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How Does Susan Hill Create A Sense Of Fear In The Woman In Black

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“Heartstoppingly chilling.” That’s what the Daily express says about the book ‘The Woman In black’ by Susan Hill. This gothic book is set in Victorian England and its about a lonely man called Arthur Kipps. He tells a haunting story that happened in his youth when his boss asked him to attend to an old woman’s funeral, Alice Drablow. He travels to sort the complicated papers that Mrs. Drablow left in her eerie house,Eel marsh. Despite all this he was still excited to have some alone time, unfortunately being alone was not an advantage because after the first night fear invaded him. Throughout the book Susan Hill creates a sense of fear and foreboding especially in the chapter “Whistle and I'll come to you," by using a series of literary techniques …show more content…

In this case, while Arthur was laying in bed he heard “a cry, a familiar cry of desperation and anguish, a cry for help from a child” (page 152) The Repetition of the word “cry” evokes a feeling of fear because repetition makes the reader draw attention to a minor detail. Making them empathize with the character. A cry can represent sadness, fear, anger or pain, these words reflect Arthur’s emotions. Arthur is feeling all of these feelings at the same time, because of this the readers also feel what he is feeling making the situation tense. After this Arthur decides to go down for a drink but his torch falls down, causing utter darkness, which “for a moment” he was near to “weeping tears of despair and fear, frustration and tension” (page 154) Here, there is no repeating of the same word but it is a repetition of synonyms. Repeating different words with the same meaning make the text have a balanced rhythm rather like poetry. This Repetition also indicates desperation, making the situation more believable for the reader. The use of the words “fear and tension” reflect the atmosphere of this chapter. An alternate interpretation might be that these words are just feelings that Susan hill is trying to transmit so readers can further understand

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One of the many good examples of this is in chapter 3, when Kingshaw attempts to find peace but instead finds danger and pain in the form of a crow attack. Hill uses sound imagery widely in this extract to help create a sense of fear and tension. From the crow 's wings "making a sound like flat leather pieces being slapped together" to "the silky sound of corn brushing against him", these descriptions make the piece more realistic and enable the reader to put themselves into Kingshaw 's shoes. Adding to the sense of panic, Kingshaw is repeatedly said to be "sobbing and panting" and "taking in deep, desperate breaths of air", which in a literal sense shows that he is afraid. Alliteration is also used with 'deep, desperate ' which in a way creates a heaving sound when read, tying into the idea of 'desperate '.

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