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How Does Susan Hill Create Suspense In The Woman In Black

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The Woman in Black is a novel that was written by Susan Hill in the attempt to imitate gothic literature in the late 18th century. In doing this she hopes to terrify and intrigue the reader with various techniques in which I will go through over the course of this essay. By using this methods she attempts to amplify the feelings of the atmosphere and create a weary environment filled with tension and suspense. Various traditional gothic techniques are used, in order to gain a sense of fear and insecurity. The author, Susan Hill, attempts to balance gothic ideas, like pathetic fallacy, with gothic literary devices, such as short sentences and repetition to maintain the readers full divided attention. These are just a few of the wide variety …show more content…

‘We saw no one. No shadow fell across the grass.’ The sentence is brief and sudden and is used for a dramatic yet intense effect. Also this helps get the point across that it is foreshadowing what is to co e in the next few paragraphs. Plus it emphasizes the mood and the feeling at that moment in time as it gives the reader a sense of horror and un-comfort. As the point is thrown across to the reader so quickly it unsettles the readers mind, which unbalances them. It also highlights the fact that even though he saw it before he is unable to identify what he saw ate that moment in time which further unsettles Arthur and the reader in turn which simultaneously forms a series of questions in the readers mind which draw in the readers interest to continue reading on. The high amounts of suspense and tension is due to its fast pace and unsteady occurring events which seem to go clam and then all of the sudden shoot up again this is done so that the reader remains in full focus at all times and it draws the reader in, furthermore it amplifies the effect that the reader becomes enveloped in fear and apprehension. Hill tend to put these simple sentences in her paragraph so that the reader is left hanging for a few seconds which continues to enhance tension this is another device that she uses In order to maintain the gothic literature

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