The Body Snatchers and The Signal Man are two other gothic stories which also portray the gothic genre and an insight into the history of the Victorians and the way that they treated the dead.
The Body snatchers, written by Robert Louis Stevenson, is a story which is set very much around the Victorian era, it is based on body snatching which was largely “popular” in the 19th Century, and was in great need for medical reasons and research. Stevenson begins by setting the seen and introducing characters. The first paragraph of the story seems very cozy and a regular evening in the pub with the usual four men sitting down having a drink, it is an ordinary occurrence and those four men would always be there every night “ but blow high , blow low, come rain or snow or frost, we four would each be planted in his own particular armchair” Stevenson begins the story on a very ordinary point which seems to be nothing out of the ordinary and the reader doesn’t feel like anything suspicious is going on. The characters are introduced in detail, especially Fettes so presumably he is a key character in the story. He is described in a lot of detail and seems to be a man who everyone knows and is a necessity to the village and the pub, everyone knows who he is however we could be superstitious of him when the story states “we had no knowledge of his character and antecedents” this shows that many people knew of the man but not many people knew how he thought and his history. The only facts known about fettes are random ones e.g he has doctor knowledge, however they know nothing about his history. He doesn’t seem trustworthy, he drinks, vices, infidelities. His special knowledge is vague this cold be dangerous. The characters in the story know each other in strange ways- for instance what they drink and how the drink it. What was happening is the pub was a cycle- it happened everyday. The setting in the first paragraph seems too normal – something is going to happen. But the beginning of paragraph two – “One dark winter night …” sets the familiar Gothic scene, cold, lonely, winter , dark , scary, this builds up tension and we can tell that the story is about to be told and things will begin to become more irregular. There is a break in the routine of the usual nights “ it was the first time …” this suggests that something out of the ordinary is going to happen , we don’t know exactly what this is but we know that there is a character that the men are unsure of in the pub “sick man in the George” however when the mans named is mentioned Fettes, who is drunk, suddenly wakes up after hearing it “… but at the last word he seemed to awaken” Fettes and the man are linked how? – shows panic , recognition of the name, the other characters and the reader do not know why which shows that fettes will be an important character, Fettes and the man are linked how? Fettes suddenly becomes sober and has sudden movements – this shows that fettes is shocked, it is unusual for him to pay so much attention, and the name must have triggered some sort of memory or feeling in him. There is such a change in Fettes character “as if a man had risen from the dead” this is spooky and makes a connection with the supernatural, things which should no be talked about, this introduces death and fear and is the first part of the story which links to the title. Fettes wants to meet him so he obviously has some sort of connection with him apart from the fact that they are both doctors “ Doctor has an unknown past” this shows that there are many thing which we don’t know about Fettes. Fettes knows the doctor well enough to know that he is older than himself however he has led a good life with a good conscience and digestion. Fettes says himself that he has led a life of sin which makes him sound suspicious “rum and sin” we wonder what life fettes has led, we don’t know much about him and nor do the characters, this makes the reader want to read on and find out fettes’ history and how he know this “doctor” who has just arrived in the village.
The Signal Man’s beginning is similar to the beginning of the body snatchers in the way that we are very supersticous of a certain character, the character being the signal man. The story begins in a pleasant way, again with nothing out of the usual happening or anything which could be portrayed as “spooky”. The location of where the story is set is slightly remote but apart from that there is no other elements of the gothic genre. However the behaviour of the signal man when he is politely question is slightly mysterious. When the narrator calls to him from above the signal man looks in the opposite direction from where the shout of the narrator are coming from “instead of looking up ……… looked down the line” does this mean that the signal man is expecting a call similar to that of the narrator to come from the direction of the tunnel down the line, the behaviour of the signal mad is odd and makes the reader want to read on in order to find out why.
There is a very detailed description of a train which passes, would this mean that part of the story is revolved around trains, how and when they pass the signalman?
When the narrator walks down towards the signal man he describes it as “unusually precipitate…. Clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down” this suggests that it is out of the ordinary and not what was expected it creates and atmosphere of superstition and makes us question what is going to happen next. Is the path created that way for a reason? Or is it just coincidence?
The setting is set well and makes the reader intrigued as to why the signal man acted so oddly in front of the narrator, why did the signal man act as thought he expected something to happen, why was he so sacred of the narrator and why did he think the narrator was going to do something to him. Did he have some kind of experience that was similar to this one before?
In the Body Snatchers the narrator is a regular in the pub, he knows everyone in the story apart from doctor MacFarlane. The narrators story is one sided, he could have exaggerated the story. He is also a character in the story and has been drinking which could affect the truthfulness of the story being told. The narrator is probably an old man, an alcoholic, who has lived in Debenham most of his life. He looks up to Fettes but is very curious and claims to be good at “worming out a story” and is also interested in Fettes past and tries to tell the story of Fettes past himself. The narrator doesn’t seem to interact with the characters much, he sits and listens attentively, the story being told could be based on his opinion and we don’t know his background. He has an over – reactive imagination, we assume he is a man. Suspense at the end of the story builds up rapidly until it is released on the last word, but we find that the narrator jumps to conclusions by judging characters however he is quite well educated.
The narrator in The Signal man is very much a main character in the story and is found slightly mysterious as well, to the point that no one knows why he was looking down on the signal man in the first place. The narrator seems to be a very curious character, he leads us to think that he had something to find out when asking the signal man questions because he is so interested and almost intrigued into the signal mans life story. The narrator seems to have some kind of supernatural connection with the signal man especially towards the end of the book when he some how knows that the train is coming and that the signal man has to get out of the way of the incoming train. We don’t know why or how the narrator gets to talk to the signal man and we don’t know any of his background apart from the fact that he has studied medicines and is well educated. He is a mystery to the audience.
The characters featured in the body snatchers are slightly mysterious we don’t find out much about each character, especially their backgrounds, we don’t know whether we can trust them. One of the most mysterious characters in the Body Snatchers would have to be Fettes. We don’t find out much about fettes’ character aren’t cant be sure whether we trust him or not. We are not given any background knowledge about him, although we find that he is known in Debenham as Doctor because he had “some special knowledge in medicine”. We find out that he drinks a lot and is known well in the pub, mainly for the amount that he did drink, most people knew what he drank and knew that the arm chair in the corner of the George was his spot. Although we know these small things about him he is still a mystery, as the narrator says “beyond these slight particulars we had no knowledge of his character and antecedents”, he is a mysterious character. He becomes even more mysterious when Doctor Wolfe Macfarlane enters the scenes we begin to think that there is a lot more to know about him than he lets on “…..you would think I was some good, old, decent Christian, would you not? But no, not I;” this shows us that there is in fact a lot more to be known about Fettes than we think and he is a very mysterious character we are led to think that he has some kind of deep secret that is maybe very sinful. We think that the secret could be sinful because he says people think he is a good Christian, followed by “But no, not I;” Fettes expresses little emotion throughout the first couple of paragraphs until he hears Macfarlane’s name, when he suddenly becomes sober and shocked this shows that he has obviously got some hidden facts about him. He shows us that he is full of emotion when he is shown as getting very worried and anxious when he doesn’t drink his usual five glasses of rum and couldn’t even finish his third he proves be very serious. Fettes also turns out to be less wicked than Macfarlane, which is unexpected, when he begins to feel guilty about people being killed for their bodies, he finds himself feeling regretful and scared. He also shows horrified and panic feelings when he sees the corpse of some one he knew, this shows to us that he does have feeling and can show his emotions and express them, he seems to be more respectable person than we first imagined when the narrator begins to make us feel sorry for him, the narrator does this by talking about how fettes didn’t realise what he was doing and what was happening and when he did find out, he was horrified and shocked. He also becomes offended when Wolfe offers him money this emphasised the fact that he’s a very proud person and doesn’t like to be pity and also the fact of how much he disliked Wolfe. We as the readers learn to trust fettes because he doesn’t seem like a particularly bad person and he reacts t o events that happen in the way that we’d expect a good trustworthy person to react.
The undertaker in the story is a mysterious character as not much is told about him and he isn’t talked about much, only in the beginning. He shows emotion (shock) when he hears that Fettes knows the doctor “do you know him doctor” asked the undertaker with a gasp.” we know here that the undertaker is shocked and slightly taken back because it says that the undertaker gasped, showing that he was shocked to hear this and wanted to find out how and why fettes knew this man. We cannot completely trust the undertaker as we don’t know anything about him; he could be anyone with any background, good or bad.
Macfarlane is also a particularly mysterious character a snot much is said about him at the start and not much is said about his past, for this reason he also seems Un- trustful and when he is described as being “bald, dirty, pimpled” and wearing an old cloak he doesn’t seem the sort of man who you could rust him seems like a bit of a freak and is probably seen as a bit of a threat to other characters in the story. He also portrays many of the characteristics of an evil man in the gothic genre which encourages us, the readers to feel that he is a threat and has come into the story to create a spooky atmosphere and prepare for what is ahead, he obviously lets us know that Fettes’ secrets would soon be reviled and the mysteries haunting the characters and questioning the readers would no longer be secrets or mysteries any longer. At the beginning when Dr MacFarlane first enters the pub Fettes reaction this leads us to believe that Macfarlane is not a good person and is probably going to ring bad happenings, Fettes’ reaction gives us a reason not to trust him and also brings more mystery about him into the story because he is obviously here for reason and this reason is most likely to be about Fettes as Fettes is the only person in the George who actually recognises him name. The doctor shows a lot of emotion when he first sees fettes but also acts in a weird way “…in a startled whisper,….” as though he is trying to hide from someone because he keeps whispering and checking behind his shoulder, acting as thought he doesn’t want anyone to know who he is, but is also happy to see fettes “I am overjoyed, overjoyed to have this opportunity”. He shows that he is offended when Fettes doesn’t take the money which is offered “a horrible, ugly look came …..” this shows he was offended and gave Fettes a dirty look which he slowly got over and made the best of the situation by almost apologising but keeping the offer of money still open to Fettes “I will leave you my address however…” did he says this in case fettes would need money later on? Therefore still leaving the offer open. The Narrator also affects our views on Macfarlane by making the reader dislike him even more by his “sneering and growling” like these were evil things to do also the way in which he is described makes us think that he is evil and just around to cause trouble. When fettes says “that man Macfarlane is not safe to cross; those that have done so already have repented it too late” this makes the audience feel that Macfarlane is a very dangerous person and that people should stay away from him. He is not trustworthy and doesn’t seem like a nice person.
Gray or the stranger is a mysterious character as he is described as strange all we know as the audience is that he is one of MacFarlane’s friends, we cant trust him as he is described as “ course, vulgar and stupid” which is an affect that the narrator has on the audience view of this character. He shows his emotion by being bossy and nasty to Wolfe which encourages Wolfe to be more angry and threatening than he is originally. The narrator describes him as a very loathsome rogue, making readers think he again is not trustworthy and not a nice or good person.
In the Signal man there are only two main characters, the signal man and the narrator , the signal man and the narrator are both main characters in the story and both of there characteristics can be considered.
The signal man is a very mysterious man, when the narrator who is a main character, comes to see him the signal man seems very uptight and worried; he also seems very suspicious and looks as though he’s feeling guilty about something. We think this because as soon as the signal man here the narrator shouting to him at the beginning he doesn’t look towards the narrator but towards the tunnel on the tracks as though something is there that he needs to keep an eye or to signal to whoever or whatever it was in the tunnel to go away, someone is here. The signal mans reaction to the narrator makes I feel very suspicious and worried for the narrator as the signal man was behaving so oddly. We could also have reason to be suspicious when the narrator states “….something in the man that daunted me.” This is off putting to the audience as they believe the narrator, there for think that the signal man is a threat and dangerous. Although we don’t find out much about the signal man we do know that he was well educated and study science, however he wasted that chance. The signal man doesn’t show much emotion towards the narrator, its only when he begins to talk about what he has been through and why he looked towards the tunnel when he heard the narrator calling when he shows the emotion of being scared and confused, he doesn’t know what is going on so doesn’t know what to do about it. We cannot trust the signal man because we don’t know who he is and whether when he tells these stories he is telling the truth or lying to try and play the narrator into some sort of trick. However because the narrator is telling the story we are forced into believing in the same views as the narrator has. The narrator is a main character in the story and so is entitled to have a one sided opinion, if he were looking at the story from our own point of view of the signal mans point of view we may see the narrator and the signal man from a new perspective and from a different angle which could change our views dramatically on whether or not the signal man is strange and mysterious and whether he is trustworthy or not.
The narrator in the story is also a mystery to us; we don’t know anything about his background or his life. It is also mystery as to why he went to the railway track and wanted to speak to the signal man in the first place, does it have anything to do with the story line or is it just coincidence? We are forced into trusting the narrator because he is the one telling the story so we believe that he has the answers to everything but in fact we probably shouldn’t believe him because he is just as much of a mystery to us as The signal man is, we don’t know anymore about the narrator than we do the signal man in fact we probably know more about the signal than the narrator. The narrator shows quite a lot of emotion, especially the end of the story when the signal man is killed, the end shows us that the narrator really did care, not only because he was upset when he found that the signal man was killed but also because even from a distance, and not being able to see what was happening he knew what was going on, it was like something supernatural was going on and he subconsciously knew that the signal man was in trouble and that those words “halloa! Below there!” had been said one last time and the result this time was the death of the signal man.
The setting in gothic stories is a very important factor, this is because the setting in a gothic story is what gives it its atmosphere, if the story was set in the summer in the day time on a bright cheerful day, not many people would find it frightening but if the story was set in the dead of night on a long cold winters night an audience would find the atmosphere a lot more spooky.
In the body snatchers we are not immediately hit with a description of the setting which creates atmosphere but one which sets the scene, once the scene is set Stevenson begins to create a spooky atmosphere. At the beginning there is a mention of rain, snow and frost which indicate s a dreary setting, the setting cant just indicate the atmosphere but also the moods of the characters, this particular setting portrays the characters as rather weary and lethargic. Stevenson makes the event seem much more normal so he can build it up further and makes it more dramatic. “one dark winter night” creates and atmosphere and shows us that its no ordinary night it is one dark winters night making the audience think it is out of the ordinary, “ it had struck nine” this emphasises the fact that it is late and getting dark. This shows a sense of mystery, which builds up suspense within the audience. It creates an eerie feeling and also highlights the fact the characters are in a dreary mood, a sense of insecurity that something is going to happen. An inn gives us an idea of normality and security, the loud of an inn highlights a friendly, welcoming place. There was not much light in the George which gave us a mysterious feeling, a gloomy and dreary sense of insecurity. The presence of so many witnesses at the George shows that there was a lot of people in the inn and the fact that there was a big red fire and candles gave a sense of warmth and security and makes the audience feel that they are in a cosy, safe environment this makes the setting seem less frightening, Stevenson could of done this so that when something big and frightening did happen it would seem a lot more dramatic. “At four in the morning” this indicates the beginning of a new story. The time gives a feeling of mystery, darkness and suspense; it leads the audience to feel curiosity. Later on in the story when things begin to pick up and settings are describe in much more detail which creates a lot more spookiness for the audience and makes the plot more frightening. Stevenson uses the settings to create a sense of insecurity and to make the story seem more dramatic and increase tension and fear. “the lights, the fire, the beating rain upon the window, the cold incongruous work that lay before them” this for instance emphasises the fact that it is winter and the wind is howling, it creates a gloomy atmosphere and makes the reader tense and in fear of what is to come next.
The setting in the signal man is less spooky than that of the body snatchers although it also portrays most of the gothic story characteristics. The signal man is set in a remote place in the middle of the countryside in a “deep trench” where little people go or visit, the signal mans only company are the trains that pass him every so often. The fact that there is a very dark tunnel lose by adds to this sense of spookiness and gives the audience ideas and superstitions as to why he keeps looking at this dark, black hole. The setting in the signal man doest change in the ay that the body snatchers does and isn’t focussed so much on making the story frightening by the atmosphere, settings and surroundings but by the supernatural presence which is in the air, this is what the author uses to make the story gothic and frightening, he know that this will scar the readers because at the time when the story was written supernatural beings and happenings were very popular and believed it to a large extent, this made the setting of the signal man that bit more believable and realistic, increasing how dramatic it was therefore making it more and tense and frightening.
The language used in gothic stories is always very important because it describes things happening helping to build tension, suspense and fear to the stories.
In the body snatchers the language is very formal, 19th century language, sometimes Archaic language is used in places e.g. begone, where I cast it, lucre this adds to the atmosphere of the gothic century. The verbs which Stevenson uses suggest strong emotions especially of fear and wickedness – “staggered, startled, dashed, fled, cried, despised and desecrate, forced, torn , leaped and terrified” all of these make the emotions stand out more in a gothic way. Stevenson also tended to use descriptive and nominal groups often to suggest the terrifying or evil for example “disreputable vices”, “fleeting infidelities”, sudden emotion”, gasp”, awful pause” abdominal ruffians”. The language is always used to set the scene, for example, “one dark winter night”. It is written in formal language and there is no slang. The language used is very descriptive and appearances are described in detail “his eyes awoke; his voice became clear, loud and steady”. When a character says something, the author Robert Louis Stevenson describes how they said it and often uses other verbs such as “cried” or “repeated” this brings variety into the language which he uses and keeps the audience a lot more interested in the story.
He uses lots of descriptive language. There’s more adjectives and descriptive writing than dialogue which heightens the suspense, also helping to create a picture in the readers mind.
Stevenson uses lots of dramatic language to increase suspense, “a horrible sense of blackness and the treachery of fate seized hold upon the soul of a unhappy student” the language is also very complex which adds to the effect and makes the story more spooky.
Gruesome language and alliteration towards the end makes the story more dramatic e.g. “despise and desecrate”, “world of wet”.
Corpses are described in many different ways “tragic burden”, “ghastly packages” this adds variety and also makes it more gruesome than it already is.
Stevenson seems to like using similes they make things more realistic “ as if a man had risen from the dead”, as two vultures may swoop upon a dying lamb” all of these also makes the story more personal and makes it easier to imagine.
The language in the signal man is formal and not much slang is used, this makes the story more realistic. There is lots of descriptive writing for example “…. A clammy stone which became oozier and wetter as I went down…”
Dickens tends to use rather complex language which could confuse the character but does show that it is a rather complex story line which it is and questions are left unanswered e.g. “precipitate, terminating, barbarous, perused, and saturnine”
Not so much gruesome language is used in the signal man because it is not a tale of gruesomeness but one of the supernatural beings, there is no need for gruesomeness but for using the supernatural realm to scare readers and make them feel threatened, uptight and to build tension.
Dickens chooses the words he uses to describe things very carefully as to get the full effect of what is trying to say into words. This helps the audience to imagine what is going on, dickens does this well as it is very easy for the audience to imagine what is going on in the story and picture what is going on in their minds.
Overall I would say that both The Body Snatchers and The Signal Man create fear and suspense:
The body snatchers is a story based on true people , Berk and Hare, which make it more believable and realistic and the way that it is written helps to create fear and suspense and to fit into the gothic genre of story writing. It successfully creates fear using its gruesome similes and metaphors, the story line and how the characters are so unpredictable and mysterious; you get worried as to what the characters are going to do next and what other dark secrets they are going to pull out of their closets. The way that Stevenson opens the story is good because it is innocent and creates a more dramatic build up, suspense making the audience tenser and making them want to read on in fear of what might happen.
The Signal Man is very different to The Body Snatchers; this is because it is based on a completely different aspect of gothic writing, not the gruesomeness but the supernatural side of gothic writing. This could be seen as more frightening than the body snatchers because supernatural beings were know as being evil, the devil or for having powers which could not be defeated by any human being. The Victorian period was known for having a deep interest supernaturalism which makes the story more realistic to people of that time. Suspense is create well in the story because we as the audience know that the “being” is going to appear three times but the narrator doesn’t so the audience are sat waiting for it to happen while the characters ponder on what is going on, it creates a lot of tension on the audiences behalf and also creates fear.
I preferred reading the story of The Body Snatchers because I thought it was a lot more realistic and I could relate it directly to something that happened in history, Berk and Hare, I also thought that it was easy to understand and didn’t leave so many unanswered questions like The Signal Man did, I like a story that has a direct, understandable finish, in the signal man you don’t actually find out who or what it was that was calling the signal man because eventually the signal man is killed of and the story is left unanswered, I think it Is much more effective to finish a story with no lose ends because then the reader can be satisfied that a conclusion has been reached. The body snatchers was also a more thrilling read and I think that it created fear more successfully than The signal man this could have been because it was set in different places which were isolated and remote and was also set at night when it was dark, the weather was bad whereas in the signal it was set in the day still in a remote place but no reference to the weather was made. Overall I thought that The Body Snatchers had a better and more interesting storyline which one could relate to more easily.
