The Red room

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The red room The Red Room' was written in 1896 by Herbert George Wells (1866-1946). Although a short story, it has elements of the Gothic novel, which had been invented predominantly by Horace Walpole in the previous century. This genre has influenced poetry, literature and even filmmaking up to the present day. A Gothic novel is deemed to be: 'A type of romantic fiction that predominated in English literature in the last third of the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century, the setting for which was usually a ruined Gothic castle or abbey. The Gothic novel, or Gothic romance, emphasised mystery and horror and was filled with ghostly-haunted rooms, underground passages and secret stairways.' 1 The Victorians themselves seemed to have a particular affinity with idea of death in general, prompting many Victorian ghost stories and Gothic novels to be written at the time of 'The Red Room'. The obsession is present in much Victorian literature and historical documents. Led by Queen Victoria, elaborate mourning was a common process at the time, especially amongst women. The Queen herself continued fetishistic rituals for four decades after the death of her husband, Albert, even having the servants changing his linens every day after he had died. Another factor that contributed to this obsession was the alarming death rate in Victorian England. Death was an every day experience for the working classes, and it was represented much differently to the modern day. For instance, last words were valuable to the point that the dying were given narcotics to keep them in a preferred lucid state. From this a fascination with the supernatural and ghost stories developed; making Gothicism a common genre of literature at the time, for example Henry James' 'The Turn of The Screw' (1898). The actual title of 'The Red Room' is significant to its genre. It immediately creates mystery and in a sense, suspense, as the reader does not find out what the Red Room is like until a way into the story. The title creates questions, as the reader does not know why the colour red is significant, only that it is usually associated with danger, and fear. This links directly to
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the Gothic genre, drawing attention to the supposedly haunted Red Room. The setting of 'The Red Room', 'Lorraine Castle', is extremely typical of the Gothic genre. Within the castle H.G Wells employs conventions of the first Gothic story ever written, i.e. 'The Castle of Otranto', by Horace Walpole (1764), such as 'subterranean' passageways, echoes and draughts. Castles are generally large, dark place, and the reader knows the Red Room to be situated in a castle like this, as the narrator is given a rather long list of directions before he encounters the Red Room. The passageways almost seem to lead ...

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