The monkeys paw was written in the late Victorian times, 1902. It is set in a warm cottage in the middle of winter, the owner of the homes friend (the sergeant) comes round, he gives him the mystical monkeys paw, his father wishes for £200, the next day while his son is at work a man from his sons company pays a visit he says that his son has been killed in an accident and gives him £200 as compensation is this just a coincidence or does the monkeys paw really work, after the funeral the mother wishes for her son to be alive again, the house is quiet and there is a feint knocking at the door, the mother wants to open the door but the father holds her back, he is scared that the son will be deformed due to the accident and might try and kill them , his wife breaks free and goes to open the door, the father makes one last wish and that wish is to make his son go away, when his wife gets to the door the knocking stops and his son is gone.
In the signalman suspense is built up as the signal box is set in an isolated area, the writer uses short sentences such as ‘that mistake?’, ‘no. That was someone else.’ ‘Who is it?’ ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Like me?’ ‘I don’t know. I never saw the face’. This builds up suspense as it is exciting/gripping and makes you want to read more. The signal man doesn’t reveal his secret straight away and makes the narrator go back the next night, this also makes you want to read on to see what his secret may be. The signal man keeps looking at the red light above the tunnel, this is mysterious because the signalman does this on numerous occasions and the narrator doesn’t know what he is doing, The signal man says he hears a ‘ghostly bell’ this builds tension as you want to find out what it is, this builds tension through the story as the man who visits the signalman cannot here the bell until the end, when it is too late. At the end the signalman dies the train driver imitates the spectres action of covering his eyes and waving and shouting ‘below there! Look out! Look out! For god’s sake clear the way!’
In the signalman suspense is built up, at the start when Herbert white said ‘there he is’, this builds up suspense as we want to know who it is. ‘What was that you started telling me the other day about a monkey’s paw or something?’ this builds tension as we would like to know what the ‘monkeys paw’ is. When the man wishes for £200, and there is a ‘fine crash’ from the piano and Herbert says the paw moves in his hand, this build tension as we want to know if the paw works and if his wish comes true and what ‘consequences’ will come with the wish. When the man from Maw and Meggins keeps walking past the gate, this builds suspense as this is unusual behaviour and we want to know what he is doing. When he makes the wish for his son back this builds suspense as we want to see what form he comes back in and to see if the first wish wasn’t just a coincidence. When there is a knock at the door after he wishes for his son back, this builds suspense as we want to know if it is his son. When the door opens there is nobody there also builds suspense as we think he maybe hiding. When he uses his last wish as the bolt is drawn back, this builds suspense as we want to know if the wish has worked or if Herbert has got into the house, this builds a lot of tension and is a great ending for the story.
In the ‘Signalman’ and ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ there is a lot of comparisons, they are both set in secluded areas, the signal man is set in a small signal box in a little valley while the monkeys paw is set in a house on a ‘deserted road’. In the signalman the narrator visits the signalman and in the monkeys paw the sergeant visits the family. In the signalman the signalman tells the narrator stories about people dying on the train line while in the monkeys paw the sergeant tell the family stories of his time in the army and about the monkeys paw. In both of stories there is an item/object with mystical values, in the signal man there is the spectre and the ghostly bell while in the monkeys paw there is the mystical monkeys paw. In both of the stories someone is mysteriously killed, in the signal man, the signal man dies by standing in the middle of the line, looking for the spectre and in the monkey’s paw Herbert dies by getting caught in the machines.