In the story of “The Black Veil,” Dickens introduces the setting with a descriptive passage and when the dialogue is introduced it lends excitement to the story. When the ‘Black Veil’ enters the room Dickens again describes the figure before entering into dialogue which builds suspense. Dickens describes the ‘Black Veil’s’ voice as a ‘low, deep voice.’
The two main characters of both stories are not given names so in this respect we do not get very close to them. This lends to build suspense to each story. The ‘Black Veil’ carries the typical mysterious appearance with the shawl covering her face and the black clothes. The signalman is described as having ‘dark sallow skin’ and a ‘dark beard’ also carrying the idea of mystery. Both the Signalman and the ‘Black Veil’ have low voices which engage our interest. The characters of the Doctor from ‘The Black Veil’ and the Narrator from ‘The Signalman’ are presented as very rational characters in the way the Doctor enquires about the illness and his first reaction being to help the patient. The Narrator is presented as a sceptical character and tries to add logic to the Signalman’s stories. The Doctor acts as we might act in the same situation with his first instinct being to visit the patient and help him. The narrator in ‘The Signalman’ asks the questions that we as readers might ask. In contrast to this the characters of the ‘Black Veil’ and the ‘Signalman’ are disturbed and enigmatic. By presenting the ‘Black Veil’ and the ‘Signalman’ in this way Dickens engages the reader’s interest and we want to know what has disturbed them so profoundly. In ‘The Signalman’ the narrator is in a position to see the signalman at work and has complete confidence that he can do his job very well. However, he notices odd behaviour in the Signalman which he describes as an ‘inexplicable air’ which was the same strange manner or air the man gave at the beginning of the story when the man called ‘halloa.’ The signalman repeats the phrase, ‘I am troubled’ which reinforces the anxieties felt by the man and heightens tension and suspense. Typical of Dickens’ writing, he withholds the information to create mystery, building up suspense.
Dickens has the Doctor refer to the ‘Black Veil’ as ‘it’ and the signalman to describe the figure he saw as an ‘it.’ This adds mystery to the story and engages the reader.
Dickens also uses setting to heighten suspense in the stories. Particularly in ‘The Signalman’ Dickens creates an unappealing setting of the railway cutting. He does this by using adjectives such as, ‘solitary,’ ‘dismal,’ ‘jagged,’ ‘gloomy’ and ‘barbarous. By using the phrase, “as if I had left the natural world,” Dickens creates a threatening impression and entertains the idea that the signalman may well be a spirit. However this is idea is quickly dismissed as fear is shown by the signalman towards the narrator. In the ‘Black Veil,’ Dickens builds up a picture of the setting in the readers mind before going into dialogue which again builds up suspense and tension in the story creating mystery.
“The Signalman” begins with an inconsequential opening to the story were the first strange element of the signalman looking down the line instead of up. As with the story of ‘The Black Veil,’ Dickens gives us a great deal of descriptive detail of the setting and sounds before the mysterious character speaks.
As was typical of eighteenth century stories, both of Dickens’ stories had a twist at the end. In ‘The Signalman’ he was killed by the train after the train driver giving him the same warning as the man had described of the ghost. ‘The Signalman’ ends abruptly leaving the reader to muse. In the story of ‘The Black Veil’ there is the revelation that the man killed was the woman’s son and was hanged. This story carried a moral which was common of many stories of this time. Unlike ‘The Signalman’ this story did not end abruptly but instead had a short narrative paragraph to end it.
In conclusion I feel that Dickens was a successful mystery story writer. I think that he succeeds in building up suspense and mystery in ‘The Signalman’ by describing in great details the railway and withholding the information about the ghost in order to build suspense. I think that because in the stories the signalman had told it had always been others harmed, it was unexpected that it would end up in his death. The abrupt ending made me unsettled and let me ponder over the story. I think this was very successful as a mystery story.
