The Ways in Which the Writers Create an Atmosphere of Tension, Mystery and Suspense in the Stories The Monkeys Paw and The Red Room

The Ways in Which the Writers Create an Atmosphere of Tension, Mystery and Suspense in the Stories The Monkeys Paw and The Red Room

Ans. The Monkeys Paw, a very well written gothic short story by W. W.

Jacobs, has an immense variety of elements, which create an atmosphere

of mystery and suspense in the story, which also links and can be

compared to the short story, The Red Room, written by H. G. Wells.

The various steps, which the authors took to bring out the nature of

their stories, were indeed similar. We see this even before actually

reading the stories and analyzing them. Observing the history and

background of the short stories we find them both written in the

Victorian Age (1812-1870), which was an age of inventions and

discovery. The Victorian public had a fascination with anything odd,

mysterious and supernatural. They were indeed captivated by stories of

India, (as we see in "The Monkey's Paw), and the lands of the Far

East. Hence, epic novels and stories that were about this enthralled

them.

Not only are the two stories similar in this factor, that is to be

written in the Victorian age, but also there is an aura of fear,

tension, anxiety, mystery, and an ominous, scary touch to them. We can

proceed by saying that the success of the two stories advanced mainly

as they must have appealed greatly to the Victorian public. One, of

the most important ways in which the stories bring out their mystery

and suspense is through their titles, "The Monkey's Paw" and, "The Red

Room".

"The Monkey's Paw", is such a mysterious title. We consider to

ourselves some explanation for such a mystifying title. On first

reading, we would ...

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... room. However in my opinion, it was the man's fear. The

lights seemed to give him a feeling of security, and with its absence

he grew anxious. We should also keep in mind that all throughout the

man's struggle with himself he was in the dark, so how can we even be

sure if there was anything there with him. Being panic stricken and

insecure the man may have over reacted and in this case, knocked

himself unconscious.

I enjoyed the two stories though they are very dissimilar. "The Red

Room" is written almost like a traditional ghost story, with a lot of

gothic elements, while "The Monkey's Paw" was less scary. Every aspect

of the two stories were brilliantly constructed and molded together

and this made the stories of "The Red Room" and "The Monkey's Paw" a

fantastic read, and brilliant stories of tension and suspense.