In 1896 Herbert George Wells wrote ‘The Red Room’ and using a heavy Gothic theme, which is popular for ninetieth century stories, he invites the reader to become engaged with the mystifying events that he creates. Wells captures and sustains the reader’s imagination using suspense, setting, gothic convention and language techniques which allow for a remarkably eerie tale to be told. The significance of the title immediately creates a sense of mystery, as the reader does not know why the adjective ‘red’ is used to describe the room and this colour is usually associated with danger, blood, hell and fear, suggesting that Wells is preparing the reader for anguish. Also using alliteration in the title enhances and puts emphasis on the ‘Red Room’, as no other colour would create the same effect which captures the reader’s imagination. This links directly to the Gothic genre, drawing attention to the allegedly haunted ‘Red Room’. Similarly in the first sentence attention is instantaneously grasped ‘It will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me’, making a ghost feel almost tangible to the reader as well as leaving them asking questions, especially as the story develops and centres around an unnamed protagonist. This is equally important because the ‘Red Room’ is written in first person, which makes the story more personal and makes the reader feel a direct connection with this unknown narrator. It seems only knowing one viewpoint restricts the reader's knowledge and therefore many key details are omitted resulting in an element of ambiguity. Initially Wells raises the suspense level through introducing the reader to the personalities of the three ‘ancient’ and ‘grotesque custodians’. Their presence seems to add to the strangeness ... ... middle of paper ... ...nters the ‘Red Room’ as the reader witnesses his previous attitude diminish when he asks 'What's up?' in hysterical panic. By the end of the story, his character has changed considerably, and he seems much wiser than ever before, perhaps because of his time spent in the ‘Red Room’. Wells allows the reader to observe this change of character and it makes the story feel more personal. The narrator now speaks of 'fear' as a real entity, rather than denying he could be affected by this ‘fear’ as before. In its context, 'The Red Room' is a ghost story reminiscent of Gothic novels; in which the author has effectively used tension and suspense to sustain an audience. I think that in the time it was written, it would have been seen by Victorians as an entertaining short story that was much in line with many other Victorian ghost stories of the time.
Every story, every book, every legend, every belief and every poem have a reason and a background that creates them. Some might be based on historical events, some might be based on every culture´s beliefs, and some others might be based on personal experiences of the authors. When a person writes a literary piece, that person is looking for a way to express her opinion or her feelings about a certain situation. A good example is the poem “Southern Mansion” by Arna Bonptems. The main intention of “Southern Mansion” could have been to complain, or to stand against the discrimination and exploitation of black people throughout history. However, as one starts to read, to avoid thinking about unnatural beings wandering around the scene that is depicted is impossible. The poem “Southern Mansion” represents a vivid image of a typical ghost story which includes the traditional element of the haunted house. This image is recreated by the two prominent and contradictory elements constantly presented through the poem: sound and silence. The elements are used in two leading ways, each one separate to represent sound or silence, and together to represent sound and silence at the same time. The poem mixes the two elements in order to create the spooky environment.
In comparison The Red Room was written only thirty years later in 1894 by HG Wells although it feels more timeless. At that time technology had improved intensely, nevertheless Wells still imitated the old fashion gothic literature style writing, which is ironic, due to the time. Both stories have managed to engage its audience by creating suspense and tension. Besides that both stories have been written in first person, this in sequence makes it sinister, in a way because we get to know the narrator’s impressions and feelings. The authors of both stories have selected discomforting places in which to set their story, they are made more eerie because that in the 19th century time many people believed in ghosts and the supernatural.
Also if I look at the genre of the story, suspense is built at the
“The Secret Room” holds true to the Robbe-Grillet style. It is a solitary scene, fastidiously itemized, with no clarification of who, why or how. Yet, toward the end, the impact is solid, the feelings are mixed however there are a lot of remaining details left hanging in a manner of speaking. The story apparently introduces a homicide riddle; the reprobate is a dim caped man; the stripped lady the "conciliatory casualty" is tied, dead. The lady has been shackled in a spread-bird position, making sex with her conceivable as well as ensured she would have been not able stand up to. She is lying on a dark velvet spread, tossed over purple pads. The dark spread is typical of death. The man goes left alone "deed fulfilled;" this may indicate occurrences when a lady is not
The aim of this essay is to explore the way in which the two authors
How Tension and Suspense Is Built Up In The Red Room There are many different ways in which HG Wells builds up tension and. suspense in The Red Room. One way in which he does this is through the use of language in the process. One of the main effective uses of language in The Red Room is the use of personification; "made the shadows cower" and quiver. The shadow embeds fear into the reader, as they wonder if the shadow is alive, which creates tension as the reader wonders what.
The red room is the place that ignites Jane's passion. The red room is one of the novels great paradoxes as it parallels with ice in that it restricts Jane's freedom and imprisons her; yet the experience gives her the courage to stand up to her aunt. The fire that the red room ignites in Jane allows her to jump the 'containment lines'; to break the bonds of her Aunt that are restricting her, and achieve freedom. The red room becomes very symbolic of Jane's fight for freedom. Whenever she suffers from there on, Jane emotionally comes back to the red room, and adds new fuel to the fire, as she reminds herself why she wants to break free of oppression.
How does the writer create tension and suspense in The Red Room? The writer is able to create tension and suspense through various ways in the short story ‘The Red Room’. The opening sentence in the story immediately mentions the supernatural, which immediately tells us that this is a gothic story. The first sentence is dialogue, but we do not know who is speaking.
From the perspective of a ghost story, the narrator makes references to some “creepy” ideas early in the story, noting her first impression of the house is, “it is haunted” (Gilman 746). Beyond the aesthetics of the house, we see a level of fear overcoming the narrator in: “there is something strange about this house-I can feel it” (Gilman). What about the house makes it appear and feel haunted? Not the aesthetics of the home, but what’s inside…..inside the wallpaper. Almost immediately we see the issues...
The author selects techniques of diction such as connotation, repetition, and onomatopoeia, to establish the fear is the overall excerpt. He manipulates connotation to enhance the mood. As the character is driven about the midnight landscape by the mysterious coachman, he notices the “frowning rocks” hanging over the road, a “ghostly flicker” of blue light which he cannot explain and off in the distance the “long agonized wailing” of dogs. The word “frowning” allows us to see that this is no happy setting, even the rock that cannot feel is frowning and not smiling. The author uses the word ghostly to describe the flicker of light. Light usually portrays a saving or some sign of hope. By using ghostly as a descriptive word, he makes it seem supernatural or like it’s faintly there. If he wanted this to be a sign of hope he could have worded it a flickering light, but he did not causing the character to feel fright and no hope. The utilization of repetition by Stoker applies reinforcement to the atmosphere. Throughout the excerpt the narrator continues intensifying the effects by also repeating phrases such as “another and another.” By repeating these words the reader is being reminded of the alien emotions and surroundings of such a strange place. The use of intensifying repetition strengthens the negative connotation words following directly before or afte...
While describing Aswarby Hall, M R James describes it as a "tall, square, red-bricked house." This is done to create curiosity and interest as the description given is of an average looking house that would be similar to others around it as nothing in particular stands out about the home. M R James uses unexpected settings like this. In traditional ghost stories the setting of a house is often of a grand and unusually eerie house which creates a dark and sinister atmosphere, but M R James does the reverse of this. He describes his settings using people’s everyday lives, for example, the description of the house they live in. He does this as he believes it has a scarier impact on the audience as the reader feels connected to characters and settings that are ordinary just like them, and can no longer separate themselves from characters like Mr Abney. Although to create a sinister atm...
From time to time, the reader hears of a red light in the house of 124 Bluestone Road. Sethe is haunted by a life changing choice she made in her past. Her daughter's infant ghost haunts the house that Sethe and her daughter, Denver occupy. Sethe cannot move forward in her life because of a choice she made many years ago, which was to kill her baby girl. This decision was based upon the fact that Sethe did not want her daughter to be taken back into slavery. Sethe tries to repress the past, but cannot with this ghost haunting her. Paul D. proceeds to enters Sethe's life again, and as a result he causes more negative memories to resurface. He brings back the memories of Sweet Home, the plantation where they were slaves together. Sethe recalls Sweet Home and states, "Comes back whether we want it to or not" (Morrison 16). This statement reflects the meaning that no matter how hard someone tries, memories cannot be repressed forever, they will resurface at some point whether the person wants them to or not. When Paul D. arrives at her house, the memories from Sweet Home resurface, which in this instances is a very deconstructive matte...
Tension and Suspense in The Red Room by H.G. Wells In H.G Wells’ The Red Room tension and suspense are created through the characters, the plot and the setting. The setting is typical of Gothic and Victorian ghost stories. In these times there was no electricity so use of candles for light created an eerie atmosphere. They had no modern technology like televisions for entertainment so they used books and story telling.
Imagery is used in the story very often and is used by giving the reader a mental picture of what is being described. There are many examples of imagery in this story with the use of metaphors and similes such as “The doors go shutting in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.” this imagery allows the readers to picture in their mind the image of the ghost roaming the house and shutting doors in their wake. The title A Haunted House is an irony in itself most people associate haunted house with horror and evil creatures, but in reality this story is the opposite of that, “This gentle tale both references and refuses many of the characteristics of conventional ghost stories, and so ‘we see no lady spread her ghostly cloak’.43 A ghostly couple preside over the house, ensuring its safety and that of those who live in it. Their stirrings are not those of destructive poltergeists.” Woolf decided to reject the conventional ghost stories that have been told time and time again and give people a different view on ghost by making the ghost in this story protagonist who are just reminiscing about good times and the love they share throughout the story. this shows the readers that things are not always as it seems and to not judge a book by its