This is an essay for the gothic unseen section of the A Level English Literature 'Comparative and Contextual Study' exam (the 2.5 hour long one). This essay is in response to a passage from H.G Wells 'The Red Room'. This essay will help you understand what to include in the essays along with the st...
Write a critical appreciation of this passage relating your discussion to your reading of
the gothic. [30 marks] – ‘Red Room”, H.G Wells
Written in the late nineteenth century, this extract from ‘The Red Room’ was part of the second
wave of gothic literature to be established and widely well received. Wells presents many
features typical of the gothic genre of this time and also the initial wave started by Walpole’s
“Caste of Otranto”, including the unreliable narrator, the supernatural and darkness versus
light. These combine to intensify the feeling of fear that progressively overcomes the narrator
throughout the extract.
An unreliable narrator is a trope common to gothic literature. Wells uses this effectively through
the narrator’s uncertainty of what he is experiencing. At the start of the extract the narrator is
presented as a rationally minded character, never thinking the extinction of a candle could be
caused by anything above nature, rather it was by a “draft”. This portrays the narrator as
rational as he looks for an answer that is logical and within human understanding. Presenting
the character in such a way emphasises how irrational they go on to become through fear, as
there is a clear juxtaposition of the character’s state of mind at the start and end of the extract,
as they lose “the last vestiges of self-possession”. This is a classic gothic trope of oppositions,
where we see the narrator move from a state of sanity to insanity. This is parallel to Bram
Stoker’s Johnathan Harker in ‘Dracula’, who moves from being a confident traveller to one
entirely consumed by fear of Count Dracula, to the near point of insanity. The narrator’s
dwindling sanity is clear through his self-doubt of questioning if he did “that myself in a flash of
absent mindedness?” This rhetorical question highlights to the reader that the narrator is
beginning to question himself, and is aware that he does not fully understand what is going on.
This makes the reader wary of the truth in what he describes. This is further emphasised
through the nebulousness of what the narrator does, as he only “think(s)” and has a “vague
memory”, but is never certain. It is clear from reading the passage that the narrator is isolated.
This is common in the gothic, as seen in ‘The Woman in White’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’, and
increases the unreliability of the narrator. Isolation means that the narrator is not only physically
restricted to the confines of what is occurring in the room, but also psychologically restricted to
the confines of his mind. Having no one else to turn to may make the narrator feel vulnerable,
which in turn would increase his fear and his unreliability. In many occasions the human mind
wonders far past what is really there, usually imagining the worst in a situation, thinking he can
see “an invisible hand” or “mirrors” that “wink”. This will heighten the terror experienced by the
narrator, making him frightened and more unaware of what is really happening. His decreasing
rationality and increasing worry is clear through his speech. No one else being in the room
means that he is either talking to himself or directly challenging some other presence within the
room. Talking to himself is a way for the character to gain assurance as it possibly allows him
to feel less vulnerable, as if there was someone else talking to him. When the narrator moves
to directing his speech to the room, asking it “what’s up?” and telling it to “steady on!”, it is clear
to the reader that the narrator, possibly subconsciously, has accepted that he is not the sole
presence. The narrators fear is clear through the short length of speech used, each only
consisting of a few words. This could show that the narrator is afraid to speak, therefore does
so quickly in fear of a response. The author’s use of the exclamation mark helps the reader
understand how afraid the narrator has become and his desperation for it to stop.
The supernatural is used throughout this extract, as it is in the rest of gothic literature, to create
a mysterious atmosphere that serves to increase fear. The “palpable darkness” of the room due
to the “extinguished candles” creates a setting common to the gothic. The darkness creates a
tense and threatening atmosphere that leads to the narrator becoming uneasy due to fear of
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