“I only had a vague idea as to where Wet Waste-on-the-Wolds was.”
This quote from ‘Let Loose’ highlights the unfamiliarity of the town and its unknown status. This may be considered as ‘frightening’ as the isolated location emphasises the vulnerability of characters and the potential dangers if a misfortune occurred in unfamiliar territory. In Dracula, the location is described as “one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe.” This again follows the Gothic Horror pattern of setting a scene of danger and mystery.
The isolated locations are not only effective in setting the scene for a terrifying text, but they also add a feeling of oppression and suffocation. The imagery and descriptions of surroundings in ‘Dracula’ are of an intense, gloomy nature:
“..the mountains seemed to come nearer to us on each side and to frown down
upon us.”
This is a very effective way of creating an atmosphere of oppression and suffocation, designed to frighten a reader as it is gloomy and therefore, foreboding. It creates suspense in a tale and arouses a slight feeling of anxiety.
Isolated locations can be described by the sounds, or lack of, heard in the place. In ‘Let Loose’, Mary Clolmondeley used silence to create an intense and lonely location in the tomb:
“all was as silent as the grave”,
“intense stillness that surrounded me”.
In this instance, the isolation created by silence is eerie and foreboding. It is effective as it sends a chill down the reader’s spine and leaves them feeling apprehension.
Many gothic horror texts use weather to create atmosphere in a tale. Features I found most common to using weather to create atmosphere are the creation of oppression and the use of light and dark. ‘Frankenstein’, by Mary Shelley uses both of these features mostly and she uses weather as a symbol of what is to come:
“darkness and storm increased every minute and the thunder burst with a terrific crash over my head…vivid flashes of lightening dazzled my eyes; illuminating the lake, making it appear like a vast sheet of fire”
Here, she builds up a scene of horror using powerful, frightening weather imagery, a contrast of light and darkness.
Although Mary Cholmondeley uses weather to create atmosphere in ‘Let Loose’, she uses it very differently. While Mary Shelley uses storms and darkness, Cholmondeley uses oppression through heat to create a feeling of suffocation and terror:
“the day was oppressively hot”,
“the heat was still intense”,
“the air about me seemed heavy with death.”
She also uses foreboding language to create expectancy and anxiety:
“there was a sensation of trouble in the air, as if, although the day was bright and clear, a storm were coming.”
This is a more subtle approach to using weather, but equally as effective. One text creates outright terror through weather and the other creates a spine-tingling expectancy.
I found that ‘Dracula’ made excessive use of light and dark to create an oppressive atmosphere. Other texts employed this tactic, but not to the extent of Bram Stoker:
“darkness seemed to be closing down upon us”.
As mentioned before, an oppressive atmosphere adds expectancy and a feeling of suffocation to a tale. This may frighten a reader as they are warned of scary events to come.
I found that the texts used weather to create atmosphere very differently. ‘Frankenstein’ used powerful storms and vivid contrasts of light and dark to create a frightening atmosphere. ‘Let Loose’ created oppression through the descriptions of the surrounding air and ambience and ‘Dracula’ uses mainly light and dark to create oppression throughout the tale.
The third characteristic that I chose to investigate was disfigurement and fear of hideousness. This characteristic is relevant to ‘Frankenstein’ and ‘The Monkey’s Paw’
I found that although elaborate descriptions and the appearances of ‘monsters’ in the texts were effective, the more effective tool was the reactions of those around them. Hideousness would initiate fear in a reader as it is out-casted and not an issue in everyday life for society. It is more of a ‘fear of the unknown’ than a fear of hideousness.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she uses elaborate language and specific words to create a terrifying mental image:
“it’s gigantic stature, deformity of its aspect, more hideous than belongs to humanity, instantly informed me that it was the wretch, the filthy daemon to whom I had given life!”
“his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath… his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips.”
This creates a terrifying mental image of deformity and hideousness, but without the reaction of Frankenstein on beholding the wretch, I do not think this scene would be as frightening for a reader:
“my teeth chattered , and I was forced to lean against a tree for support.”
The scene painted by Mary Shelley is a frightening one, and the language used makes it even scarier. Words such as ‘deformity’, ‘hideous’, ‘wretch’, ‘filthy’, ‘shrivelled’ and ‘chattered’ all add to the intensity of ‘the scare’.
Even the ‘monster’s’ reaction on beholding itself adds to the horror. If the monster cannot behold itself, then how could we? Its reaction to itself highlights its wretchedness:
“Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from it in disgust?”
The concept that the reactions of characters initiate more fear in the plot is heightened in ‘The Monkey’s Paw’. Although a repulsive description of Herbert is included, I find that the father’s frightened reaction on even thinking of beholding his dead son is more effective in initiating fear in an audience:
“he has been dead ten days, and besides he - I would not tell you else, but – I could only recognise him by his clothing. If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?”
“For God’s sake, don’t let it in”
In ‘The Monkey’s Paw’, the characters to not face the ‘monster’ and they do in Frankenstein, but I believe that the mystery of his appearance and intent is far more frightening than in Frankenstein. This proves that with a combination of many characteristics of horror, the best horror scene is created.
I believe that the supernatural and superstition are best used in conjunction with other characteristics, such as fear of the unknown, extreme behaviour and weather.
In Dracula, the supernatural and superstitions are emphasised by the extreme behaviour of the people around.