Compare the ways in which the authors of The Red Room, The Black Essay

Compare the ways in which the authors of The Red Room, The Black Cottage and The Signalman create fear, suspense and tension. GCSE PROSE STUDY COURSEWORK: Compare the ways in which the authors of "The Red Room", "The Black Cottage" and "The Signalman" create fear, suspense and tension. In this essay i will be analysing the way three accomplished authors create an atmosphere of tension, fear and suspense in their three short stories. Once i had read their stories i instantly noticed how comparable the stories were. They write about fear and suspense in ways only you can comprehend if you have experienced it yourself. The stories seem to be filled with the authors' own experience of fear, suspense and tension, they incorporate this into their story and give the reader the exact feeling of what they personally felt themselves. They make sure that the reader knows how the characters feel and makes the reader become fond of the characters. The reader can really empathize with the writers, because they write in a first person narrative. The stories contain vivid description seen through the eyes of the narrators. The stories were written in victorian times and have a certain gothic style to them. The victorians believed it was immoral to isolate yourself from hummanity and cut yourself off from compassion - there is evidence of this in all three stories. In "The Signalman"(Charles Dickens) the signalman isolates himself from the rest of the world, therefore making the reader feel alone and this plays tricks on his own mind: " "Did it ring your bell yestersay evening when i was here, and you went to the door?" " Twice." " Why see," said i, " how your imagination misleads you. My eyes were on t... ...that the maid could well be alot smarter than the attackers and could escape from the terrorfying situation she is in. "The Signalman", Alot of climax and suspense becomes apparant in this story because the character tries to find out whether the supernatural that haunts him is real: ""Will you come to the door with me and look for it now?" He bit his under lip as though he were somewhat unwilling, but arose." Dickens shows here, that the once arrogant and self admired narrator is frightened of what might be on the other side of the red room's door. This then creates an understanding for the reader that even the most arrogant person will be afraid, once in the presence of the red room. With these examples you can see how the writer creates fear, suspense and tension, and why these stories are so brilliantly appraised as excellent pieces of writing.