The red room by H.G Wells

Essay by Bill_GatesB-, December 2002

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The Red Room is a 'spine chiller' written by H.G Wells. The story is set at Lorraine Castle where a specific room is preoccupied by ghastly spirits. This story The Red Room is about a man (narrator) who seeks spirits inside Lorraine Castle, with his only protection as his revolver. The spirit welcomes the man in an uncomfortable manner, moving furniture, candles going out without smoke and other procedures which the spirit posses. His excuse for the cause of this terror is that ghosts are not inquisitive in this room but is this man's nature (fear) itself that is broader.

Already this has begun where effectively you contrast imagery and excitement, making the story feel haunted and more 'spine chilling'. These contrasts of images appear suddenly such as 'castle' that develops other imagery 'haunted'. This opens the story up well that makes the beginning scene effective scaring the audience and increasing their interests in the story.

The narrator in the story plays important parts showing he is unaware of the possible outcomes that may occur, this makes his character more significant. The way this makes the narrator to become more significant is the change of character. At the beginning of the story the man (narrator) represents himself as a calm and still person. The way that the narrator has expressed this is 'that it will take a very tangible ghost to frighten me'. This characteristic soon changes where he starts to hallucinate becoming superstitious of the ghastly happenings that occur around him before he enters the red room. '...darkness closed upon me like the shutting of an eye, wrapped about me in a stifling embrace sealed my vision'. Again the man shows another change towards his attitude in which he expresses his outer fear, talking broader, louder than he...