In this second paragraph, I am going to show how the main characters in the two stories create tension. In “The Speckled Band”, Dr.Roylott in the extract seems to be a wild dangerous man. For example, “but a terrible change came over my stepfather about this time… and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels… violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditably in the man of the family, and in my stepfathers case it had.
Violence of temper approaching to mania… a series of disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police court… for he is a man of immense strength and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. This quotation shows the way tension is raised, this also shows that he wants to be by himself and badly feels isolated by his family. On the other hand, the signalman’s character is that he has an attitude problem. For example, “I saw that he was standing between the rails on the way by which the train had lately passed, in an attitude as if he were waiting for me to appear. He had his left hand on his chin, and that left elbow rested on his right hand crossed over his breast. His attitude was one of such expectation and watchfulness, that I resumed my downward way, and, stepping out upon the level of the railroad and drawing nearer to him, saw that he was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows”.
This shows that not much tension has risen because there’s not much description compared to The Speckled Band. His Character creates mystery and suspense that is why the signalman creates tension a lot in the story.
In addition, both stories have foreboding deaths, for example in “The Signalman”. “Now, sir, mark this, and judge how my mind is troubled. The spectre came back, a week ago. Ever since, it has been there, now and again, by fits and starts”. This raises tension; this also shows that the signalman is worried because he thinks it means another death. Moreover, in “The Speckled Band”, the quotation used to explain a foreboding death was, “There burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister’s voice… and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had fallen. I stared at it horror – stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. This raises tension its maximum more than anywhere else in the two stories does, it shows horror, fears that something might happen her (Ms. Stoner).
In this paragraph, I am going to show that both stories have an apparition. For example, in “The Signalman”, “One moonlight night, said the man, I was sitting here, when I heard a voice cry “Holloa! Below There!” “I started up, looked from that door and saw this someone else standing by the red light near the tunnel, waving as I just now showed you. The voice seemed hoarse with shouting, and it cried, “Look out!” “Look out!” “And then again “Holloa!” “Below There” “Look out!” “I caught up my lamp, turned it red, and ran towards the figure, calling”, “What’s wrong?” “What was happened?” “Where?” This shows that it creates tension, because the apparition is out of this world and is beyond “Unnatural”.
In this paragraph, I am going to show that the narrator is present in both extracts. For example, in “The Signalman”, “When he heard a voice thus calling him, he was standing at the door of his box, with a flag in his hand, furled round its short pole. One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter the voice came; but, instead of looking up to where I stood on the top of the steep cutting nearly over his head, he turned himself about and looked down the line. This shows that the narrator being present created a bit of tension at the beginning of the story. In addition, in “The Speckled Band”, this quotation creates a lot of tension. For example, “The very horror of my situation lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicious depend so entirely upon small points, which might see trival to another. This is Helen Stoner’s narration, this shows that something is wrong nut not sure what it is, it also creates suspense and is a lack of darity.
