“The Signalman” was written in the period it was set in. I feel that sometimes this means a story can become out of date a lot quicker as the ideas are more relevant at the time. However in this case, I do not think it has happened. It uses modern and contemporary ideas, for the period it is from. It was based on an incident that Charles Dickens encountered first hand, this means he is able to describe it in a far more realistic manner. The characters involved are well thought out. The opposite positions in the social hierarchy that the two main characters hold make it universal. It is universal because everyone meets someone at some point of their life that is in an extremely different position to themselves; this helps people to relate.
“The man with the twisted lip” relies strongly on the generalised impression of a high class Victorian man. It is original and surprising to read a story that goes against this, claiming that not all these glamorous high class families are perfect. The setting is one that the audience of that time would be familiar with It is set at the time it was written meaning that they can really believe it and see it could happen. The Victorian age was one of destitution, poverty and mainly social division. This story seems to show that the classes are not as far apart as some may think, using a high class man pretending to be a beggar- showing the lower classes they may indeed have the better deal! It may also be there to prove to people that things are not as bad as they seem. It seems to be written exactly as it was, with little exaggeration, so is easy to believe, and enjoy.
In “the Red Room” it is clear that the setting is of a gothic and antique nature, meaning it was obviously not written in the time it is set. This means that it will not become out of date very quickly and the story is more universal. It is similar to most ghost stories as it uses strange characters and a history of ghost related incidents to get the reader involved!
‘The Signalman’ begins by describing a rather repulsive setting. It says:
“There was a barbarous, depressing and forbidding air.” Even this slight depiction of the main setting makes the reader immediately feel rather shocked. I feel that it is written as though warning the reader that something terrible is about to happen. There is no doubt that the description has a focus around death. Having previously mentioned the “deadly smell” it goes onto compare this setting to “leaving the natural world”. I feel that this has been written for a reason, it is almost the first sign that something terrible is unquestionably going to happen. However the reader does not quite know what this shocking descriptive technique is trying to warn them about. Meaning already they are asking questions and eager to find out what all of this means. This merely builds the tension and further clouds the mystery for the audience.
The correct use of light helps to make the story seem a lot scarier; for example:
“he was a dark sallow man, with a dark beard…” and: “a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnel.” From the description of the mysterious character, to the description of the mysterious setting the imagery of darkness is used to make these seem even more mysterious. It is showing that there are still things about the man, and about the setting in the dark- or that we do not know. I feel that the darkness represents this feeling of mystery. It is like if there is not enough light shining on an object you can not see the whole thing, here we cannot see the whole picture. I also think that in those days most people were scared of the dark and so is a simple yet definite way to immediately startle the audience.
There is a lot of reference to the after life, death and ghosts in this story. Everything seems to be in someway linked to these types of subjects. For example it says:
“…saw my figure high above him.” And later says “…it was made through a clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down.” Although when this is first read it does not seem to be directly linked to the main subjects throughout the story, it is. The repetition of descending downwards makes the reader, subconsciously, make a link to hell. It seems that at the beginning when the speaker is above the cutting he is safe and there is hope. However as he descends down to the strange character things seem to get worse. Also the imagery of oozing damp ground is not very pleasant, like the walk to hell. Here it is as though this is just the beginning of the subtle mentions of death, and the audience may find themselves pleading for the speaker to turn and go back, to save himself.
In the ‘Red Room’ there is rich description used as the character is making his way towards the room. The walk that he takes to get there is obviously underground, it says:
“The long, draughty subterranean passage was chilly and dusty.” I feel that they have highlighted the fact that it is underground in order to make it feel more scary. I think that being under ground it gives the effect of having no escape. The fact that the passage is dusty shows that people have not been down there very often, this emphasises how ridiculous it is for him to be going there. The word chilly is often associated with being frightened – ‘sent a chill down my spine’, so I feel this word has been chosen for that reason. People will subconsciously feel on edge. This description does not give much away about the passage. All it has in effect said is that the passage is long, cold and dirty; the rest is left to the imagination. I think this is a very good way to add to the mystery.
There is a heavy atmosphere throughout the ‘Red Room’. This is made by the main characters imagination running wild. For example when he is on his way to the room it says:
“a shadow came sweeping up after me, and one fled before me into the darkness overhead.” This gives the impression that some sort of ghost or supernatural force is chasing him. It makes the feeling of the story very scary. We feel empathy for this man who is to enter the haunted room. We do not know quite what it is that is casting the shadow, meaning that we are left to our own imagination. The writer only tells us what the main character knows at this point, meaning that everything is still mysterious to us.
When in the room the character is faced with many mysterious happenings:
“While I stood gaping, the candle at the bottom of the bad went out, and the shadows seemed to take another step towards me.” The word gaping makes the audience extremely worried, as they cannot find any comfort in the main character, he is just as, if not more scared than the audience. This helps keep the audience in suspense. Everything seems to happen very quickly, just as the main character is taking a breath more candles blow out. This keeps the audience interested and forever on the edge of their seat; they have no chance of recovering form the fear of the story. Lastly the shadows are personified. I think that this is done so that the audience are confused as to whether it is just his mind playing tricks on him, or if a supernatural force is to blame for everything. It is another way of keeping the story very mysterious.
In ‘The man with the twisted lip’ Watson describes, in detail, the walk to the opium den, this helps us to get a real feeling as to what the setting is really like. He says: “Upper Swandem Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves…” and he goes on to say “…approached by a steep flight of stairs leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave…” By using the word ‘lurking’, Watson has personified the alley. This technique is used a lot in frightening stories, as it makes the surroundings seem alive and threatening. In this case it has made the alley seem suspicious, sinister and ominous. Already we have a good picture of what this place is going to be like. By comparing the stairs to the mouth of a cave, a distinct picture is formed in the audience’s minds; of a mysterious, daunting and potentially dangerous place. It says ‘approached’ as though Watson has been threatened by the stairs. All of this personification makes us realise that something is no doubt going to happen. If the setting is like this, then we can only imagine what the inhabitants must be like, and the audience are left in suspense to find this out.
When describing the setting of this story there is a lot of suggestion towards the fact that something scary is going to happen. There seems to be many signs that are warning the audience of this. For example it says:
“Out of the black shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes.” Red is regularly used as a warning colour in modern everyday life, and it was used in much the same way back in Victorian times. This simple piece of imagery immediately, yet subconsciously makes the audience on edge. The word ‘glimmered’ is used here; I feel this is like the calm before the storm. This confuses the audience, as everything seems rather relaxed, yet the red light reminds them something is going to happen. We are left in suspense to find out what this ‘something’ may be.
Lastly it is mostly set at night time, in dark, gloomy, and dim conditions. Part of the description of setting reads:
“Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer.” The darkness is a very well-known setting; everyone has from one time to another found darkness somewhat scary. This makes it a very universal setting for a ghost story. Everyone is familiar with what it is like to be out while it is dark, in Victorian times it was even more common, as they didn’t have things like street lamps. People can easily relate to this setting and how scary it is. On top of this, the characters seem to be similar to their setting, as though they are inanimate objects rather than real people. The sense of them watching this newcomer is very scary, he cannot see them, however they are looking at him. The darkness helps to make all of this come to life and make more sense within the story.
All of the stories use the colour red to convey a sense of danger to the audience. In ‘the Signalman’, the warning light is red, obviously ‘the Red Room’ is strongly based around this colour, and lastly in ‘the Man with the Twisted Lip’ mention of the colour red is frequently used throughout the story. This is a universal way of reminding the audience everything is not correct, and something bad is bound to happen, keeping them in edge and nervous.
Both ‘the Red Room’ and ‘the Signalman’ are set in rather isolated places. I feel this is done to add to the danger felt by the audience. Both settings seem to be places that you would not like to find yourself alone at; here the characters are alone. This makes the audience empathise for them. Also the isolation is a clear and simple way of showing these are not popular destinations, maybe due to past incidents. This means right from the beginning the reader is weary and expecting the worst; their imaginations are running wild.
In all of the stories the main frightening parts are set at night time. Obviously it is dark at this time which makes the audience immediately scared. Also night time seems to be the time where people are mostly anxious, worried and nervous. As soon as this setting is established the audience feel these emotions. This keeps them in suspense to find out what this night time will bring. Darkness is associated with ghosts and ghouls, helping the reader to imagine what may lie ahead.
All of the stories seem to be centred on the theme of death. They all manage this in extremely different ways. In ‘the Man with the Twisted Lip’ there are no real deaths, however for some of the story it is believed there has been one. In ‘the Red Room’ death is merely spoken about in the past tense, meaning no deaths actually take place during the story. Although in ‘the Signalman’ a death does in fact occur. They all have the same main topic, but use it in very diverse ways.
All of the stories rely heavily on imagination. They seem to give limited description in order to keep the audience involved. I think this is a very good technique to use, as each story is personalised by the readers own imagination. Also the audience can substitute their fears into the story so it is scarier for the individual.
Each story has made different use of its characters. ‘The Signalman’ has only two main characters, one of a lower class and the other higher class. This opposite in characters makes the story have a more universal appeal. The man with the twisted lip also uses opposites when in come to characters, this may be to help the audience understand others points of view at this time of social division. On the other hand, the red room uses characters whose social status is not clear. The red room seems to be the only story that uses it characters to create fear in the audience. They are not very pleasant looking characters and seem to be rather mysterious making the audience nervous about them.
At the end of all of the stories it is clear what has been scaring, haunting or even fooling the main characters. This gives the audience chance to make predictions to the ending and have fun finding out what happened. I feel it can make the audience have a more entertaining time. However, I think it is more mysterious when some questions are left unanswered. ‘The Red Room’ seems to be the only one that leaves a certain amount of mystery at the end, as it is still fairly unclear what really happened. I think this works very well.
Having read all of the stories, compared the different techniques used in each and studied the overall atmosphere each creates I feel that the most able at producing mystery and suspense is ‘the Red Room’. I say this for many reasons. Firstly it makes good use of a variety of sentences, when something scary is happening the sentences are very short and this makes the audience left in further suspense. As I have mentioned, leaving it open ended also leaves the reader in mystery. H.G. Wells seems to have got a very good balance of description, with a mental picture easy to build up, yet space for personalisation to occur. The background story used is not in full detail, adding mystery in the past tense also. The characters are well developed and this helps the audience to believe and become fully involved in the story. I enjoyed all of the stories, yet for the above reasons feel ‘the Red Room’ works the best.