Charles Dickens Essays

This essay evaluates the application of tension and suspense in Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” and Charles Dickens’ “The Signalman”. Tension pertains to mental strain or excitement, while suspense involves anxious uncertainty or anticipation when information is deliberately withheld. Born in 1812, Charles Dickens experienced the industrial revolution and wrote extensively about living conditions […]

These two short stories belong to the mystery genre and use some of the typical elements of the mystery and ghost story genre periodically. The four aspects of these ghost stories I am going to investigate and compare between the two stories respectively are; Plot, Setting, Style, and character. “Bang Bangs who’s dead? ” is […]

A mind under stress is one that has an applied force or system of forces that tends to strain or deform the brain. Stress can be a mentally or emotionally disruptive condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health e. g. increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, […]

The Comparisons between ‘The Signalman’ and ‘The Foghorn’ begin before you even start to read the actual stories. ‘The Signalman’ taken from Charles Dickens’ ‘Mugby Junction’ was written 1866 whereas ‘The Foghorn’ was written almost a century later. Charles Dickens is also a person whose name is known throughout the English speaking world, unlike Ray […]

This essay focuses on two stories: “The signalman” written in the 1800s and “Lamb to the Slaughter” written in the 1900s. In this text, I will analyze and compare two stories in terms of their style, content, and language. Specifically, Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” effectively uses descriptive adjectives to establish the story’s setting and […]

In this essay, I will define how, I think, Dickens creates tension and suspense in this short, ghost story titled, ‘The Signalman’. ‘The Signalman’ was written in 1863, during the era when the Victorians had a fascination with the paranormal. The other famous ghost story that Dickens wrote, was written shortly before this time, ‘A […]

A diary entry by the signalman Day 16 On that dark and somber Thursday, it was two minutes past midnight. In the tunnel, there was a refreshing breeze that proved helpful as this area is consistently damp. While engrossed in my task, I suddenly caught wind of a voice emanating from the red light. As […]

Set in the mid 19th century, “The signal man” takes place. The Signal Man is primarily situated near a railway tunnel, where the main character lives to facilitate train passage. Most of the story unfolds at night, and I felt an eerie aura while reading it. The ambiance was tense, and there was a crucial […]

Short stories were once considered inferior to novels until the 19th century, despite their existence for centuries. However, shifts in cultural, political, and social dynamics during this era led to an increased popularity of short stories, resulting in them being recognized as equal to poetry, plays, and novels. In Northern Europe, the industrial revolution brought […]

Examining H. G. Wells’ “The Red Room” and Charles Dickens’ “The Signalman,” my essay will compare and contrast these two pre-1900 prose short stories. In the story “The Red Room,” the narrator describes his encounter with Lorraine Castle and his decision to investigate the notorious room of the same name. Initially, the origin of its […]

“Hello, down there!” – this simple and seemingly harmless greeting to the unknown person, who becomes involved in the complicated life of the signalman, is a phrase that is repeated multiple times in the story. However, throughout the story, Dickens changes the meaning of this line. At the beginning of the story, the way this […]

Despite their seemingly unpredictable titles, “The Black Cottage” and “The Signalman” are both stories that immediately create a gloomy and adventurous mood. Authors Collins and Dickens have a talent for making readers feel uneasy about the setting and characters in each tale. Although not classified as a horror story, “The Black Cottage” is an exhilarating […]

Suspense is created through supernatural, horror and ambiguity. Dickens’ ‘The Signalman’ has all of these factors, which combine together excellently for a thrilling suspense story. The novel opens with the quote “Halloa! Below there! ” This short, but effective line becomes very decisive as the story unfolds. We don’t know who is speaking and so […]

The purpose of this essay is to explore how in the novels ‘Great Expectations’ and ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charles Dickens and Charlotte Bronte, the authors use language to create suspense and tension and how this enhances the storyline for a reader. Both these books were written and published during the 18th century and display many […]

The Signalman written by Charles Dickens in 1866 is a short story that falls into the gothic fiction genre. This particular style of writing combines elements such as the supernatural, castles, darkness, madness and the unknown. At the time the story was being written, the industrial revolution was in full force. This had a huge […]

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 in the Georgian era and died on June 9, 1870 during the Victorian era. He wrote Great Expectations, which is considered to be one of his best works, from December 1, 1860 to August 1861. Charles Dickens’ book Great Expectations was influenced by the treatment of children […]

The Victorian era, from the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1837 until her death in 1901, was an era of several unsettling social developments that forced writers more than ever before to take positions on the immediate issues animating the rest of society. Thus, although romantic forms of expression in poetry and prose continued to […]

The Pickwick Papers has been one of the most read and most popular novels of all time since its publishing in 1836. This novel exalts the joys one can live as Dickens portrays the pleasures of travel, food and drink, companionship between men, benevolence, the joys of youth and romance. While the novel primarily deals […]

In “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens, conflict is presented as the outcome of industrialisation, material prosperity and a strict utilitarian way of life. In the 1850’s when the novel was written in instalments in ‘Household Words’, Victorian England was in the age of reform, which was creating new tensions between social classes, and creating a […]

Tom Christian Watts, known locally as Pop Eye, is an elderly white man living in the village with his black wife, Grace. Grace is from the village and now suffers from an undisclosed mental illness. He and his wife are local eccentrics, providing the children with entertainment on occasions when Pop Eye, wearing a clown’s […]

The novel “Hard Times” by Charles Dickens portrays Victorian society in the industrial revolution through characterizations and comparisons. It juxtaposes strict Victorian education with the ideals of a rigid, authoritarian society, as well as an idealistic, romantic, and emotional world. However, unlike other novels by different authors, “Hard Times” does not extensively explore the working […]

Great Expectations is a novel that was written by Charles Dickens and published in the late 19th century. It was firstly published in serial form in ‘All The Year Round’, which was Dickens weekly literary magazine. It was founded and owned by him and published between 1859 and 1895 throughout the UK. It is a […]