How does the authors create suspense and mystery in two stories from the genre ‘19th’ century gothic horror?
“The monkey’s paw” by W.W Jacobs and the “Tell Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe are two short gothic horror stories written in the late ‘19th’ century. “The tell-tale heart” was written during the Victorian era and is based upon the conventions of the gothic horror. It’s a story about a servant who determined to get rid of an old man’s eye. “The monkeys paw” is also written in a gothic style this means that tension, mystery and suspense is very important factors. “The monkeys paw” is about a friend who has control over a curse of a shriveled monkey paw that grants three wishes to each man that gets hold of it.
In both the stories the real names of the characters were not given. They were either initials like Mr. White or the characters were just simply referred to the old man or the man or I. This is the way that gothic fiction is created, by just giving initials or simple reference builds up more suspense. There are only two characters in “the tell tale heart” a old man who is murdered at the end of the story and another character who we don’t know anything about except that he is a killer, and he’s mad. The names may not be given to indicate that this may happen to anyone in the ‘19th’ century.
One of the most well known techniques used in both stories is the way the author creates suspense and mystery. The use of repetition is used a lot by Edgar Allan Poe in the tell tale heart. An example of his repetition would be “I moved it slowly- very, very slowly.” This particular quote emphasizes the way he walks; it shows that he is going to do something bad. People are usually stealthy when they are going to scare someone or do something bad, and here that’s what the quote shows. It shows that the man is not walking slowly but he’s walking very slowly.