The setting of 'The Red Room', 'Lorraine Castle', is extremely typical of the Gothic genre. Castles are generally large, dark and now the reader knows the Red room would be situated in similar areas, as the narrator is given a rather long list of directions before he encounters the Red Room. The passageways seem to lead him far away down the castle even if he needs help, it would not be available that night. “You go along the passage…until you come to a door…a spiral staircase… door covered with blaze… long corridor to the end… the Red Room”. This quotes connotes the features of the castle seem to be peculiar, out of the ordinary. This makes the reader construct an imaginary image of horror experienced or seen before. The build-up of fear in the reader’s mind creates unease and pressure.
H.G Wells uses long and short sentences to generate the sense of suspense in the story. Using long sentences makes the reader gradually dwell into the story as the sequences of events are taking place one after the other. H.G Wells uses short sentences to make the reader fell a little unease. Using brief sharp sentences such as “The night of all nights”, H.G Wells tries to make the reader terrified and think about the things that would occur if the narrator enters the room.
Furthermore, the phrase makes the reader think that night would be a night to remember, however, not knowing what would happen later in the story, builds the suspense and horror of what the reader feels.
The paranormal activities that were occurring in the room produce a perception of terror. The extraordinary things that were going on in the room makes the reader feel restless and frightened for both the narrator and themselves (reader). The quote “an invisible hand seemed to sweep out the two candles on the table” With the use of the verb “invisible hand”, H.G Wells creates a scene of a bizarre image in the readers mind. With the word ‘seemed’, it is just a suggestion or a thought to what the narrator saw in the room. Having the reader think of what might have put off the candles; it creates a sense of panic as the reader start to weigh in ghastly things that possibly could have put off the candles.
H.G Wells also make use of descriptive language to create apprehension in the story. On the journey to the red room, H.G Wells uses more than one verb to describe a place of the noun. “The long draughty subterranean passage was chilly and dusty…” Here we can see the dissenting verbs to describe the passage. This forms an eerie and spooky portrait in our minds. It creates panic and dread in the reader’s mind. The words ‘long. draughty, chilly, dusty; All are descriptive words used to manifest fear and discomfort for the reader. This make us think about the situation in which the narrator is in, feeling dreadful and terrified.
I think H.G Wells builds up strain and trepidation in a lot of ways, from the paranormal activities to the setting of the story, also in the descriptive detail in the journey to the Red room. He uses long and short sentences, which creates tension as the reader does not know what would happen next, also in the description of the journey, it was a first person view of point so it make us fell like we were in the shoes of the narrator. H.G Wells relates to the reader by producing realistic images in our minds. He is a great writer and made a fantastic gothic story.
The Monkey’s paw is also a story about the supernatural in which the author, W.W Jacobs creates tension and fear using similar range of techniques which uses similar techniques which have been used in “The Red Room”.
W.W Jacobs creates suspense and maintains interests throughout this story very well. Overall, the 'Monkey's Paw' is very descriptive about the surroundings and atmosphere; this creates
feeling of mystery and spookiness.
In the Monkey’s paw, the setting of the story creates fear and tension. The “Night…cold and wet…bog and road’s a torrent…Only two houses in the area” With the setting being so dull and dark, it brings about the hope that something could go wrong and therefore helps to build suspense. The story is set at night and as well in bad weather conditions, grabs our attentions immediately. Using night and bad conditions for the setting at the beginning of the story is a very common writing technique that most of writers use to build anticipation, and to gain the interest of the reader. Using night is also important for increasing the anxiety and catching reader’s attention because most of us are afraid of the dark and especially that we can’t see what could be out there hiding, so our fear starts to generate and we start asking our selves about what could happen next.
In the structure of the story, there is a pattern of suspense, which changes according to the actions. The story starts with a rather calm and peaceful scene with “Father and son were at chess”. However, the arrival of an outside visitor slightly breaks the peace and brings
tension: “‘There he is’, said Herbert White”. The visitor raises suspense by making as he has seen and being through war and plagues and seen strange peoples. He is a very interesting man. When the sergeant introduces the monkey’s paw to the family, the readers feels tensed because having a monkey’s paw inside your is a bit strange and is abnormal. The sergeant also heaved the nervousness. He tells the White’s (the family) that they could use it to grant wishes for themselves. This makes the reader start to wonder what the family will use it for and what they would wish for.
The family not being so serious about the monkey’s paw and fate brings about conflicting views. The sergeant thinks the paw is very powerful however the family finds it as a joke. “…husband drew the talisman from his pocket…then all three burst into laughter…” This quote shows that they are not fatal about the paw as they have a pretty boring life and they think it is silly for a paw to solve and change their lives. This creates tension as the reader doesn’t know who is right or wrong, also it makes us feel anxious as we don’t know what would happen next.
W.W Jacobs makes the story interesting by changing the levels of tension and fear in the story. The tension falls after the change in time from the fearful night into the bright morning: “In the brightness…” This quote drops anxiety very rapidly and makes the reader now feel calmer and safer. However after that, levels of tension rose when the strange acts of an outsider: “…mysterious movements of a man outside,” This quote and especially
this mysterious man raises the readers concern and gets the reader started to think about what the man is doing outside and why is he hesitating to talk to the White’s. This makes the reader feel impatient as he/she is waiting for the next scene or problem.
Then the uneasiness increases when we hear from the man that the White family will receive: “‘Two hundred pounds’” as a compensation for their son’s death. The reader is now astonished in the way that the wish, money was received and never they never expected it
to come this way. After this shock, the reader starts to think whether the family would use the paw again for another wish and whether it would bring a good result or a bad result.
When coming towards the end of the story the suspense levels drop slightly as a result of the White’s mourning their son’s death and the change in time: “…the days passed…” but the suspense rises back again when Mrs White insists in using The Monkey’s Paw to wish her son alive again. At this stage and because of Mrs White’s agitated behaviour the tenseness level reaches a pinnacle. This suspense level is retained until the end of the story:
“The street lamp flickering…deserted road” This quote is still keeping our tension levels high, even though the story has finished. This makes the reader want to complete reading the story despite it ending.
This is a good technique W.W Jacobs use to keep his readers attracted to the story even after it finished. He also left a feeling of insecurity and a feeling that this thing that knocked the door would come back, and we want to discover it. We also want to know if this thing outside was their son and if the paw really granted their wishes or either it is a coincidence.