A Comparison of 'The Bar of Gold' by Conan Doyle and 'The Red Room' by H.G. Wells
Gothic literature always involves portent and the paranormal such as;
ghosts, curses, and witchcraft. It is usually set in castles and
cemeteries. “The Red Room” by H.G. WELLS (1984) in particular contains
some of these elements. Gothic literature is a genre common in the
eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. Both, “The Man with the
Twisted Lip” by SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE (1891) and “The Red Room”,
belong to the late Victorian age. The Victorians had interest towards
new methods of criminal detection, scientific discoveries, the
supernatural, and the occult. Both stories have elements of one or
another of these interests.
There is a significant disparity between the genre of the two stories.
‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’, pays more considerations to aspects of
real life. It is located in the East End of London, which makes it
more realistic, as Conan Doyle portrays the setting as it was in
Victorian times; full of smoke, highly contaminated with pollution and
prevalent diseases. It is more to do with new methods of criminal
detection, which made it a fine story for the Victorians. On the
contrary ‘The Red Room’ is intentionally ambiguous in relation to a
specific time and location. It engages more perhaps with the
traditions of gothic literature.
In both stories, ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ and ‘The Red Room’ the
structure is similar. They both have a beginning where the authors set
the scene using a range of literary features such as; adjectives,
alliteration and repetition. Just some examples
of alliteration in ‘The Man with the Twi...
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... have appealed to a Victorian audience’s sense of the supernatural. He
and Neville St Clair are the central characters in the play, rather
then the narrator in it.
In the red room the narrator is mostly the central character. He is
initially presented as supercilious; this is implied when he says, ‘I
Can assure you… it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me’. As
we travel deeper into the story we find out that he becomes frightened
of the Red Room.
In conclusion both stories share similarities and differences in some
ways. They both are mysterious stories; ‘The Man with the Twisted lip’
involves a mysterious crime case and ‘The Red Room’ involves a
mysterious case which has ghostly contents. Both would appeal to a
Victorian audience. The settings ‘The Bar of Gold’ and ‘The Red Room’
are both ominous.
In comparison The Red Room was written only thirty years later in 1894 by HG Wells although it feels more timeless. At that time technology had improved intensely, nevertheless Wells still imitated the old fashion gothic literature style writing, which is ironic, due to the time. Both stories have managed to engage its audience by creating suspense and tension. Besides that both stories have been written in first person, this in sequence makes it sinister, in a way because we get to know the narrator’s impressions and feelings. The authors of both stories have selected discomforting places in which to set their story, they are made more eerie because that in the 19th century time many people believed in ghosts and the supernatural.
Exploring the Reasons Behind the Popularity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories Although not a real detective, the character of Sherlock Holmes gave the general public a sense of security because in the stories he is seen to solve cases quite easily, such as in "The Man With The Twisted Lip." Watson says "I wish I knew how you reached your results" and Holmes replies, "I reached this one, by sitting upon five pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. " This gives the readers a sense of security because it seems as if Holmes makes no effort to solve the crimes but they are still solved with the minimum of fuss. At the time of writing the concept of detectives was new, and when the stories were written there was almost no confidence in the police force. This point is brought up in "The Man With The Twisted lip," the police force caught a criminal and then proceeded to let him go.
The Appeal of Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories Over 120 years ago the lived a fictional character called "Sherlock Holmes", who lived at 221B, Baker Street. Arthur Conan-Doyle created the character in 1887 and the stories are still popular today. In 1887 Doyle was going to stop writing the stories but he got death threats telling him to keep Holmes alive, he did what they asked. I am going to examine and write about three stories: "The Speckled Band" "Silver Blaze" "The Cardboard Box" "The Speckled Band" is a murder story set in the countryside and is about a man who kills his step-daughter because of the money she will inherit on her marriage.
Suspense and Tension in The Red Room by H.G.Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens
The aim of this essay is to explore the way in which the two authors
because of his connection with the Klan. "The second member of the team was a
Room' is a story made to prove that there is no such thing as the
Both H. G. Wells and Charlotte Bronte draw upon the Gothic tradition to create an atmosphere of fear in their books, but this is handled in different ways although with some similarities. The Gothic tradition was believed to have started in 1764, however these novels were written outside the Gothic period, with Charlotte Bronte publishing her book in 1847, and H. G. Wells publishing his in 1896, over one hundred years later than the first Gothic novel.
Gothic Horror in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells' The Red Room
Two books so similar in their journey, and yet so far apart through the roads they take are, Night and The Hiding Place. In The Hiding Place, a book about the life of Cornelia ten Boom, and her journey from her average life to a life filled with pain that helps her discover her strong faith in God. In Night, Ellie Wiesel starts out having more faith in God then in himself, and after having to endure the death of his family, he loses all faith in God and religion. Corrie ten Boom was an adult, when the Gestapo came to Holland, and had much more taken away from her because she had lived more than Wiesel had. Cornelia was never the most fortunate woman in the world, but through her many misfortunes and strong faith she learned how to deal with the pain life presents one. The life journeys of Corrie ten Boom compared to Ellie Wiesel are one in some ways, but complete opposites in others.
“a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of
sisters and one brother, with quite a large family occasionally times got hard as money
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia, demonstrates how a specific character can be used to expand upon the complexity of the story’s main character. Specifically in the case of Irene Adler, Conan Doyle does not go into much detail about her, as much as he uses her as a contrast to Holmes. Adler’s presence in the story is the antagonist, but seems much more than that to Holmes’. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s use of Adler seems to be very unique and creative compared to some of his other works, though after her appearance, Conan Doyle’s works with Sherlock all come to a similar structure, that Sherlock seems to come to adore the villains, more so the villains intellect, and put up with the people that hire him.
Tension and Suspense in The Red Room by H.G. Wells In H.G Wells’ The Red Room tension and suspense are created through the characters, the plot and the setting. The setting is typical of Gothic and Victorian ghost stories. In these times there was no electricity so use of candles for light created an eerie atmosphere. They had no modern technology like televisions for entertainment so they used books and story telling.
Now, let us look at “The Speckled Band” there is no doubt that it is a