Pre-20th Century Short Stories - page 1
Keywords: The Monkey’s Paw, The Signalman, Dracula, The Yellow Wallpaper, Short stories, Pre-20th Century
By abdul on 20/11/2006
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 1 of 6 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Pre-20th Century Short Stories
How is the ghost genre used to provoke fear in both the Victorian and modern reader of “The Monkey’s Paw”, “The Signalman”, “Dracula” and “The Yellow Wallpaper”?
“The Monkey’s Paw”, “The Signalman”, “Dracula” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” are all Victorian horror and ghost stories, which share mysterious, murder and supernatural horror. Theses features create fear, which is the oldest and the strongest emotion of mankind, especially the fear of the mysterious.
“The Monkey’s Paw”, by W.W. Jacobs, established the supernatural horror from the beginning of the story, “Without, the night was cold and wet” this suggests a cold rainy weather that symbolises bad and scary nights. A few seconds later Mr. White says, “Pathway's a bog, and the road's a torrent” and this confirms that there is something unusual happening in that night.
“The signalman”, by Charles Dickens, starts with “down in the deep trench”, this suggests that the signal man is in a deep trench in an isolated area, where it is very rarely that he can be seen by anybody, and this can create a fear of the loneliness. After about thirteen lines, the narrator describes the incoming vague and vibrations of the earth and the air by “violent pulsation”, which also helps in the establishing of the supernatural horror in the story, not only because it is a symbol of a supernatural, but also because it is mysterious.
“Dracula”, by Bram Stoker, is another famous story which has become almost the standard modern exploitation of the frightful vampire myth. As the other two stories, the supernatural horror in “Dracula” is established carefully in the beginning. “Transylvania-the land beyond the forest” this statement establishes the supernatural horror because it indicates that Transylvania is an isolated area, which is surrounded by the forest.
“The monkey’s Paw”, “The Signalman” and “Dracula” has got supernatural horror, either by ghosts or paranormal creatures. But the supernatural in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is not only established by the horror, but it is also established by the relationship between John and his wife Jane. We learnt Jane’s name just before the end, where she was called as John’s wife to show that she is dominated by him. John is a physician, who treats his wife like an infant, and this can be detected by the way he talks and refers to her with the diminutive tag of “little girl”, and “God bless her little heart”,
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