The Ways in Which Wilkie Collins Builds Up a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in His Short Stories

The Ways in Which Wilkie Collins Builds Up a Sense of Mystery and Suspense in His Short Stories

In this essay I will examine the ways in which Wilkie Collins builds

up mystery in suspense in three stories; 'A Terribly Strange Bed',

'The Black Cottage' and 'The Ostler'. I will closely compare these

stories in four sections; language for description, characterisation,

sentence structure and overall structure, using suitable evidence from

the text to support these ideas.

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In 'A Terribly Strange Bed' an awkward, unwelcoming atmosphere is

described; "mute, weird tragedy", "the quiet in the room", "strangely

dulled". The gambling room is described as a dark and dreary place and

there is a sense of foreboding that something dreadful may occur,

because the narrator is isolated.

The description of the setting in 'The Black Cottage' is similar in

that the isolated feeling depicted on the first page describing the

scenery makes the reader wary of the absence of help and therefore the

danger of living on the lonely moor; "Curiously dark dingy look",

"lonely", "solitary". However there is also a sense of security in the

description of the cottage itself; "stoutly and snugly built", giving

some feeling of safety.

Similarly in 'The Ostler' a sense of mystery is also built up, but

instead Wilkie Collins uses pathetic fallacy. Here the rain and the

wind create an unnerving atmosphere. Although at first nothing

particularly unusual occurs, this, like the other stories; 'A Terribly

Strange bed' and 'The Black Cottage', creates a sense of foreboding,

because the reader is a...

... middle of paper ...

... security followed by sections of

short sentences with lots of punctuation, to create very tense pieces

of drama, which are extremely effective as they have been delayed by

the mundane descriptions.

One of the main contrasts between these stories is their ending. In 'A

Terribly Strange Bed' and 'The Ostler' the reader is left on a

cliffhanger with an unresolved plot. However, on the other hand in

'The Black Cottage' the mystery and suspense created throughout the

main plot is set aside for a rather duller ending, where the thieves

are caught and everyone lives happily ever after. In my opinion this

ending could be improved greatly, for example by not catching the

villains. This could also be true for 'A Terribly Strange Bed'

although there is still a mystery behind how many people have been

killed in the scandal.