Summary

Summary How does Hill establish a tense atmosphere in this passage?

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Module
English

Institution
GCSE

Book
The Woman in Black

In this passage from ‘The Woman in Black’, Hill establishes a tense atmosphere through gothic conventions that display the horrors of The Eel Marsh House to make the atmosphere tense. The ceaseless cries of the ghost of Jennet's son at The Eel Marsh House establish an unnerving atmosphere. The ...

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Uploaded on August 28, 2022
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Written in 2020/2021
Type Summary

Institution GCSE
Education GCSE
Module English
School year 2

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How does Hill establish a tense atmosphere in this passage?
In this passage from ‘The Woman in Black’, Hill establishes a tense
atmosphere through gothic conventions that display the horrors of The Eel
Marsh House to make the atmosphere tense. The ceaseless cries of the
ghost of Jennet's son at The Eel Marsh House establish an unnerving
atmosphere. The disposition of The Eel Marsh House explores themes of
isolation and vengeance to intensify The Woman in Black’s loneliness and
hatred. Through the theme of fear, Hill demonstrates the mental
deterioration of Kipps due to the obscurity of the darkness. Through these
gothic conventions, Hill demonstrates the effect it has on Kipps during his
time at The Eel Marsh House to establish a tense atmosphere.

The tense atmosphere in this passage is created through the cries heard
at the house, which seem never-ending forms an unsettling ambience in
the passage. Coming out from the ‘howling darkness, a cry came to my
ears, catapulting [him] back to the present and banishing all tranquillity’
aggressively introduces this cry through Hill’s diction of ‘catapulting’ and
‘banishing’ which has harsh consonances. It describes how unhinged the
cry has made Kipps; the fact that the cry has come out from ‘howling
darkness’, which connotates danger as howling is associated with wolves,
makes the atmosphere tense. This anthropomorphism brings life to the
‘darkness’ (which connotates evil) and intensifies the mood. Furthermore,
the temporal shift ‘back to the present’ highlights that this cry was so
terrifying, Kipps snapped back to reality. Hill does this to emphasise the
physical aggressiveness of the cries. Then ‘again, a cry, that familiar cry
of desperation and anguish, a cry for help’ repeats ‘cry’ three times,
stresses how endless this sound is. This is also shown through emotive
language as this cry is ‘from a child’ which connotates innocence. The
diction of ‘desperation’, ‘anguish’ and ‘help’ evokes sympathy to the
reader as children associate with happiness rather than despair, giving a
sense of despondence for the reader. In addition, the structure also
reiterates this cycle of cries as the passage ends with ‘again and again I
heard that child’s terrible cry’: the repetition of ‘again’ shows that Kipps
cannot escape from this ‘cry’ even though by this time, Kipps has come
back to his senses. This foreshadows that these are the cries of Jennet’s
son rather than being just a mirage during his mental breakdown; Hill
does this to establish a tense atmosphere.

Through the themes of isolation and vengeance, Hill presents the
disposition of The Eel Marsh House to represent Jennet’s grief for her dead
son. Hill demonstrates this by showing the intensity of the weather at the
house. Horace Walpole, who is considered to be the first gothic writer,
believed that a house had a disposition and Hill uses this to reflect The
Woman in Black’s character onto The Eel Marsh House. The house is
described ‘steady as a lighthouse quite alone and exposed… winter after
winter’ showing a sense of isolation, which is a common gothic trope. The
simile emphasises desolation of the house as a lighthouse is usually
isolated on coasts. Furthermore, diction such as ‘alone’ and ‘exposed’

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