The first line “I can assure you,' said I, 'that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me” which tells you that it is a ghost story and unlike longer stories there is no long intro and instead the writer has got straight to the point. There are four characters in the beginning which are the young man, the old and his wife and another old man. The two old men and the old woman are all afraid of going into the red room and warn the young man not to go there but curiosity overpowers the young man and he wants to go inside.
The old man says “It’s your own choosing” warning the man but also putting pressure on him so that anything that happens to him is his own fault. He then repeats it and says “Why don’t you drink” offering him a way out of it and to just let him sit down and drink beer without having to admit he had backed away from the red room. When the young man says he is going to the red room the old woman cries out “this night of all nights” and again once more to make the young man feel more and more uneasy. As the young man is about to leave the old man repeats for a final time “It’s your own choosing” giving the young man one final warning and chance to return to the room.
All through the story the writer has used techniques such as repetition and the old versus the new to build up the tension but he has also used other key techniques. He also puts in lots of description to do with darkness such as “At the door I turned and looked at them, and saw they were all close together, dark against the firelight” and “my candle flared and made the shadows cower and quiver” to help the reader get into the mood of the story and to help the reader imagine the surroundings better.
The setting which is in a castle is a typical setting which is often used because castles are large and often many terrible things happened inside them. Also the huge size is great for stories full of adventure and mystery and is often located in strange places where lots of different sounds can be easily used. Sounds such as “the echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase” helps us to imagine the loneliness and quiet atmosphere the young man must have felt as he went up the staircase. Another sound such as “the echoing of the stir and crackling of the fire” helps the reader imagine the size of the castle and how tense the young man must have felt as he left the room.
The castle is decorated with very old decorations hinting that it is very old and has been used by many people in its time. Things such as the “deep toned old fashioned furniture of the housekeeper’s room” and the “two big mirrors in the room, each with a pair of sconces bearing candles” make this obvious.
Onomatopoeia is also used with words such as “rustling” and “crackling” being used to describe the scene better. Metaphors such as “my candle was a little tongue of light in its vastness, that failed to pierce the opposite end of the room, and left an ocean of mystery and suggestion beyond its island of light” and “the flames were still dancing between the glowing coals, and splashing red reflections upon the furniture” are also used to help the reader imagine how the young man felt and to give the story that extra sense of mystery.
The ending is usually the most exciting part of the book as the reader finds out what’s in the red room and soon finds out that it was there own fear that they were afraid of not something in the room. This is much like a young child who is afraid of the dark when they are young only to eventually realise that there’s nothing to be afraid of and that it is there own imagination which is causing the fear.
