'The Red Room', 'A Terribly Strange Bed' and 'The Signalman' all aim to create mystery, suspense and fear in the reader. Although all achieve this, they all do it in their own unique way. 'The Red Room' is about a person (the narrator) who goes to a 'haunted' room in an unknown house; they are sceptical of the haunting and aim to discover the truth. 'A Terribly Strange Bed' is again based around the narrator (as is 'The Signalman') however in 'A Terribly Strange Bed' the narrator goes to Paris gambling, and consequently wins a lot of money.He then proceeds to spend the night in a terribly strange bed.
Like the previous two stories the narrator in 'The Signalman' is unnamed creating mystery and questioning in the readers mind. The narrator visits a 'signalman' who lives in a small hut and begins to tell the narrator about premonitions he sees. A series of mysterious deaths start to occur. All the stories have a fairly traditional structure.
All build to a climax and use them well to create fear and mystery.Both 'The Red Room' and 'The Signalman' open with dialogue. I think this is a positive aspect because it begins the story right away and the reader immediately begins to question and think about what is happening, what the characters are talking about, why and where they are. In 'The Red Room' from the start you wonder what the narrator is doing in this unknown house and for what purpose is he there.
However in 'A Terribly Strange Bed' the narrator gives history and background to why he is in Paris.I think both have a different perspective however they are both effective because with not knowing there is more mystery however knowing background creates a lot more suspense and fear because the reader is anticipating some thing might happen. It makes the reader insightful as to what could later happen. All the settings create fear, mystery and suspense but again all do it in their own way.
'The Signalman' has a traditional eerie setting, set directly by a railway and railway tunnel, immediately gives the impression that something unnatural could occur.The Red Room' I think has possibly the best setting because we know nothing about this room or house. The reader knows that it is meant to be haunted and of some of the past events but not much else is known. The clever use of language is used effectively throughout, they describe the room like any other and as a reader you begin to question the possibilities as to what could happen in this room and what has happened before. Very different from the others 'A Terribly Strange Bed' is set in a gambling house away from everything else it seems.It has a suspicious feeling and setting about it.
This makes the reader expectant of what could happen. All three stories have very different settings however they are all very effective because they are relevant to their stories and characters. In all three stories the narrator is not named and remains unknown throughout. This is a very effective device used by the authors, not naming or identifying the narrator generates a lot of mystery.
It creates an atmosphere of unease, not knowing who the people you are reading about really are.If you know who someone is and what they are like you can predict their actions. Therefore not knowing the narrators generates mystery and fear but most of all suspense of not knowing how they will react, ultimately making the story more interesting and keeping the reader engaged because they feel they can put themselves into the narrators position. In 'The Red Room' the narrator is very sceptical of the 'haunted' room, so this makes the reader sceptical because the unnamed narrator allows you as a reader to take their place.In 'A Terribly Strange Bed' there are conniving plans to steal money and kill the narrator, the 'old soldier' being the villain. In all the stories imagery is very important through linguistic devices.
Personification is used in 'The Red Room' to describe the horrific bed. Alliteration, repetition and metaphors are all used to create mystery and fear.The endings of all the stories are different, but they are all effective. 'The Signalman' has the most tragic ending as the signalman foresees his own death. The Red Room' and 'A Terribly Strange Bed' have slightly tragic endings. In 'The Red Room' the narrator survives just injured however others before him have not been so lucky and have died.
'The Red room' has a very intriguing twist; it is not that the room is 'haunted'. The characters are not hurt or killed by haunting, but by fear itself. The story by Wilkie Collins 'A Terribly Strange Bed' has the most creative and greatest twist of them all.As the narrator lies on the bed, drugged by the old soldier, the top part of the 'four poster bed' lowers itself silently down upon him in attempt to kill him by suffocation. However in resolution the narrator escapes and manages to have the conniving villains arrested for their crime. All endings are uniquely effective.
All stories achieve their purpose and intention of creating mystery and fear, but all have their own perspective and achieve this in their own way. In these short stories the reader is constantly questioning and on the edge.I think all stories are very good but in different ways, 'The Red Room' has a good ending because the twist that's so destructive is in fact the narrators own mind. In the story 'A Terribly Strange Bed' has a very good ending, a very ingenious twist and the most resolution.
The bed trying to kill the narrator is very ironic and relevant to the title. However 'The Signalman' is the most tragic as the signalman is the only one who dies out of all the stories. I like the fact that in all of them nothing can scare or hurt the reader, except of course, 'Fear itself'.
