How atmosphere is created in Victorian ghost stories Essay

â€Å"Discuss and compare how atmosphere is created in three Victorian ghost stories† Atmosphere is created in Victorian ghost stories by using a few main factors- -Characters -figurative language -setting -themes -Era (period of time) The majority of Victorian ghost authors use these factors because they are best to create atmosphere in any story, i.e. for a theme you can use fear, and for a setting you can use an old abandoned mansion, a story can easily be set around this because the two factors fit together as the same genre. The first author that will be used as an example will be using as an example will be Charles Dickens, he was born in 1812, He had a marvellous photographic memory which helped him base some of his characters on people he had met earlier on in his life. The story I will be focusing on by dickens will be â€Å"THE SIGNALMAN†, this story is a good choice because its atmosphere is built up as soon as you read the story, â€Å"THE SIGNALMAN† is being narrated by the gentleman in the story, he is a means for creating atmosphere because he puts in a first person perspective, he gives opinion and tells you what the scenery looks like, characters are almost a part of the setting, they create a mood, for example the protagonist in the story spends most of his time learning from the signalman- â€Å"how I ought to act, having become the recipient of this disclosure? I had proved the man to be intelligent, vigilant, painstaking, and exact†, at first the protagonist sees the signalman to be a solitary, ghost of a man, but getting to know him, he sees him as a man waiting for something to come (this is now figurative language), what the author is trying to tell you is that he is not waiting to change the train track, but is waiting for the warning (or signal) towards his death. One of the themes is either death or hell, for example, in the start the signalman was shocked when the narrator yells at him â€Å"halloa, below there†, the signalman thinks that the protagonist is a ghost (the signal man is waiting for death). A quote that can support the theme of hell is: â€Å"just then there came a vague vibration of the earth and air, quickly changed into a violent pulsation and an oncoming rush that caused me to start back†, this shows that this character is not use to trains (most likely because of the era (period of time) , in which trains are relatively new and many people are scared of them), he may find them monstrous, figuratively, the ground quivering and the protagonist going down into the trench may possibly mean the earth is opening, and he is descending into hell. The era (period of time) also helps with the building of the atmosphere for the reason that the story is set around trains, and in Victorian times the general public were scared of trains which would add to the eeriness of the account being told. The author will use characters as a tool to build atmosphere by explaining what he or she looks like, how they act and what they do, for example, â€Å"And drawing nearer to him, saw that he was a dark sallow man with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows†, the narrator is describing the signalman as a person who does not interact with others and as if he is already dead because of his pale skin, deep voice, and in another part of the story he is described as having â€Å"an infection of the mind†, adding to the theme of death. The setting in the signalman is dim and creepy, this is explained by the protagonist, â€Å"down in the deep trench, and mine was so high above him, so steeped in the angry sunset†, the trench described in this quote is intended to represent the protagonist on earth, looking down into his grave, it could be that the point of the story is to represent the protagonist’ death. The next Victorian ghost author that will be used is Abraham stoker (Bram stoker); he is best known as the creator of the fictional character Count Dracula. The story which will be used is â€Å"THE JUDGES HOUSE†. One of the themes in this story is fear, this is mainly created by using setting and characters, for example, the protagonist, Malcolm Malcolmson needs a place of solitude to do his scientific research and so he finds † an old shambling, heavy built house of Jacobean style , with heavy gables and windows, set higher than normal, customary houses† he finds the perfect house for his research, this is also the perfect house to build suspense, horror and the theme, fear. This particular story brings different eras(periods of time) to it because the house that malcolmson takes residency in has a history, as malcolmson asks to stay in the house to the landlady, she replies â€Å"not in the judges house!, she said, and grew pale as she spoke†¦ the abode of the judge who was held in great terror because of the harsh sentences and his hostility towards the prisoners at assizes†, this makes the plot, and in turn it creates a negative atmosphere towards the house. This quote can also explain how the characters create atmosphere by use of their language , another example of this would be † mercy on us†, said Ms. Witham â€Å"an old devil, and sitting on a chair by the fireside , take care sir, take care†, Ms. Witham the woman speaking, sounds as if she is nervous just talking about the judge. In this story a setting can also represent a character i.e. the rats are meant to represent the judge, because it keeps catching the attention of malcolmson, â€Å"he raised a book in his right hand and taking careful aim, flung it at the rat, it sprang aside like a missile, he took another book and repeated his action, and a third, until he had only one book left, the rat squeaked and seemed afraid, malcolmson more eager to strike, the book flew with a resounding blow†. The book that hit the rat was the bible, usually in any Victorian ghost story the protagonist will have to use a religious object to get rid of the villain, i.e. in Bram stokers â€Å"Dracula† the protagonist (van Helsing) uses a cross to fend Dracula. So the rat (the judge) will have to be scared of the bible. The rats are also meant to representing the judges evil spreading like a plague, and ruining everybody’s lives around it. The last author that will be used to answer the question is Herbert George wells (h.g wells) he was a Victorian sci-fi writer most famous for his novel â€Å"war of the worlds†. The story he wrote that will be used is the â€Å"THE RED ROOM†. This will give good examples of how atmosphere is created by using characters; in the beginning of the story there is a conversation between the protagonist and the pensioners, the pensioners help create atmosphere because they are all somehow crippled, for example, â€Å"its your own choosing†, said the man with the withered arm once more†¦ a second old man entered, more bent, more wrinkled, more aged than the first. The reason these characters are like this is because they keep having to lecture the protagonist about not going to the red room, he won’t listen because no one would like to believe two senile old pensioners over their own opinion. The setting of the red room is a slightly different to other ghost stories because it is less secluded (there are more characters in the key building). It seems bizarre that the antagonist would only appear when a character is alone, as if it is shy: â€Å"as I stood undecided, an invisible hand seemed to sweep out the two candles on the table, with a cry of terror I dashed to the alcove†. The example of era (period in time) that happens in the story is more of a thought than it being existent: â€Å"an older age when things spiritual were indeed to be feared, when common sense was uncommon, an age, when omens and witches were credible, and ghost beyond denying†. This creates an Atmosphere of wickedness because it reminds you of the period in which everything was religious (religion can get rid of evil) and the church led the public to be against witches, demons and the devil. In all three of the stories there will be a person(s) who has experienced or witnessed the horrors that have happened before, they create atmosphere by giving the story a history.` Conclusion: Atmosphere is created in Victorian ghost stories by using some of the factors said before -Era (period of time) -Theme -Characters -Setting These factors are HOW atmosphere is created in these three Victorian ghost stories because they are best to put what is needed for a ghost story in the plot: suspense, history, death and a mystery to be solved.