'"There was something very strange about Williams death-very strange indeed!" sighed a melancholy man in the back of the van.'
All the stories start with a dialogue and this makes us want to read more. We feel that we are in the place of the character and we are drawn into the story straight away, ready to be more scceptible to the devices used to create tension.
The characters in both 'The Red Room' and 'The Cone' give us a sense of tension as we don’t know what to expect from them. The characters are unpredictable and the description that we get of them adds to the tension. The people seem scary and make us feel that something bad will happen, involving the various characters. For example, in 'The Red Room' when the man is there in the house he meets various old people, who all have a frightening image:
"He supported himself by a single crutch; his eyes were covered by a shade, and his lower lip, half-averted, huge pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth."
This description gives us a horrid image of this old man. It creates a scary image and you are note sure what to expect from this particular man. The description builds up tension as they are unpredictable. Also, in 'The Cone' the description of the characters creates tension. The character of Horrocks is kept silent, and we don’t know anything about him and when we are introduced to him, all we see is a 'shadowy figure':
"In the shadow of the room stood a great shadowy figure-silent."
This description of Horrocks tells us that he is unpredictable as he has just appeared and nobody knows who he is. It creates a sense of tension as, like all the other characters, we are unsure of what he will decide to do next. We have a lack of knowledge about him, and we don't know who he is, but we find out later on. Horrocks creates tension which is maintained throughout. We feel that he is keeping something away from us, as we don’t know if Horrocks has heard about Raut and the woman.
The characters which are described in the stories all maintain tension and suspense for the readers. The descriptions which we are given are mostly negative and this adds to the tension, as it makes us suspect that they will do something horrific next.
The setting which is described in 'The Red Room', 'The Cone' and 'The Superstitious Man's Story' contributes in creating tension. This is because usually gothic style stories are mainly set in haunted houses. Although 'The Red Room' is, 'The Cone' is not set in a haunted house. However, the setting is a major part as it sets the scene up and it makes us create an image in our minds to show that we are actually there. In 'The Red Room' the setting is a haunted house and it is this what makes people believe it has a ghost inside. The story has been written in the style of a gothic story, although we find out that there is no supernatural ending. The setting of the haunted house is described by the narrator as he is going to the room:
"The echo's rang up and down the spiral staircase, and a shadow came sweeping up after me, and one fled me into the darkness overhead."
This creates tension as it is set in a haunted house and the description given creates a vivid picture in our minds. The 'shadows sweeping' after him makes us believe that there is more than one person in the hallway, and this also builds up the tension. Also, the darkness makes it seem as though he will be swallowed up and something bad will come up. All these descriptions help us create a very good image of the things around him and put us in the place of the character. Similarly, in 'The Cone', the setting also creates tension. We know straight away from the opening paragraph that something bad will happen as it describes the setting being hot:
"The night was hot and overcast, the sky-rimmed with the lingering sunset of midsummer."
The opening lines set the scene and straight away create tension as well. This is because it describes it being hot and the colour of the sunset relates to the heat. It shows that there may be violence and the characters are short-tempered. The strong orange colour of the sky also relates to the iron works, when the iron is melted, as it has a very strong and bright orange colour. This also helps to create a picture in the readers mind. Also, in 'The Superstitious Man's Story', the setting which is described later in the story creates tension. It describes the church, and as the story is related to death, it gives us a negative image:
"Last night, being Old Midsummer Eve, some of us went to church porch, and didn’t get home till near one."
This description which is given, gives us a negative image of the church, as it is late and also the story is to do with death. It may relate to graveyards in the church and evil spirits. This tells us something bad might happen, although it is near a church, which should have something good about it.
In all three stories, the setting sets the scene very well; to make the reader create a vivid image of what might happen next. The setting creates tension as you want to know what will happen next.
The feelings of characters, creates tension in both 'The Red Room' and 'The Cone'. The feelings the characters go through creates an image in out minds as if we are there present. We feel that we are in the character's place. This creates tension as we are unaware of what the character might do next, and we don’t know what will happen next either. In 'The Red Room' we see the narrators feelings very strongly, when he has entered the room. We see clearly that the narrator feels no comfort in being there:
The echoing of the stair and crackling of the fire was no sort of comfort to me."
The narrator felt that noises around him were making him frightened. It tells us that in the room it was silent, and once he had examined it, he stood there and he felt frightened by noises he could hear around him. Although these were normal noises he wasn’t sure what they really were and this made him really scared and he wasn’t comfortable to be in the room. These noises would also create tension, as he was in a haunted house at the time, and these noises could have been anything. Also in 'The Cone' the feelings of the woman in the story are shown. This is when Horrocks comes into the room when the woman and Raut are having a conversation. Everyone is quite and nobody talks. The narrator shows clearly how the woman is feeling at this point:
"The women's heart was cold within her."
At this point the woman isn’t quite sure whether her husband has heard about what has just been said. She has a feeling that her husband might have heard everything what had been said between the man and the woman. Also it is kept silent when her husband walks into the room. It creates a sense of suspense which remains throughout the whole story and we never find out if Horrocks has found out about the affair. Also, as the room is silent, she feels scared of what someone might say next, if anyone does say anything. She feels scared and this is describes as her heart being 'cold within her', as everyone is quiet.
The feeling of characters creates and maintains tension, as we are unaware of what will happen next. The feelings are shown very strongly and it seems as we are in place of the characters.
In 'The Red Room' and 'The Cone', devices such as metaphors, similes and personification are used to build up tension and uphold it throughout the stories. Devices such as these are used to give the reader a clearer image of what is going on. Personification has been used in 'The Red Room' and this device is given to the candles. When the man is in the room, the candles keep blowing out themselves. And the candles have been given personification by describing them as having 'hands':
"As I stood undecided, an invisible hand seemed to sweep out the two candles on the table."
This is where the narrator has given candles human features, in this case hands. He talks about hands coming out and this is what was blowing the candles out. This gives us an image of a ghost being in the room, and this is why the narrator is relating to 'invisible hands'. The hands coming out also makes us seem that there is someone else present in the room, and this creates tension. Also in 'The Cone' similar devices such as these are used, to create a vivid image of something. A metaphor is used to show Horrocks' anger in the story. When they start to talk in the room, a metaphor is used to show the anger of Horrocks:
"Fire of his eyes"
This metaphor shows his anger. It describes the anger as being 'fire' and this means he is short-tempered. In the room there is silence and this is what is making Horrocks angry. This device in particular helps us to create a good vivid image of his anger, in connection with the silence.
Many technical devices are used throughout the stories, and these are used in particular to help a build up of a picture. These also create tension as we are in the place of the characters, and the imagery we are given helps to have the feelings the characters have.
The use of particular sentence structures is another source of tension. In both 'The Red Room' and 'The Cone', the structure of sentences helps us to imagine that we are there. The types of sentences which are used also help us to feel what it is like. When there are lots of small sentences next to each other, we get the feeling that it is building up to something dramatic and this creates anticipation for the reader, and so we continue to read on to find out what will happen next. Sometimes long sentences may be used if the character is in danger or is panicking. In 'The Red Room' the sentence structure used is long when, the man is running around the room trying to keep up and light the candles:
"With a cry of terror, I dashed at the alcove, then into the corner, and then into the window, relighting three, as two more vanished by the fireplace…"
This is a long sentence and it helps to create tension as it shows that when the man is in the room, he is running quicker and quicker to light up the candles. He is panicking as he runs from one end of the room to the other, and he is panting to get his breathe back. The commas separate the phrases and when we take a breath it means that the man has stopped to get his breath back. It creates a very vivid picture, and it puts us in place of the character. You can tell that the sentence is very long as I have put '…' there to show this. The sentence is really six lines long. Similarly in the 'The Cone', short sentences are used to create and maintain suspense and tension. When the man and woman are talking in the room, her husband walks in. this is where tension is created and from here onwards it is maintained that way:
"Then suddenly the door clicked and closed. They turned their heads, and he started violently back."
At this point there are a few short like the ones above. These help to create tension as the 'shadowy figure' has just entered the room, and the conversation between the man and woman has come to a sudden end. It builds up tension, and also raises the question to the reader of how long the man had been there, and important of all, if the man had heard the conversation. These all help to build up the tension, and the questions which would be raised by the reader, would cause anticipation and make the readers read on.
Sentence structure helps in building tension, as the length of sentence lets you know what might come next. You want to read on, and you feel that you are the character. The way you read the sentence also helps to create a picture of what situation the character may be in.
Tension is created and maintained through out all three pre 1914 short stories. This is done by the help of language devices such as metaphors, similes, personification and many other descriptions which are given to us, to put us in the place of the character. The opening creates tension, in the fact that we don’t' know what has been going on and it feels we have been dragged right into the middle of everything. This creates anticipation for the reader and makes them continue to read as we are unaware of what is to come next. Description of characters also creates tension as we are given mostly negative aspects of the character. This give us a negative view on that character and we are not sure what they might do, as we have a suspense that he might do something bad to someone else. Description of setting creates tension as it sets the scene and gives us a view on the mood of characters. Mostly on a scene which is set at night, is scarier and creates more tension, whereas if it was daytime people wouldn't be as scared, although it may influence the readers as creating tension. Feelings of characters creates tension in all stories, as it puts us in the place of the character and the description makes us feel, how the character is feeling. This creates tension and also maintains it, as we don’t know what will happen next. Imagery such as metaphors, similes and personification maintains the tension during the stories. It makes us create a flamboyant picture, of what is going on. Sentence structure also gives us a sense of tension as the build up of sentences tells us an important part is coming up, which creates anticipation for the readers.
The work of H.G. Wells and Thomas Hardy has been successful and the way in which all three pre 1914 stories create tension and the way it is maintained.
