"The signalman" by Charles Dickens, "The Man with the twisted lip" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells.

        The elderly caretakers seem to be trying their utmost to scare him or put him off going into the room by informing him of all the stories and legends that there are about the room. The tone of the elderly people’s voices is such that it gives the impression that by setting foot in that room, it will be as imbecilic as suicide, “It is your own choosing”. Her repetition of this phrase emphasises both his stubbornness and the imminent sense of danger.

        Wells cleverly uses the elderly woman’s repeated warnings to signal danger to the reader and narrator.   Subsequently the old woman then explains that even though the narrator hasn’t seen a ghost or a spirit in all his life, this is also the first time that he has ever set foot in the house and therefore hasn’t experienced its inexplicable and supernatural activity before, “And eight and twenty years you have lived and never seen the likes of this house”. The young protagonist begins to experience fear from the beginning because of what the old people have been revealing to him. He probably did have doubts about going there but did not want to show signs of infirmity in front of his social inferiors. There is an early indication of things not being all that they seem when the narrator’s reflection in the mirror is abbreviated and broadened to an impossible sturdiness.

        H.G. Wells’ vivid descriptions of the Gothic setting build up fear and tension- throughout the story. An early indication that there is more to the room than can be seen is when the narrator is preoccupied fortifying himself with another drink and is unaware that “A monstrous shadow of him crouched upon the wall and mocked his action as he poured and drank”. The more he was with these people, the more uncomfortable he feels around them. He feels as though they are not human, almost as if there was something inside them controlling them using their flesh and bodies as a disguise. The dialogue in the story also creates the setting.

The caretakers unwelcoming and unfriendly tone make the narrator feel ill at ease and add tension in the room. The narrator is startled by the reaction he receives from the old people when he asks to be escorted to the room but no reply is given and the man suddenly looked at him with. The narrator tries to overcome his fear by adding jokes “If, I said a little louder, you will show me to this haunted room of yours I will relieve you from the task of entertaining me”. The narrator is saying this sarcastically as he is feeling uncomfortable around the elderly people. More fear is built when he hears the woman by the fire repeatedly saying to herself “This night of all nights”. This provides a clear indication that this particular night was the worst night to go to the room. This also gives a suggestion that it was the anniversary of the Duke that had died. Echoes are also another element that the narrator uses to induce fear in the atmosphere.

Shadows are also another aspect Wells is using to convey fear. The narrator’s mounting fear causes him to stop on the landing and listen carefully to see if he can detect any noise. When he finally opened the door, he stays out in the corridor and examines the room before he enters it “I began to walk about the room peering round each article of furniture”. Wells also creates tension by using emotive and charged language. "