These two characters meet in the same place the next day where the signalman talks about ghostly warnings and accidents that have occurred after and maybe due to these warnings. At this point he tells the man about recent a ghostly warning but nothing had yet happened due to this and that he was worried about what might happen. This gives a feeling of dread in the same way that the old people in ‘The Red Room’ do when they say you are not going to stay there on this night because it implies that something is going to happen
Their meeting continues for long enough for the man to get quite scared about ghosts even though he is not quite sure that he believes in them.
As the man is about to start his journey home he looks down into the cutting and sees a figure that he believes is a ghost. At this point it is quite dark and I think that this is used to create a ghostly felling as well as being by the damp and dark cutting. These factors could contribute quite heavily to what the man has seen. As he is watching this he has an irresistible sense that something is wrong. He makes his way back down into the cutting to find that the signalman has been run down by a train which he thought was a ghost train. This compares to “The Red Room” in the way that is their mind not ghosts that cause them harm.
‘The Red Room’ is set in the servant’s quarters of an old manor house. The story starts in a living where the elderly care takers are sitting and having a drink. At this point the man seems very confident about his stay in the red room as he sits in the comfort of the warm fire lit room. He notes the strange behavior of the man with the withered arm who keeps repeating “it is of your own choosing”. This adds suspense by making him think that the man with the withered arm doesn’t want any responsibility over what happens to him in the room.
He also notices that the caretakers seem inhuman or as if they are from an older age. This also adds suspense by making the reader think that there is something strange about the house. At the end of their meeting the man asks if someone will show him to this allegedly haunted room to which he gets the reply that he will have to go alone ‘on this night of all nights’. This last quote makes the reader think that this is a bad night to be staying in the re room. The man agrees, gets directions and then exits the room. As he dose so he is hit by the harsh contrast between the warm fire lit room and the dark damp corridor that now awaited him. This sudden contrast makes the corridor feel spooky and also paints a good picture in our mind of this new corridor. The use of cold, damp and dark sets the scene very well for the mans journey to the red room. “I shut them in and walked down the chilly echoing passage”. The way that he says I shut them in makes us think that he is leaving into a completely different atmosphere.
As the man is walking down the corridor his mind starts to wander and due to the ghostly setting he starts to become slightly paranoid. ‘A bronze group stood up the landing, hidden from me by the corner of the wall, but its shadow fell in such a distinctiveness on the white paneling and gave the impression to waylay me. This is a similarity between the two stories in the way that certain points build suspense up to a ghostly event which we know will happen This quote shows that his mind is wandering and causes him to feel fear which is a big contrast compared to the confident fearless man who stood earlier in the caretakers living room. This is because of the change of atmosphere and he felt safe and secure in that warm well lit room. The man also has his hand on his revolver which shows that he is on edge just because of the creepy scenery and also makes him feel secure.
When he reaches the red room he is not sure that he wants to go in and thinks about what happened to his predecessor. I think that this is done to make you feel wary and almost scared of the room before you have even got into the room. After he has entered the room, locked the door and settled down he decides to examine the room to make sure everything was ordinary. When he felt sure that everything was commonplace he sat down with his revolver at his side. The way he keeps his gun close by shows how he is still on edge even though nothing out of the ordinary has happened.
He decides to light the fire and some candles but it is still quite dim due to shadows from all of the dark old fashioned. As he spent more time her he tries to keep the ghostly room of his mind. The way that he tries so hard to light up the room shows how the thought of things that might be there makes him feel uncomfortable and even venerable.
When the clock reached after midnight and the man had settled down in a chair he noticed a candle go out and as he went to relight it and so did another and another until the shadows of the room where creeping close together. He frantically tried to relight them but as the candles continued to go out he was getting more and more terrified he began to run around the room trying to re light the candles until the room was so dark all he could do was rush for the corridor but he had forgotten the exact position of the door and ran headlong into it. This sent him into a frenzy as he ran around looking for the door and as he did so he fell and can remember no more. The two stories compare here because they are demonstrating the power of the human mind and what it can make you believe.
The next day he woke up in a bed surrounded by the old housekeepers and managed to recall partly what had happened but he knew that what haunts the room is the fear in your mind.
The two stories have one main similarity which is their ghostly theme. They both follow a dark story line. This is a quote from “The Signalman”; so little sunlight ever found its way to this spot that it had an earthy, deadly smell. The scene is described in a way that is meant to scare the reader and keep them on the edge of their seat. This type of writing keeps the reader aware and focused throughout the story. There is also a death in each one of the stories. ‘The great red room of Lorraine castle in which the young duke had died’. I think that death is displayed in the story to demonstrate the power of the ghost or supernatural presence. The type of righting used In “The Red Room” is very dark and keeps you thinking about what could be there. “The Signalman’ uses an old fashioned style of righting with words like ‘Haloa! Below’ witch means hello below.