On The Brighton Road and Woman In Black

A good ghost story has to include certain writing techniques to give it a certain cutting edge of horror. The setting of a good ghost story is always important. A very common setting could be a sinister graveyard or an old eerie mansion, anyone that adds to the spooky atmosphere. Description needs to be used to the maximum effect to create a frightening atmosphere.

Everything from the creaking door to the rocking chair must be described used selectively creepy language. There are many telling signs to show when the ghost is going to make his appearance.This is because the writer usually prepares the atmosphere for its entrance. Techniques used for this are things such as drops in temperature, sudden noises, howling winds, swirling mists and others. There are a variety of different ghosts used in this genre of stories.

These poltergeists that don't usually emerge and have tendency to steal or move things around. Even though you can't see them visibly you can still feel their presence, which can be said for a lot of other ghosts. Other types of ghosts are ones that are visible to the eye.These are usually dressed in old clothes and have ashen white faces. These ghosts are usually somebody from the past that has been disturbed or wants to seek revenge.

In this essay I will be dealing with the supernatural types of specters only. All these are visible to the eye. The stories I will be dealing with are, "The Signalman," by Charles Dickens, which is a pre-twentieth century novel. "On The Brighton Road," by Richard Middleton, which is a Victorian, story.

"Woman In Black" by Susan Hill, which is a Victorian novel and "Christmas Meeting" which is a Victorian story by Rosemary Timperley.The similarity between all these stories is that they are all set back in time. You can tell this by then mention of clothes such as bonnets and long black dresses. Another technique that shows that the stories are set in the past is the mention of transport like old trains and pony and traps.

Also the language used like "thee" and "thou. " Woman in Black starts off as if it's going to be a happy, cheerful story. It's first paragraph starts off "It was nine-thirty on Christmas Eve. " This suggests happiness, as Christmas is a joyful time of year.Later on however the story becomes more sinister.

This story is all centered around preparation for the ghost and appearances of the ghost. Description is used particularly well in this story. One example of the descriptive preparation used is this, " At first, all seemed very quiet, very still, and I wondered why I had awoken. Then, with a missed heartbeat, I realized that Spider was up and standing at the door. Every hair on her body was on end, her ears were pricked, her tail erect, the whole of her tense as if ready to spring. "This is just a short description of the dog's reactions.

This is effective because it is said that animals can sense super-natural presences and if the dog is reacting in this way something must be near. All throughout the gruesome tale the ghost of Mrs. Drablow puts in chilling appearances such as this one at the graveyard of Eel Marsh house, "She was at the far end of the plot, close to the one of the few upright headstones, and she wore the same black clothing and bonnet, but it seemed to have slipped back so that I could make out her face a little more clearly.When the ghost is seen Mr. Kipps seems to freeze and seems to stare at her.

This shows as the description is down to the last chilling detail. All details of actions and appearances are included so the unsettling tale can be felt to its full effect. Arthur Kipps stays in a hotel in the village to start with, and then he later moves to Eel Marsh House. Whilst he is in the village, any time he talks of the late Mrs. Drablow, the locals seem to act strange.

It is obvious that they don't want to talk about the subject.This sets the scene for something bad to happen, and this in effect is preparation for the ghost. "The Signalman" is a pre-twentieth century novel, and is based around a train station signal box and the comings and goings of one man. There are three main characters in this novel. A specter that every so often appears, a man that works in the signal box and another man who comes and goes from the signal box to talk to the worker.

In this novel it is difficult to tell which one the ghost is.There is not really much obvious preparation to the specter appearing just small sentences of description about the surroundings of the place "A dripping wet wall of jagged stone" This is describing the place that the signal mans box is set up in. This helps the story prepare for the ghost, because the mind pictures an unpleasant area with a scary edge to it. When the signalman opens up to the visitor it is a very tense situation, as the visitor is quite disturbed and doesn't know whether to believe the signalman or not.Tension is also present when the scepter appears, as the signalman is not sure what or who this figure really is. The signalman is very curious, and once goes to explore, "I advanced so close upon it that I wondered at its keeping.

.. when it was gone. " "On The Brighton Road" is a Victorian story, which starts of fairly normally as if nothing unusual is going to happen, "Slowly the sun had climbed up the hard white downs..

. Sparkling world of snow. " This description sounds as if it has come straight from a fairy tale. However, later we find this is no fairy tale.This is a strange story and there is not a lot of preparation.

The only part that we find out who the ghost is, is when the young boy says "We're all dead, all of us who're on it. " The boy is talking about all of those who are on the Brighton road. In effect both the men characters in this story are ghosts, without one of them knowing it. This story is not so much of a ghost story but a twisted tale.

"Christmas Meeting" is a Victorian short story again. In this there is not a lot of preparation and the ghost is not known to be the ghost until the very end.The boy featured in the story is obviously not of the same time as the woman you can tell by the description of clothing "Rather unconventionally dressed with a flowing, wine-coloured tie and black velvet coloured jacket. " This is a very out-dated. It is a Victorian way of dressing so it is obvious that he is from the past.

When the ghost is gone (this is a very typical trait in ghosts) the woman finds out that he is dead by looking in one of the boy's books that were written by him. This story isn't particularly good either on building up tension, but it does release some ension at the end.When she finds that he is dead it is a chilling moment "Francis Randel died from a sudden heart attack on Christmas Day, 1851. The woman mentioned in this final entry in his diary was the last person to see him alive. " This is the part where she finds that he is in fact dead and that it seems she was mentioned in the last entry. Preparation and appearance for and of ghosts in these stories is mainly done using clever description.

The exceptions to this are "On The Brighton Road" and "Christmas Meeting". Theses are not particularly good where preparation is concerned.