Suspense and Tension in The Red Room by H.G.Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens

Suspense and Tension in The Red Room by H.G.Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens

In this assessment I am going to discuss the ways in which a selection

of writers build suspense and tension through their stories. I will

use two stories from before nineteen fourteen and two from after

nineteen fourteen. I will use 'The Red Room' by H.G Wells because it

is from before nineteen fourteen. The story is about a man who stays

in a room in an old castle to disprove the alleged existence of a

ghost. Also from before nineteen fourteen is 'The Signalman' by

Charles Dickens, it is about a man who visits a signal man and hears

how he has had supernatural encounters with someone or something. A

story from after nineteen fourteen is 'Man from the South' by Roald

Dahl. In this story a sailor bets his finger for a sports car. Finally

I will discuss 'Farthing House' by Susan Hill. Like in 'The Signalman'

someone encounters supernatural experiences, but in an old peoples

home.

In 'The Red Room' tension is built up immediately by the presence of

the old people.

"the man with the withered arm…

…the man with the shade…

...the old woman sat staring into the fire, her pale eyes wide open."

The old people continue to build a presence of uncertainty about them

by repeating phrases through out the conversation with the man.

"It's your own choosing…

…on this night of all nights."

This makes the reader uncertain about the sanity of the old people and

what they are doing in a big old castle anyway.

In a similar way to 'The Red Room' the characters at the start of 'The

Signalman' create suspense. A stranger goes to see a signalman. We

don't know why he goes to see him, which adds to the suspense of the

stranger. When he shouts to the signalman, the signalman looks up at

him as if he was frightened.

"He looked up at me without replying, and I looked down at him