In ‘The Signalman’ the narrator describes the signalman as ‘‘…a dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows’’. The signalman sounds like a man that never leaves his home, or sees anyone so he would have no reason to make himself look nice. It already creates the idea that he’s an unhappy man, that doesn’t feel like he has much reason to live. This is created because of the quotation about his heavy eyebrows, which are usually created by frowning. Sallow skinned is often formed when you have no sunlight to the skin, which would make sense because he’s shadowed between the two cuttings of land. Later on in the story he is also said to have hollow eyes, ‘‘…with hollow eyes…’’ hollow often means vacant there’s something, there but it’s empty. The signalman’s eyes have an empty look; it’s probably because he got so many thoughts going round his head about this figure that he’s not concentrating when doing everyday activities.
The main light source used in this story is candles, how they light up the great red room. When the narrator starts to light up the candles in ‘The Red Room’ they go out as fast as he lights them, but with no sound just black smoke appearing from them. ‘‘the flame vanished’’. ‘‘the first one then another’’. This firstly suggests that the narrator is not alone this builds tension, this also makes the reader ask the question - ’why is this happening?’, it makes the reader think and creates an air of mystery and tension. When he lights the candles, it’s like daylight which is seen as a good thing, as it’s said that ghosts don’t come out during the day, but when the candles are blown out this is seen as the night the evil presence of a wicked ghost.
In ‘The Signalman’ he can see above him one light source, which is a strip of sky. This is because of the high stone walls that ‘trap’ him away from everyday life; it’s like a dungeon down there. The narrator however is in the glow of an angry sunset, as he is stood above the deep trench where the signalman is, whereas the signalman is down on the railway surrounded by a shadow of the high stone walls, as if he’s trapped by the darkness. There’s a part of the story which says ‘‘can’t rise into the sunset’’. This could mean that the signalman is going through a bad period in his life and he can’t be taken into the good area of his life (the light). The tunnel on the railway line is also in pitch black ‘‘...The gloomier entrance to a black tunnel’’. This shows the signalman is surrounded by darkness.
The writer uses onomatopoeia. ‘‘ ..Crackling of the fire’’. ‘‘The door creaked’’. ‘‘Sound of a stick’’. By using this the reader hears the sounds that the narrator does, the reader then is put in the position of the narrator, building suspense tension and the atmosphere in the readers head. He also talks about ‘‘he echoing passage’’, when you hear echoing its normally your own echo, so this means the narrators alone, and there’s no other sound than the repetition of each step or breathe he takes. After this the narrator experiences absolute silence ‘‘...Then, satisfied of absolute silence....’’ this doesn’t only show that there is absolute silence it also shows how this doesn’t seem to bother the narrator. ‘‘the echoing of the stir and crackling of the fire was no sort of comfort to me’’, this sets the scene as you can imagine someone alone in a great room with some sort of presence around them, the only sound you hear is the crackling of the fire apart from that its silence, I think that’s enough to put anyone on the edge of their seat. Towards the end of the story, the narrator doesn’t mention much sound only his cries of fear.
In ‘The Signalman’ there is more silence than sound, which creates tension for the reader. Silence often conveys loneliness and isolation, which is true in the story as the signalman has no-one to communicate down there with normally and he is isolated to that one small hut. There’s also the repetition of the warning bell for the trains. The signalman often looks at this bell and looks outside if it doesn’t ring. ‘‘..Turned his face towards the little bell when it did not ring, opened the door of the hut....’’ This creates suspense as to why he keeps doing this. There will also be the sound of trains going by every now and again.
The main imagery is ‘The ‘Red’ Room’, red is often used as a danger colour this create suspense as to whether the room is a danger zone, also red is the colour of blood, could there of been a terrible accident in the room? It creates questions again for the reader. Also while he’s in ‘the great red room’ the narrator talks of the shadows in the room, shadows are created when there’s no light in a certain area. In certain areas of the room, there is the presence of shadows, but the object that is creating them is never revealed to the reader causing more suspense and tension by engaging the reader to think what is creating them and is there someone else in the room with the reader.
In ‘the signalman’ you first picture in your head the big drop of darkness where the signalman is, with the angry sunset shining above. There’s also this image of a box that the signalman spends his time in, ‘‘my signalman’s box.’’ Box can often mean coffin, so the quotation could mean that the signalman is already in his coffin. The narrator also has an image in his head that the signalman has an infectious mind. ‘‘..Whether there may have been an infection in his mind.’’ When the narrator is going to see the signalman for the second time he may have thought he was going to end up like him, lonely and vacant. This could be down to the fact that something has happened to him before and infected his mind as well as having an effect on him.
The language in ‘The Red Room’ is very archaic, there’s a lot of old English words and used for example ‘‘eight and twenty years’’, nowadays we would just say twenty eight. There’s also a lot of words that have been simplified now a days for example ‘‘apoplexy’’. But this is all because ‘The Red Room’ was written in pre-twentieth centaury times, so it’s not a modern ghost story. This shows how more complex ghost stories were during the time when these stories were written. The language not being common to us is quite difficult to understand in certain circumstances causing the reader to possibly think what is happening because they is unable to understand the meaning parts of the story – it causes a tension to perhaps build up due to the fact we can no longer associate with the narrator due to the complexity of the language.
‘The signalman’ is written in first person so this lets the reader into the thoughts and feelings of the narrator. There are also a lot of short sentences and answers, when there is speech, this build tension as the reader will be wondering what’s next. The story has a lot of old English words in it. For example ‘my good fellow’ ‘said I’ ‘hallao’. The phrase ‘‘Halloa! Below there!’’ creates suspense as the signalman has heard it before but he doesn’t understand why this man repeats the very same words. These words are not normally used today.
The third and final story I am going to analyse for tension is ‘Lost Hearts’ – by M. R. James. Tension is created in several ways again in this story. In the beginning we see that the passenger on the chaise is a ‘little boy’, this makes him seem vulnerable causing tension and suggesting that something may happen to him because of his youth.
In the second paragraph there is the image of ‘fire’ and the light reflecting of the weather cock is golden suggesting a hellish and ghostly presence. This is a slightly unsettling image of misery early on. With the boy – Stephen Elliot being an orphan this is a mysterious circumstance, the author also makes us feel sorry for the boy – being an orphan we have sympathy for him, the author uses the method of ‘pathos’ in his writing to make us sympathise for Stephen.
There are many signs of anti religious matters in Mr. Abney’s home including a painting of a group of ‘…Mithras slaying a bull…’ Most of the paintings in Mr. Abney’s house are mythological meaning they are less religious. Stephen is described as a ‘…Inmate of Aswarby Hall...’ suggesting that he is being held captive again building up even more tension. Mr Abney’s book seems almost as if he is hiding something in there, this book could have been full of strange rituals linking it to the other items in the house, as if they were supernatural or a myth.
When Stephen is ‘….conducted to the lower regions...’ of the house by Mr. Parkes it is as if he is descending in to hell – another image of hell. Mr. Abney’s kindness when taking into his home a little boy and girl a few years back seems somewhat strange – because now he has taken another child into his house – Stephen, his kindness seems to have a hidden motive that is not known to the readers yet. Another strange thing is that he was eager to find out how old Stephen was – he asked Stephen his age repeatedly. Mrs. Bunch tells Stephen that Mr. Abney was concerned about the little boy and girls ages as well. This for the reader arouses suspicion. But it also could mean that it was an obsession of Mr. Abney’s or that he took all these children into his home because he was lonely.
When Stephen discovers the figure in the bath tub it is a very ghostly figure and it is described as ‘’…inexpressibly thin….’’ (Similar to Mr. Abney), this is a very disturbing image because it has a faint and dreadful smile giving it an aura of evil around it. The figure is sub-human. It has its hand over it’s ‘’...heart...’’ suggesting a loss of innocence or loss of emotions, it is part of the title to the novel – Lost hearts. When Stephen is startled by his discovery he is ‘’…forced backwards…’’, in to the ‘’…moonlight…’’. The moonlight is conjured up in old folklore and is a traditional fear because it is associated with ‘Lycanthropy’ – turning into a werewolf – this transformation could also be associated with Mr. Abney how he has somewhat two personalities (Jekyll and Hyde transformation) – being a kind man taking Stephen in to his home– turning in to trying to kill and sacrifice Stephen.
The strange thing is that when Stephen tells Mr. Abney about what he saw the previous night, the following day he notes it down in his book. This arouses the mystery of what that book actually contains. That very same night Stephen can not sleep very well. The following morning he realises that his nightdress has been cut in several places, mainly on the left side of his chest. This is the region of the heart – again pointing to the title and the heart – the heart is associated with being warm and ensuing essence and sense of goodness in everybody – a heartless person is described as evil. Mr. Parkes believes that rats did this to Stephen; this is because rats are commonly associated with a phobia and evil. Rats are described as ‘’…evil vermin….’’, this is the opposite of the goodness in a heart with the evil in a phobia or creature – though the rats also have hearts showing they are not all evil. This points to an obvious answer that it was not rats and something somewhat more sinister. It could be something to do with what Stephen saw in the bath tub- the figure was described as dead so it no longer posses a working heart, it would be capable of trying to hurt Stephen. The creature is heartless therefore most likely pure evil or possibly not when it is shown later on the real circumstances.
Time passes and we arrive on the date – 24th march 1812, the next sentence is ‘’….a windy, noisy day….’’ This makes use of the pathetic fallacy. A sinister secret is shared between Mr. Abney and Stephen, Mr. Abney tells him to come to his ‘study’ at eleven o’clock tonight. He also told Stephen not to tell anyone about this. This would have appealed to Stephen because was so young he thought it was an opportunity for him to stay up late, this was his innocence but it was also inappropriate.
The incense in Mr. Abney’s study that night could be linked to that of what is used in rituals. The moon and wind are also mentioned again – use of the pathetic fallacy. When Stephen sees the figures in the garden of a what seemed a boy and a girl, the story seems to become clearer – we can see the connection between that and the figures in the bath because of the similarity of their descriptions. The writer has created tension here by building up to the end by revealing little clues from the start.
The story ends up with what must have been these two figures lacerating Mr. Abney on the left side of his chest revealing his heart – again the heart is mentioned. The book is read by Stephen revealing what Mr. Abney was doing. We can see a correlation between the dates of when the children were induced in to this cruel ritual. The little girl was first on the 23rd march 1792, the little boy 24th march 1805 and Stephens would be end would have been 24th march 1812 – making Mr. Abney’s rituals last for over 20 years. The writer has made the passage from the book gruesome to build up the fear that Stephen would be killed but in the end it is Mr. Abney who pays. The figures who killed Mr. Abney resemble the figure(s) in the bath tub – they can be associated with the living dead – without a heart you cannot live so these creatures have got a sense of good in them, they may have purposely cut Stephen’s nightdress to send him a fearful warning to be careful of the house he was in and who was in it or as a warning to try and get him to leave for his own safety – the warning was not heeded so they had to kill Mr. Abney to save Stephen. They are good in a sense that they killed Mr. Abney to save someone from receiving the same fate as they did.
Tension is a key feature in any horror/sci-fi story. Tension causes the fear we feel while reading the story. Tension and fear causes us to feel the range of emotions intended for us to feel while we read the story. Without it the story would not create the same effect on us. This is how and why tension is built up in these three pre twentieth century stories.
