This essay will consider four of this type of story, by short story

This essay will consider four of this type of story, by short story

writers of the period; Dickens’ The Signal Man, The Monkeys Paw’ by

W W Jacobs, H G Wells The Red Room and The Dream Woman by Wilkie Collins.

LOOKING AT THE ATTUTUDES OF THE PERIOD, EXAMINE HOW A RANGE OF 19TH

CENTURY WRITERS CREATE MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE IN THEIR SHORT SHORIES

The rise in popularity of magazines in Victorian times and the era’s

fascination in the unknown and supernatural led to immense interest in

the short story genre. The key to the success of short stories is

holding the reader’s attention by the use of interesting and

meaningful subject matter, by using a condensed style of writing in

order to maintain suspense and intrigue.

The Victorian era saw great development in science which led to

conflicts in belief between faith and science, and rationalism and the

supernatural. Many of the 19th century short stories concerned the

supernatural. This essay will consider four of this type of story, by

short story writers of the period; Dickens’ ‘The Signal Man’, ‘The

Monkey’s Paw’ by W W Jacobs, H G Wells’ ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Dream

Woman’ by Wilkie Collins.

These authors create mystery and suspense in a variety of ways; in the

location of the story, the technique of narrative blurring where the

readers’ imagination is allowed to conjure up its worst fears,

inconclusive endings leaving some vital questions unanswered, unseen

terror, mysterious characters and the type of language used. I will

explore all of these aspects of their writing.

The location of all these short stories plays a very important role in

setting the scene. They were written at the beginning of the Romantic

Period which gave rise to a taste for...

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...ecame very popular as

they came around at a time of change, and looked at the possibilities

of the supernatural which were unheard of before this time. There are

many methods of creating mystery and suspense; the effective use of

language and writing styles to create characters of intrigue and

mystery. Using locations to create a feeling of loneliness, isolation

and despair add to the suspense of a short story. Additionally, short

stories often include characters of mystery that the reader never has

the opportunity to learn more about, thus maintaining the feeling of

suspense. In my opinion one of the most effective ways 19th century

writers created mystery and suspense in their short story writing was

by quickening the pace and rhythm of the text by using short, snappy

sentences and chapters which cannot help to engage the reader and

quicken their pulse.