “door creaked on its hinges”, “fine crash” and “creaking of the bolt”. Alliteration is also a key tool to a good gothic story. It is a technique used to catch the reader’s attention and it also helps to build to the air of suspension. “Fires flickering” and “shadows shifting” are good examples of this technique.
Personification is the most important language technique used in Gothic Literature. It gives the notion that not everything is what it seems and that everything is alive and looking at you. The effect of the moving objects is intimidating and adds to the essence of paranoia. The “Red Room” uses a lot of Personification as it is strongly linked to paranoia and the feeling that there could be something else there. The shadows especially were “perpetually shifting and stirring” giving the impression they were alive or something was moving. The “Signalman” and the “Monkey’s Paw” both also use personification to build the intense atmosphere.
Gothic stories always need good characters in their work to make the readers interested in what happens to them. Weird things often happen the these characters for example when Sergeant Major Morris introduces the perfectly ordinary and serene family the Whites to the abnormal monkeys paw things go mysteriously wrong. This is not peculiar in Gothic literature, the writers often use innocent people in their story so that the readers sympathise with them. This is also true in the “The Signalman”. The abnormally well organised and well educated signal man is a man of such intelligence that he should be far higher in station. He was perfectly pleasant to the narrator and seemed perfectly regular and innocent. However in the “Red Room” the main character did not seem that likeable. He seemed pompous and naïve and “assured” people that” It would take a very tangible ghost to frighten” him. However something must always frighten these innocent people.
All gothic stories have to have their essential villain. Nevertheless the villain doesn’t always have to be a monster. In the signal man the villain was a spirit. But it wasn’t any ordinary spirit. It was a spirit for-seeing
Jessica Peacock Year 9F
the signal mans death. Although this wasn’t obvious until the end of the story.
Alternatively the “Red Room’s” villain was not anything living; it was fear that haunted the red room. In some ways this is scarier than a monster and it strongly links with the stories theme of paranoia. In the monkeys paw the paw is like the villain. It causes devastation to the family. The irony of the paw causes horror.
The ending to a successful gothic story must be effective and dramatic. Normally the whole story comes together to make sense, for instance like the “Signalman”. You finally realise why the spirit as hanging around. It was because he was foreseeing his own death. The pompous character from the “Red Room” realised that the room was haunted but by fear. As he discovered while he was tackling against himself in the room. This taught the naive character not to be so pompous. There was also a lesson to be learned by reading the “Monkey’s Paw”. The irony of the paw meant that the White family only got rich by the compensation money of their sons tragic death. By the end of the story Mr. White even ended up wishing his son away which made such a huge transformation from the perfectly calm and serene White family before the monkey’s paw.
In conclusion I think that to make a good gothic story the writer needs to have a gripping tale that will keep the reader interested and full of suspense all the way through. It should keep the reader curious and use a good range of language techniques. It is best when the writer uses a lot of personification because it moulds very well with gothic literature. Fundamentally think the most effective Gothic story out of these three examples is “The Signalman”. This is because it uses a good variation a language techniques and has interesting characters. But mainly it has a more gripping story line which keeps the reader curious and full of suspense. The other two stories are good but lack some essential excitement. Also “The Signalman” is more individual because it is not as traditional as the others. The villain is more terrifying because it is a spirit and references more to death. It keeps you curious because you wonder why the spirit is there, then it has a better ending because it all becomes clear. However in “The Monkey’s Paw” the end is misty and you have to think about the ending to fully comprehend the finish.
Jessica Peacock Year 9F.
