The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs, The Clubfooted Grocer by Sir Arthur E

The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs, The Clubfooted Grocer by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, The Red Room by H. G. Wells and The Signalman by Charles Dickens Analyse how the writers successfully use aspects of the supernatural to create dramatic tension in the short stories you have read. The nineteenth century was an era of general belief in ghosts and spirituality. This is what made gothic stories even more appealing and successful during this era – the fact that they would be seen as being realistic. One major reason for the rise in spirituality during this era was the fact that many people had started to lose their Christian faith (mainly because the Church was unable to give an explanation as to why ghosts existed) and so they started to search for a new way of understanding and accepting death. I think that the Victorian’s enjoyed reading horror stories because they offer a challenge – to see whether the reader can figure out who the â€Å"ghost† or spectre represents and what they are doing. By involving the reader, the writers were able to keep them interested throughout the story. During the Victorian era, the short story became a very popular genre and ghost stories were well-liked with the readers. It was therefore very important for the authors to build tension and suspense to keep their readers interested. I will be studying: â€Å"The Monkey’s Paw† by W. W. Jacobs, â€Å"The Clubfooted Grocer† by Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, â€Å"The Red Room† by H. G. Wells and â€Å"The Signalman† by Charles Dickens. In this essay, I will be exploring the ways in which the writers use the supernatural to create dramatic tension in the above stories. â€Å"The Monkey’s Paw† is a short story by W. W. Jacobs, written in 1902. The title of a sto... ...cause there is a lot of mystery present throughout the story. The strangest thing is the fact that the Signalman himself is an educated man, yet he sees strange, unexplainable Apparitions which eventually lead to his death. Overall, I believe that these short stories are effective in entertaining the reader and keeping them interested throughout the story. The writers use many different techniques such as personification, metaphors, similes and imagery to create vivid images throughout the stories. The best technique used is when there are many questions which are left unanswered at the end of the story. This makes the readers create their own conclusions about the reasons as to why certain events occurred. Also, the use of the first person narrative is effective in ghost stories because they give a clear view of what happens and how the narrator feels.