Gcse Gothic Coursework Grade a

How do the writers of ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Judges House’ create tension and atmosphere in the two stories?

The Gothic Genre is a category in which Gothic stories are put. Many of these stories were published between 1837-1901, which was known as the Gothic period and the reign of Queen Victoria. Bram Stoker and H.G Wells were authors who wrote many gothic novels such as ‘The War of the Worlds’, ‘Dracula’, ‘The Judges House’ and ‘The Red Room’.

Most people associate Gothic with colours such as black, red and purple. This is because these colours are very dark and intense which makes them stand out. Gothic stories usually have traditional features like the main event in the story is always or most of the time based in an old damp building, like a cathedral, at midnight. At times the weather is also used to give the reader a sense of foreboding as it leads into the main event.

Younger and older Victorians were very different as the stories ‘The Red Room’ and ‘The Judges House’ will show. Younger Victorians were sceptic and would always seek a rational explanation for things while the older Victorians were religious and very superstitious, they believed in ghosts, zombies and witches. The difference between them occurred due to the environment they grew up in. Younger Victorians grew up in a time of innovation, invention and progress which made them more knowledgeable making them seek rational explanations while the Older Victorians did not.

‘The Red Room’ has four characters, the young man, the man with a withered arm, the second old man and the old woman. The story is based in Lorraine Castle and is about the young man travelling to ‘The Red Room’ on the other side of the castle to prove that the superstitions the older characters believe in are wrong.

The older characters of this novel are described as ‘grotesque’, disgusting to look at. The second old man ‘supported himself by a single crutch, his eyes were covered by a shade, and his lower lip, half averted, hung pale and pink from his decaying yellow teeth.’ Just hearing how the second old man looked would be unnerving and unsettling for the reader so one way in which the tension is created would be through description of characters but as well as that  atmosphere is created as we have a idea of what kind of people are present. The man with a withered arm also helps to create tension. He says to the young man ‘it’s your own choosing’ as a warning and repeats it a few times and the last time he says it the old woman says ‘This of all nights’. This gives the reader a sense of foreboding which is another way in which tension is created. The reader carries on thinking what’s going to happen?

Since this is a novel in the Gothic Genre it has some traditional features like it is set in a castle and it is at night. Most of the atmosphere in the castle is set out using two main language devices, personification and descriptive language. Tension can also be created, the castle has a ‘long subterranean passage’ which ‘was chilly and dusty’. Since subterranean means underground some people could refer to it as the young man going closer to his death. Later on as his ‘candle flared’ it ‘made the shadows cower and quiver’ this is personification which helps to develop the atmosphere. Throughout the novel shadows are personified and in the red room one had an ‘indefinable quality of presence’.

The tensest moments in this story are the repetition of warnings and the entering of the Red Room. These are significant because they create tension and entertain the reader.

‘The Judges House’ has two main characters Malcolm Malcolmson and the Rat/Judge. The story is about Malcolmson getting away from his home so that he can study in peace and isolation. He ends up in the Judges house, a house with many rumours about a ‘ruthless Judge’ attached to it.

Malcolmson is a young Victorian whose sceptic and really doesn’t believe in superstition, even after he heard the rumours of the Judges house ‘he thought it needless to ask the agent about the absurd prejudice’. Some of the lesser characters in this novel such as Mrs Witham take part in the creation of tension. Mrs Witham tells Malcolmson ‘take care, sir!  take care! There’s many a true word spoken in jest’. This creates tension as it is one of many warning given to Malcolmson and also because of the frightened tone she is saying it in. The Judges ‘face was strong and, merciless, evil, crafty, and vindictive’. In rat form he has ‘baleful eyes’. This shows and lets the reader know that the Judge is a evil character seeking revenge which creates a sense of foreboding which leads to tension. As the main event is about to take place the weather starts to become like the climax of the story till the point Malcolmson gets hanged, this helps to create the atmosphere.

This story is set in an ‘old rambling, heavy built house of Jacobean style’ which is surrounded by a high brick wall ‘massively built’. The house is older than the rational time the story is set and the ‘massively built’ wall gives the impression that the house is inescapable so the atmosphere and tension is set by giving the reader a sense of foreboding. The house is from a time when ghosts and ghouls were believable.

Similarities between these 2 novels do exist, from the way tension is created with atmosphere to the main characters. They are both set in an old and out of the time building, their central characters are young sceptic Victorians who are both given warnings and in isolation. This is really common for this type of novel. With similarities come differences, there might not be as much but there are some. The main differences in these 2 are the ending, in one there is something to fear and in the other there isn’t. Most of these books use the same things to create tension and atmosphere.