There is tension already created by the title "The Red Room". You wonder what is the red room? Also you start thinking what the red could be linked up with such as danger, fear, and blood. This makes you want to read the story even more as the tension and fear is already building. The story centers around an unmanned narrator who chooses to spend the night in the Lorraine Castle where there is a specific room which is preoccupied by spirits. The man had heard stories about the red room but did not believe them, he went there to inspect.
The red room is written by H. G Wells in the early 20th century. When the young man arrived at the house, there were three elderly people who were trying to persuade the man not to go to the red room. The young man refused to listen and insisted on going up there with no fear.
The women sitting hunched back in her chair tried telling stories to the man about the room, trying to tell him it was not safe to visit. H. G Wells created suspense and fear through the story in many ways. He gives them no names and refers to them only as the man and the woman.There is suspense raised through the personalities of the three people living there, with language as it is very deep toned and dark for example " Its your own choosing," by saying this it could have more than one meaning, also it is repeated three times which brings suspense and fear.
It creates suspense with the description and their actions for example "the man with the withered arm". It gives a lot of descriptions of the characters "pale eyes wide open" this gives a very cold feeling about the character.H. G Wells started the paragraph with "The sound of a stick and a shambling step on the flags" which is alliteration and is built up throughout the story.
In that paragraph there are words and phrases which create more tension "the door creaked" "hinges" "hung pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth". The three old people have weird behavior through out the story as one of hem took no notice of him being there and kept here eyes fixed on the fire, they try and stop the man going to the red room but don't give an actual reason.Through out the story the narrator always describes the eyes of the characters to try and scare you such as "glimpse of his eyes, small and bright and inflamed" "eyes were covered by a shade" "pale eyes", by doing this you can see a clear image of the characters and gets you to know the moods of them. In the paragraph you can see how H. G Wells tried to create a typical "ghost story" scene as he talks about omens, witches and shadows creeping up the walls.
These words are stereo typical in a ghost or horror story.H. G Wells atmosphere through the story is very high as everything seen and one in the story is described. He describes the house to be old, doors creaking, very dark, and old fashioned. Also there is a lot of repetition of phrases and "this night of all nights".
There is also repetition of the elderly fear, darkness and shadows, which builds up a lot of suspense. On the way to the red room the man described his way and what he saw, he described everything to be old fashioned, dusty, dark this is very much like a typical castle and ghost story, he uses personification to describe the room "shadows cower and quiver".He also describes the ornaments he saw along the way to the red room in great detail, by this he was trying to build up the climax before reaching the room. As he was in the room you can tell he is getting slightly nervous "I stood rigid for half a minute", by saying this you can see that fear is taking over. As he opened the door to the room he didn't look straight in he kept his head half turned to the landing, he stood there waiting for something to happen waving his candle about the room.
He began to wander in and take a look around the room, reminding himself of what had supposed to have happened in this room. The young man took a good tour around the room opening the blinds, having a look at the view. A While after touring the room, the narrator felt a draught that seemed extremely strong. This made him scared and anxious but he still tries to remain calm. When he turned around he noticed that two of the candles had gone out, but he didn't think much of it. S he went to relight them, he saw another candle go out in the reflection of the mirror, and then another one.
He stared to become more scared as there was no smoke coming from the candles or smell. All the unfortunate events such as the candles going out, was all down to him, or natural causes such as wind. None of it was due to supernatural causes. Yet his mind reacted on instinct, thinking that it was the worst and that of a spiritual being in the room, because he was led to believe it by stories from books and the elderly Throughout the story H.
G Wells uses Victorian language in his vocabulary, speech and sentence structure as it was written in the 20th century.For example "ay, she broke in" "and eight-and-twenty years you have lived". This creates tension in the story as it is very old fashioned. H. G Wells uses similes such as "closed upon me like thee shutting of an eye" this makes the story more interesting to read. There are also metaphors used such as "like a ragged cloud sweeping out the stars" this makes the story livelier.
There is a lot of darkness through out the story "wrapped about me in a stifling embrace", "crushed....Reason fro my brain" using dark phrases like these creates suspense in the story and are used in horror stories.
After analyzing the "The Red Room" I found it was an interesting and fascinating story, as I can relate to being fearful. I found that the way it was written using personifications and alliteration it made it much more enjoyable to read. There was so much suspense in the story right from the beginning as you start asking questions about what is the red room? , as it is an interesting title you want to read the book all the more.
