The Atmosphere of Mystery and Fear in The Speckled Band and The Signalman

The Atmosphere of Mystery and Fear in The Speckled Band and The Signalman

'The Speckled Band' and 'The Signalman' use language in different ways

to make an atmosphere of mystery and fear. These two stories are of a

different genre, 'The Speckled Band' is a detective mystery, one of

the first of its kind and 'The Signalman' is a supernatural story, yet

they are similar as they are both pieces of pre 1914 pros.

One of the similarities of both these stories is that the stories are

both in first person narrative and by doing this they make the

character normal, this help you get into the story and see it thought

the eyes of this character. Being written in this way helps the reader

identify different clues and aspects of the story and helps the reader

share the experience and the build up of the feeling of fear and

mystery in his character and people around him help build up fear and

mystery in the reader.

'The Speckled Band' is set in the Victorian age, and is one of the

first detective mystery short stories ever. 'The Speckled Band' uses

different ways to build up an atmosphere of mystery by using language

which is evocative of a feeling of mystery; this is done by using a

number of metaphors and clever uses of the English language such as

descriptive language and use of imagery to create this atmosphere.

Using language such as "Oh sir, do you not think you could help me

too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness that

surrounds me?" In this sentence the reader is introduced to an

atmosphere of fear, evil and mystery. It does this because it links

the story to struggle and darkness, which are linked to evil fea...

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... fearful, so this is another example of how

Dickens builds up a atmosphere of fear and evil. This is also an

example of pathetic fallacy.

The starts and endings of the stories are very important in many ways.

At the start of the stories you get to know the narrator and start to

link ideas with him and put yourself in his shoes, you also get to

know the different characters. Then the authors begin to build up the

feeling of mystery and fear. The end of the stories are important

because you experience the feelings of the narrator and either the

story is solved and most of the mysteries are solved and most fear is

expelled from the atmosphere like the ending of 'The Speckled Band' or

there are many questions left unanswered like in 'The Signalman' and

mystery and fear are still in the atmosphere at the end of the story.