Both Charles Dickens (1866), the author of “The Signalman”, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1918) of “How It Happened” explore the theme of the supernatural to create suspense. The central theme of the supernatural is commonly associated with feelings of fear and horror; these feelings are appropriate for creating suspense, thus effectively driving the reader into a panicked state of mind. Not only is the theme of the supernatural used to create suspense, but the authors also use it to explore issues concerning life and death. This is particularly effective regarding the fact that both stories were written in the age of scientific breakthrough and technology, which were the vindication of all unexplained deaths occurring then, again creating suspense.
Suspense is created in the titles of both the stories. The “It” in “How It Happened” immediately intrigues the reader, instantly causing the reader to wonder what the “It” is, and what exactly happens to the “It”. Moreover the use of the word “It” gives the title a subtly eerie feeling, arousing excited expectations and uncertain outcomes about what may happen, as a result starting the story with suspenseful questions. “The Signalman” is a much more straightforward title, for it plainly indicates that this “Signalman” is obviously the central focus of the story. However, even though railway lines were, at that time, the latest breakthrough in modern technology and convenience, it was also the centre of a large majority of unexplained deaths, hence being one of the most appropriate but the least conventional settings for a ghost story. Likewise, the Signalman himself was not the most conventional character either, accordingly arousing the reader’s interest in the occurrence of...
... middle of paper ...
...hen sun, but this time it is later, closer to the middle of the night. The night is a portent of some momentous or calamitous situation occurring - the accident, and the timing is perfect for the paranormal to take place.
The main methods used to create suspense in both the stories involve the use of supernatural phenomena’s. The creating of suspense in both the stories start from the beginning, the titles. As the stories progress the use of first person narrative help the authors expand the amounts of suspense created throughout the stories. The settings of both the stories play a significant part in the building up of suspense. Both the authors, Charles Dickens and Conan Doyle, are famous authors who have written many books with great quantities of suspense, they know what they are doing and they have done it well, especially well in these short stories.
In Dahl’s short story and in Jacob’s short story, both depict suspense through tone and description. For example, in the “The Landlady”, the narrator stated, “I stuff all my little pets.” This example reveals suspense by providing the landlady killed and stuffed her pets. Furthermore,
The Signalman and The Red Room are well known examples of nineteenth century ghost stories How effectively do the authors of “The Red Room” and “The Signalman” create a sense of suspense in the story "The Signalman" and "The Red Room" are well known examples of nineteenth century ghost stories. The Signalman by Charles Dickens was written in 1865, which was the time of developing literacy. This short story was presented in three parts as it was previously in a periodical form; this technique was also used to create suspense and therefore leaves the reader at a cliff hanger after each episode, which in turn motivates the reader to read on. There were many rumors about this story as many people suggested that Dickens wrote this story as a remembrance of the day he was involved in a railway accident which killed ten people. Furthermore, He was writing in the Victorian times, when there was a massive change in technology as new inventions were created, e.g. the Train.
Josh Pachter’s “Invitation to a Murder” uses passage of time, inference gaps, and foreshadowing to add suspense. Dramatic irony, inference gaps and red herrings create suspense in “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl. “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses mystery elements of many possible suspects, accumulation of clues and hidden evidence as catalysts for suspense. All three authors cleverly created anticipation in their work with mystery elements that kept the potential to hold captive their reader’s attention until the very last
One quality a story needs to possess in order to keep the reader eager and captivated to read is suspense. Both stories have elements of suspense, but utilize it in different ways. “The Wreck of the Hesperus” does an excellent job of foreshadowing, so one can predict the sequence of events that will happen.
The narratives that we find in this story are always set in the most everyday reality, in a daily routine that apparently has nothing special. Until everything changes. Although we do not find in these stories supernatural elements or the characteristics of horror stories. Perhaps because it is responsible for teaching us the terrible
How W.W. Jacobs, H.G. Wells and Charles Dickens Create Suspense in their Gothic Horror Stories
2. In paragraph form and with reference to the story, discuss the role of fear in creating suspense.
Frankenstein is the story of an eccentric scientist whose masterful creation, a monster composed of sown together appendages of dead bodies, escapes and is now loose in the country. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelly’s diction enhances fear-provoking imagery in order to induce apprehension and suspense on the reader. Throughout this horrifying account, the reader is almost ‘told’ how to feel – generally a feeling of uneasiness or fright. The author’s diction makes the images throughout the story more vivid and dramatic, so dramatic that it can almost make you shudder.
In John Irving's novel titled, A Prayer for Owen Meany, suspenseful events are of abundance, and there are multiple ways the author creates this suspense. Among these methods of creating suspense, four that stand out are the use of setting, the pace of the story, the involvement of mysteries to be solved, and the ability of the reader to easily identify and sympathize with the protagonist. By placing a character in a gloomy or solitary place, uncomfortable feelings are created, which append to the suspense. Pace and structure of the story also play into the foundation of suspense, as shorter sentences and stronger, more cutting verbs and adjectives are often used to keep the reader highly interested and reading at a rapid speed. Of course, suspense could not be considered what it is if there were no mystery involved. The element of not knowing what is in store for the future and having the urge to find out is the essence of suspense. Also, if the reader cannot easily relate to and sympathize with the character in the suspenseful situation, a loss of interest can arise, and therefore spoil the spirit of the tension. Uncomfortable settings, pace and structure, use of mysteries, and capability to relate to the main character are four techniques that John Irving uses to create suspense.
In conclusion, Richard Matheson’s stories are unfortunately correct of how society works. Even though “Button Button”, “Nick of Time”, and “No Such Thing as a Vampire” may seem like horror stories with no meaning, they contain many hidden messages.
In ‘The Phantom Coach’ Amelia Edwards has deliberately wanted to make the reader think about what is coming ahead while reading the story. The writer has used a sense of mystery and dread and has created a narrative that adheres to the Gothic genre to a large extent. One example of Typical Gothic convention which is used by the author is ‘I tell it now with a reluctance which I find it difficult to overcome” this shows that a feeling of tension and anxiety that is making it hard to tell the story to the reader as it is bringing back bad memories from the past. Another example that is showing a sense of mystery and dread is shown when it states ‘They happened to myself, and my recollection of them is as vivid as if they had taken place only
The suspense is created by the different characters and many mysterious setting. In this story suspense is presented in a way to keep the reader engaged in the story. The main suspense begins with Helen Stoner telling her story to Sherlock Holmes. Helen told Holmes about the mysterious and strange events that occurred. The events such as, whistling in the middle of the night, as well as her sister’s mysterious death. Doyle describing the dark bedroom that Watson spend the night in, made the reader feel the suspense as if they were in the same room. He uses descriptions such as “...This is very interesting. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the little opening for the ventilator is” as well as “Holmes as we sat together in the gathering darkness” (Conan Doyle) made the reader more engaged into the story. Foreshadowing is also created in the story to give clues that suggest events that will occur later in the story. Foreshadowing is seemed to be seen when the pole rope was connected to a ventilator and the ventilator went to the next room. The poisonous snake was the weapon used to kill the daughter, by traveling through the
The gothic often presents dangling characters and plot lines, which contribute to the main point of the gothic: suspense. Brown’s works depend on the use of suspense as a literary technique and is evident in Wieland within Clara’s first person point of view narrative. Her constant reflections on how difficult it is for her to continue on with the series of events. Such actions, although they may seem trivial, persuade the reader to continue on to find out what happens
In this essay, I will compare and analyse how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creates mystery and suspense in three short stories. In retrospect, mystery and suspense go together. If one of the two is present in a story, so is another. Both of these elements are evident in the three short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I intend to go into the intriguing world of this master of mystery and explore the methods used by the writer. I aim to analyze the stories and highlight common traits in the way in which he creates mystery and suspense. In order to fully grasp the essence of the stories, we must first know some background information about the writer and the period in which the characters involved in the stories lived.
to teach himself as much as he can, for he has only little time to