In this essay, I am going to compare ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ by W.W Jacobs with ‘The Red Room’ by H.G Wells. I am going to examine how both the writers create suspense and mystery in the stories. ‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is basically about a paw which can be used to grant wishes for its owner. In humour, the White family make their first wish without considering what had happened to the people before them, also they are ignoring that the consequences will be disastrous. ‘The Red Room’ is about a man determined to prove that there are no ghosts in Lorraine Castle. In order to do so, he had to spend the night in the red room, ultimately a once in a life time experience. The two stories are only similar in the fact that they are both of the gothic horror genres and were both set before the 20th century.
‘The Monkey’s Paw’ has a setting typical of the gothic horror genre; ‘’the night was cold and wet’’, this automatically draws the reader’s attention. This writing technique is very common when building suspense from the beginning of the story because it gains the reader’s attention then it makes the reader want to read on. Also, W.W Jacobs makes a point of setting the start of the story at night because most people are scared of the dark and the fact that they do not know what is lurking behind the darkness makes the reader ask more questions as their fear grows stronger.
The other factor that creates suspense through the setting is that the house is ‘’out-of-the-way’’. This is important because isolation is key to a horror story; this is because if you are faced with danger and you are isolated then nobody will hear your scream; nobody can help. Also the reader starts to build an image of what the place is like and this is when fear really st...
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...’. This is when the suspense starts to rise steep and quickly. The real climax of this story is when the narrator’s behaviour becomes hysterical because of the fear inside of him of his surroundings. The imagery that the narrator gives is intense and even starts to make the reader feel as though they themselves are in the room.
In both stories, the opening sentence grabs the reader’s attention and makes the reader want to read on. ‘’The Monkey’s Paw’’ first sentence contained words like ‘’night’’, ‘’cold’’ and ‘’wet’’ and ‘’The Red Room’’ opening sentence was: ‘’ it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me’’, both of these make the reader feel eager to read on. However, tension is built in different patterns in these two stories; ‘’The Monkey’s Paw’’ has tension rising and lowering and ‘’The Red Room’’ has tension rising steadily to reach a climax at the end.
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.
Another reason why The Monkey's Paw explains foreshadowing with suspense or tension because in the article the author writes again "A rat," said the old man, in shaking tones—"a rat. It passed me on the stairs."
"The Monkey" is a short story written by Isak Dinesen. The story was published in 1934. "The Monkey" is a form of gothic sublime. In this story, I encountered many elements that related to magical realism as well as the sublime.
Suspense and Tension in The Red Room by H.G.Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens
Through the use of suspense, authors can truly draw the reader into the story. Suspense in the case of gives the reader the sense of apprehension about was is going to happen next and anticipation. Two stories where suspense is depicted is Roald Dahl’s short story, “The Landlady” and Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Tell Tale Heart”. Roald Dahl’s short story, “The Landlady,” is about a young man, Billy Weaver who wants to find somewhere to stay for a night for cheap, since he is traveling for business. However, when he comes across a cheap bed and breakfast, the Landlady there, ends up acting very strange and Billy only uncovers some of her secrets, before it is too late for him to escape. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, “The Tell Tale Heart,” is about someone, the narrator, who finds an old man’s eye immensely disturbing. After of seven nights of attempting murderer, on the eighth night, not only does the
The author uses imagery to show when and where the next part of the chapter is taking place to make the reader feel uneasy. The kid that has now awoken by the coldness and not the “footsteps”, which they heared get far away prior to awakening in the woods, then assess the situation. The kid then thinks “By the light of the moon I could see that they were everywhere. I looked at my other foot but was fine, and as a matter of fact so was the rest of me. I didn’t have another scratch on me and I wasn 't even that dirty” (Auerbach). The author makes the reader feel uneasy by making this take place at night which can be told by the moon. Another thing that makes the reader feel uneasy is when the author makes the kid be in the woods and besides them stepping on the thorn they are uninjured or even dirty. The way these sentence are made the reader can see this and feel the uneasiness even more than it already has. Also the fact that the reader knows that this is a kid makes it more uneasy. The imagery used by the author then makes the reader feel uneasy since where and when this is. By “seeing” what the kid sees, and knowing what has been going on in the beginning of this chapter makes this mysterious to where the reader feels
Through the use of imagery Lovecraft has manufactured a poem that creates a quite impressive feeling of fright when read. Obviously, as with any work of literature, the intensity with which one responds to “The Messenger” will differ between individuals. Not all will find the piece terribly horrendous, and it is safe to assume that some will not find it creepy by any stretch of the imagination. Regardless, no one can deny that H. P. Lovecraft forged “The Messenger” into a memorable poem, which relegates itself among some of his greatest works.
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.
In this story, fear played a very important part. It provided a way for the author to make suspense. For instance when the drugstore’s owner called the police, it made the reader wonder if the police would arrive first or if Alfred’s mother would arrive first. Also, in the beginning when the owner caught Alfred shoplifting and we find out that Alfred is scared, it makes the reader wonder why he is scared. So as you can see, fear does play an important part in this story’s suspense category.
A Comparison of The Story Of An Hour by K. Chopin and the Red Room by H.G. Wells
It is no secret that with the nickname “The Master of Suspense” that the trademark technique of Alfred Hitchcock’s films would be his ability to elicit excruciating emotions of tension out of his audiences. It is by far his most prominent and most effective stylistic choice and is displayed in all three films that I have selected for this essay. Hitchcock best described his fascination...
The atmosphere of each novel plays a significant role in setting the scene for the ensuing horror to evolve. The atmosphere in each novel is different; the horror in each novel is different
In the first half of “Ghost House”, word choice is used to create a somber, unsettling tone. Even innocent words take on a bleak undertone. Phrases such as “daylight falls” exemplify this with the anxiousness that is evoked with the word “falls.” Even the word “copse” begins to sound like “corpse.” This word play is important in solidifying a foreboding mood.
The producer was aiming to create mystery and fear. The dark of the night and the description of the house as feeling dead in the protagonist’s narration sets a suspenseful scene filled with fear and tension. The young girl is followed by the camera as she explores the mansion. When entering the room suspected to be that of her aunts the camera leaves her side to pan around the room. The darkness doesn’t reveal everything but one becomes aware of a search. The revelation of little secrets leaves the viewer with many questions. The room is familiar to the protagonist as she finds items symbolic to her and familiar photographs. This familiarity however does not retract from suspicions that something sinister has been hidden. The producer has successfully captivated the viewer. The protagonist is being followed throughout the scene and has thus allowed for the viewer to bond with them. They are engaging with the audience through narration and have in return enticed the viewer to follow them along their journey. One feels nervous for the young girl however through tension in the scene one does not want them to discontinue the journey as too many questions have been left unanswered. One has been drawn into the world of which the protagonist dwells and is intrigued as to how the drama is
Three wishes, an old Indian curse, and a mummified paw, that was cut from a monkey. This is going to be exciting! “The Monkey’s Paw” is a short story written by W.W. Jacobs in the early 1900’s just after the turn of the centenary. Even though the text is short, it grabs the reader’s attention and keeps them on the edge of their seats until the very end. As exhilarating as this thriller is to read, unfortunately like many literary works written during that time, “The Monkey’s Paw,” is demeaning towards women and goes against feminist literary criticism’s principles and ideologies.