The Red Room

How do H.G.
Wells and Charles

Dickens convey the experience of
fear in The Red Room and The
Signalman?
Discuss the history of the gothic nature of the Victorian
weltanschauing. Say that “Wells” employs many
different techniques to convey the experience of fear.
Say that you will concentrate on the character of the
first person narrative and the reaction he has to what
occurs and the gothic imagery employed to make the
reader uneasy.
Ancient Goths were a Germanic, eastern European tribe that was

renowned for being violent and barbaric round about 200ad. The gothic
term was then used to describe a type of architecture that appeared
around about the medieval era. This type of building is usually highly
embellished and decorative.
Gothic literature is normally set at night as it is the traditional time when

evil occurs and is set in remote and isolated areas usually set in gothic
remains of neo-gothic edifices. For instance, “the signalman” is set in a
tunnel described as being deep, dark, crooked and clammy which gives
the sense of decay and depression. The first recognised gothic novel was
called “The Castle Of Otranto” and was written in the late nineteenth
century by a man named Horace Walpole. This novel was successful due
to the growing number of improvement in literacy rates.
Gothic literature is normally based on the suspicion of the presence of the

supernatural. It creates a suspicious atmosphere by including foreboding
descriptions of normal objects making something completely normal seem
threatening and dangerous.
The main character involved in the discourse is often a rationalist who is

sceptical and cynical in their approach of the supernatural. The writer
gives the narrator this sense of denial because if the protagonist already
believes in the supernatural then the discourse becomes less believable.
Most discourses written with gothic stylisation involve a lot of dark places
since the dark gives off the sense of the unknown which disturbs and
frightens people.
Why does wells choose the narrator he does? What effect does
this have on the text? Does it intensify the portrayal of fear,
how?
The main character involved in the discourse is often a rationalist who is
sceptical and cynical in their approach of the supernatural. The writer
gives the narrator this sense of denial because if the protagonist already
believes in the supernatural then the discourse becomes less believable.
The protagonist in the ”Red Room” is an good example of this haughty,

super syllious behaviour as he displays it regularly. An example of this
behaviour is when he arrogantly states:
“ “eight-and-twenty years,” said I, “I have lived, and never a ghost have I

seen as yet.”
This inversion of syntax “said I” many have been used in the nineteenth
century but still seems overly formal and self satisfied as he talks to the
old man.
He uses the word “tangible” to describe the ghost as he is being sarcastic

and indicating in a distainable way his belief that there is no such thing as
the supernatural. This conveys him as a pragmatic empirical sceptic. The
fact that he immediately dismisses the thought of the ghost clearly
suggests that he believes the old people are gullible and credulous fools.
Even though the author has given this character a stuffy and haughty
personality he mustn’t make the character too up himself as this would
ruin the suspense of the novel because rather than empathising with the
protagonist we would hold grudges against him and instead of worrying
for the man security and safety we would take pleasure from his
misfortune. negative aspects of his self importants are further emphasised
by the overly confident action of standing in front of the fire with his glass
in his hand.
The protagonists was made to behave like this by the author to give him a
personality in which we can empathise with. This increases our fear since
we can imagine ourselves being in that position because he is more
human and thus more like us.
4) Gothic imagery. Stress what affect the following have on the
narrator and reader.#
The old people and their warning, the use of the imagery of
disease. The personification of shadows
The protagonist is highly prejudice against the old people who play the
gothic motif of old age and disability. This motif is predafical rather than
typically atmospheric since he uses words like “crouching” and “atavistic”
which evokes a sense of fear in the reader as they are particularly
threatening. This is because they have two connotations. The word
crouching could be an aspect of old age as old people have a lack of
vigour or it could be interpreted as a more raptorial threat as it is a
predatorial position. The custodians don’t represent support but an
element of the hostile and alien nature of the locations atmosphere.
The phrase “It is your own choosing” seems innocuous but it becomes
important because of the repetition of the phrase. This repetition becomes
unnerving since it evolves into something chant like.
Furthermore, the fact that they are empathising that the protagonist is
venturing out to the Red Room on his own accord emphasises that they
fear he may come to a violent end yet it also makes the whole situation
sound like an atavistic rite of passage.
Moreover, the adjective atavistic is used to create spiritual dread in the

“Red Room” because the discourse itself draws upon one of the greatest
atavistic fears we share that be of the dark. The use of the word
“atavistic” makes us focus on not just the individuals fear in the text but a
fear we all share just like our primitive ancestors must have shared,
huddled around a fire for protection, fearing what lay in wait in the dark.
The custodians disfigurement is another typical gothic motif that conveys

fear and could be seen as an omen of future damage. It creates the
impression of a baleful, damaging environment. The disability unsettles
the reader and above all else makes us fear for the health and well being
of the protagonist.
The old woman who “swayed her head side to side” shows signs of mental
illness introducing the motif of madness which is uncanny, however, the
description is also threateningly serpent like.
5) the delaying of important info. Thrown into middle of

things this would unsettle reader
Like most other gothic stories “The Red Room” starts in Media-res. Throwing the
reader straight into the story not only grabs his attention but also throws the
reader off balance since it makes the reader unsettled just like the protagonist of
the red room is unsettled and uneasy due to his situation enabling the reader to
emphasis with his insecurity. An example of this delayed information is shown
when the protagonist exclaims:
“I must confess that the oddness of these three old pensioners in whose charge
her ladyship had left the castle ……… affected me in spite of my efforts to keep
myself at a matter of fact phase”
We had no information that there was a ladyship so this revels some information
to us but it also offers us another question, why did she leave the castle? This
leaves us in a state of unsettlement and makes the reader want to read on.
As the old custodian gives the protagonist directions to The Red Room we finally
discover the actual size of this place. It emphasises how far away from society he
is and thus how far he is away from help.
6) how he tries to cope with his fear

You can see that the protagonist is already on edge and his bravado is a thin
venire which he is using to delude himself that he is confident when
subconsciously he is on edge which is proven when the protagonist is startled as
the old man “jerked his head back”.
Once he doesn’t have an audience to impress a great deal of his bluff confidence
disappears and is shown to be a façade. This is shown when he states to himself:
“I must confess that the oddness of these three old pensioners ….. affected me
in spite of my efforts to keep myself at a matter of fact phase”.
You can see how unsettled he is by the custodians as he sees them from another
age. He is confident that there is no supernatural presence in the modern age
but since these custodians represent something much older than this age he
starts to worry. His mind is being split in two. One side being scientific and is
telling him there is no such thing as ghosts. whereas, his other side doesn’t listen
to reason and is making him speculate the existence of the supernatural.
Furthermore, this erosion is also represented linguistically from the deliberate

ploche of the phrase “an age” In this passage. This creates the impression that
his mind is unhealthy on its obsession with this concept.

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How do H.G.

Wells and Charles

Ancient Goths were a Germanic, eastern European tribe that was

Gothic literature is normally set at night as it is the traditional time when

Gothic literature is normally based on the suspicion of the presence of the

The main character involved in the discourse is often a rationalist who is

The protagonist in the ”Red Room” is an good example of this haughty,

“ “eight-and-twenty years,” said I, “I have lived, and never a ghost have I

He uses the word “tangible” to describe the ghost as he is being sarcastic

Moreover, the adjective atavistic is used to create spiritual dread in the

The custodians disfigurement is another typical gothic motif that conveys

5) the delaying of important info. Thrown into middle of

6) how he tries to cope with his fear

Furthermore, this erosion is also represented linguistically from the deliberate

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