How Are Suspense and Tension Created in The Red Room? Essay -- English

How Are Suspense and Tension Created in The Red Room? In The Red Room by H.G. Wells a lot of suspense and tension is created. The Red Room fits into the gothic genre because it has some of the requirements for a gothic story in it, like, being set in a castle, an atmosphere of mystery and suspense, a prophecy, the supernatural and high levels of emotion. The story creates tension in lots of ways such as, shadows, noises, charcters and general mystery surrounding the red room. At the beginning of The Red Room the author creates tension by having the narrator straight away in a scene which is unusual to him, he is in a dark old room with old people who are mostly disfigured and slightly other worldly in the way they look and behave. â€Å"†¦ I had scarce expected these grotesque custodians.† He sees them not as ordinary people but as being grotesque so is clearly unhappy being with them. The author also immediately creates tension by talking of ghosts and the supernatural straightaway. â€Å"†¦ It will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me.† So we already have talk of ghosts in only the first line! As the narrator begins his journey to the red room more tension is created. â€Å"†¦ and my candle flared and made the shadows cower a quiver, the echoes rang up and down the spiral staircase†¦Ã¢â‚¬  so we have shadows cowering and quivering which is exactly what people do when they are frightend, the shadows are also being personified which could be a representation of the narrator’s fear. The author uses shadows again to create tension when he is on his way to the red room. â€Å"†¦ and as a shadow came sweeping up after me†¦Ã¢â‚¬  so we feel that the narrator is being chased up the staircase by something perhaps not of this worl... ...king him and this could result in something happening to him. The description also enables him to understand how the rumours in the red room could have started which makes him very nervous. Light and dark are obviously very symbolic, dark represents danger and the unknown whereas light means we are safe because we can see everything around us and it is harder to be fooled by noises or shadows in the light. Tension and suspense were constantly created in The Red Room by H.G. Well’s using various techniques, the writer uses a lot of different techniques to keep the reader wondering and to make sure that tension and suspense are always present in the story. In my opinion there is no one technique which is used to greater effect than any other one. I think that they are all used in equally effective amounts and they all help to create suspense and tension.