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Importance of gothic themes in literature
Ghost story in English assignment
Literature the gothic genre
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A Comparison of The Signalman by Charles Dickens, The Red Room by H.G. Wells and The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
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All these stories were written in the Victorian era and ghost stories
were popular. The reasons that ghost stories were popular was because
people were learning to read and write, there was not much
entertainment and people had a fascination of supernatural events. The
Victorian era was starting to develop more technology such as steam
trains and education was becoming more compulsory than optional
because people wanted young children and themselves to read and write
and since they had fascinations of supernatural events, ghost stories
was perfect in this era.
One of the famous Victorian ghost stories was "The Signalman", which
was written by Charles Dickens. The story is about a signalman whose
job is to make sure that the track is in the right position when the
train comes and must also make sure that the track is clear. In this
story the signalman hears another man shouting, "Halloa, below there!"
and this was reminding the signalman about the spectre that appeared a
year ago. The signalman tells the narrator to meet him the next day in
his workstation. The next day the signalman meets the narrator and
tells him a story about a tragedy that happened a year ago. The
narrator leaves and the signalman invites the narrator the next day.
When the narrator returns, he "saw a appearance of a man with his left
sleeve across his eyes and passionately waving his rig...
... middle of paper ...
...TV program will attract audiences
that wasn't interested in the story.
Stories of the supernatural continued to be so popular because of the
way that it has been written, the language used in the stories and the
suspense and pace that is also used in supernatural stories. Also
people in the pre-20th century was very interested in supernatural
events so ghost stories was very entertaining in those times and still
is today.
I like these kind of stories because the language, pace, tension and
suspense techniques that are employed in the stories motivate me into
reading more supernatural stories that are done by the past. One of
the three Victorian ghost story that I enjoyed the most would have to
be "The Red Room". This is because the pace was very thick and fast
during the suspense and tension used in that story.
The aim of this essay is to explore the way in which the two authors
The contemporary reviewers of Bleak House fall into two categories when discussing its structure. There are those who like it and there are those who do not. More specifically, those who dislike the novel’s construction complain of the absence of plot and lack of connection between characters and their actions. Opposing this view are the reviewers who find the characters in Bleak House remarkably intertwined in the story, especially since it was written as a series for a literary magazine.
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.
Kalil, Marie. Cliffs notes on Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Cliff Notes Inc, June 2000
"Plot Summary: 'The Monkey's Paw'." DISCovering Authors. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Discovering Collection. Gale. St Charles Community College. 15 Apr. 2011.
mind and it did not exist. We are told by the narrator that he thought
a typical ghost story because it is set in the day. The railway is not
In society today, all people determine their lifestyle, personality and overall character by both positive and negative traits that they hold. Sydney Carton in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities was a drunken lawyer who had an extremely low self-esteem. He possessed many negative characteristics which he used in a positive way. Carton drastically changed his life and became a new man. Sydney is not the man he first appeared to be.
Dickens is often held to be among the greatest writers of the Victorian Age. Nonetheless, why are his works still relevant nearly two centuries later? One reason for this is clearly shown in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. In the novel, he uses imagery to sway the readers’ sympathies. He may kindle empathy for the revolutionary peasants one moment and inspire feeling for the imprisoned aristocrats the next, making the book a more multi-sided work. Dickens uses imagery throughout the novel to manipulate the reader’s compassion in the peasants’ favor, in the nobles defense, and even for the book’s main villainess, Madame Defarge.
Comparing The Poor Relations Story by Charles Dickens, Twenty Six Men and a Girl by Maxim Gorky and The Unexpected by Kate Chopin
Damrosch, David, et al., ed. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: Vol. B. Compact ed. New York: Longman - Addison Wesley Longman, 2000.
Philip, Neil and Victor Neuberg. Charles Dickens A December Vision and Other Thoughtful Writings. New York: The Continuum Publishing Co., 1987. A helpful collection of 10 essays by Dickens with accompanying explanations by the authors. Essays are followed by relevant passages from Dickens' novels.
Atmosphere in Charles Dickens' The Signalman 'The Signal-man' is a ghostly thriller by Charles Dickens. Based on an apparently hallucinating signal-man and the tales of his hallucinations, the story is seen through the eyes of the narrator, a man told of the signal-mans troubles during conversations with the signal-man himself. From the beginning of the story, the atmosphere is both eerie and gloomy. To produce this type of atmosphere, Dickens had to draw on several different aspects of English literature-mostly through description and use of language. The setting is described meticulously, producing vivid images in the mind of the reader.
A Comparison of The Signalman by Charles Dickens and The Red Room by H.G. Wells
Swisher, Clarice, Ed. “Charles Dickens: A Biography.” Readings on Charles Dickens. San Diego, Greenhaven Press, 1998. Print. 21 March 2014.