reveiw on all three ghost stories

The Red Room was one of the most popular ghost stories written in the 19th century. H.G Wells based this on a typical Gothic setting such as a castle in the middle of no where. '"I can assure you," said I, "that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me." And I stood up before the fire with my glass in my hand.' This quote in the story tells us how brave the narrator is and when he stands up to the fire this shows that he is brave and he will stand up to anything this quote shows that the narrator is very brave. The atmosphere is set as well because it show that there is a fire there and they are old crippled servants around this a common factor in ghost stories having creepy servants and a fire therefore it sets the atmosphere of a dark ghostly castle and the red room which is haunted.

The Red Room is written to frighten you to death and the story of the young man going into the room and gets scared by the fear of the dark in the room but, because the main character is almost mystical. I think this because he doesn't talk much about him to the servants he just gets on with the task going into the red room and spending one night in there he doesn't tell anything about himself like what does he do for a living example a job and he doesn't tell us if he is rich or a poor person but we can figure this out because if he is spending one night in the red room then he must be losing out on money because he is not at work but if your wealthy and you don't go to work for a valid reason example if you got a flu you still get your salary and I think that the narrator is very wealthy because Victorian people will go to work at any cost because they have to run the family and provide for them. The narrator is wealthy therefore he is doing this task to go the red room and spend one night in there and he will still be getting paid for his job even though he isn't doing it and I think when he's in the room on his own, you lose interest in him and his predicament.

The Monkey's Paw

The Whites are given the monkey's paw and they have three wishes on it, the first of which is for money. Mr. and Mrs. White's son, Herbert dies in the factory were he works and they receive two-hundred pound, compensation. Herbert's body wasn't recognizable, as he had got caught up in machinery. Mrs. White whose second wish had been for him to return to life, but Mr. White doesn't want him back because his appearance would be gruesome, her husband's third wish is to stop the second wish. Mrs. White would have liked Herbert back however hideous his injuries made him look.

This isn't much of a ghost story; it doesn't use the conventions but it is a haunting tale because it studies the grief of two people when they lose their son and the different ways they react to his death. The events could happen without the wishes and the monkey's paw but it makes it smarter because of how their first wish backfires on them. We're put in their shoes when Herbert deformed totally is supposed to be knocking at the door.

W.W.Jacobs uses this story to explore Victorian stereo types. Mr. White who started to cry in front of his family this showed weakness to other people because Victorian fathers tell there sons to be strong, brave, courage's and they were the head of the household and this meant that they needed to be dominant and honourable. Young boys were taught to hide their weakness and control their inner emotions.

William Wymark Jacobs was born in 1863 and died in 1943 and he was an English author of short stories and novels. He is now best remembered for his remarkable tales including "The Monkey's Paw" The Monkey's Paw was published in 1902 and The Monkey's Paw has a gothic based genre. W.W.Jacobs Creates a Typical Victorian family atmosphere Here is an example of a Victorian family atmosphere the father and son are playing chess and a game of chess you need to know where to place your king into a safe position and there is the grandma who has grey hair and smell also they knit a lot and near the fire especially since there is no electric or central heating they had to use fire to keep themselves warm and they can cook and have a bath with warm water. 'Father and son were at chess, the former who processed ideas about the game involving radical changes , putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire." This quote shows a typical Victorian family like the granny suiting by the fire knitting and the father and son playing chess this is what a ordinary Victorian family do and W.W.Jacobs use this quotation because he knows that typical Victorian families do this daily and he goes into detail by Writing 'The former who processed ideas about the game involving radical changes , putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils' this shows that the father and son are dedicated to this game and are very strong about it and the farther normally tells the son were to put his king at certain times. This sets a typical Victorian family atmosphere.

The Signal-Man

The Signalman is there to ring an alarm if there is any danger. The narrator is interested to learn about the "ill educated" Signalman and what he does. He questions him over a period of three days and on his final visit finds him dead, which is shocking for him. The narrator repeated the signalman's phrase, "Below there look out, look out," as if he's taken over the Signalman's personality and job.

When the signalman sends a danger signal to the train driver and other Signalman don't see the danger but the signalman, don't see the danger but the Signalman Explains to the narrator that he sees the phantom that he thinks the others don't see. When he finally dies he follows the phantom into the tunnel and gets run over by the train.

The Signalman feeds into the Victorians fear of the new railways,' The shorter perspective on the other direction in gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, depressing and forbidding air.' This quotation from the story describes the setting and the atmosphere which creates a ghostly image in the readers mind. Its telling us that the tunnel with a gloomy red light makes it look forbidden and scary also when it says 'Depressing and forbidding air.' This tells us that it's depressing and dark in the tunnel and forbidding air sounds like a bad smell in the air. You could say the signalman frightens himself to death just as the man (narrator) in the red room becomes terrified. (Shared correlation of increasing fear from their own minds more then from external events)

Conclusion

The Signal-Man is effective because it has a strong story line, based on real event. The description of the figure and it repeated appearance; the trains described as "monsters" captures your imagination and make you see what's happening clearly. It's easy to relate to the signal man and his experience and understand why what happens to him does happen.

In the Signal-Man we can relate to trains and fear of the where as in The Red Room it's different to relate to the red room and the Lorraine castle because its hard to think of a castle and see one because they are hardly any around but train stations are around in every town and city therefore its more easier to relate to The Signal Man than The Red Room.

Waleed Nawaz