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Metaphors
Definition of Mood
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect of a piece of writing... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes in the reader. Every aspect... read full definition
The mood of a piece of writing is its general atmosphere or emotional complexion—in short, the array of feelings the work evokes... read full definition
Mood
Explanation and Analysis:
In line with the Gothic genre, the story’s mood is gloomy and ominous. The narrator and reader are situated in the frighteningly dark and even threatening atmosphere of the signalman’s post and led through the signalman’s encounters with the supernatural and with death. The narrator’s description of the signalman’s post enhances the gloomy and dreadful mood by highlighting the unnatural, isolating, and hellish qualities of the setting:
“His post was in as solitary and dismal a place as ever I saw. On either side, a dripping-wet wall of jagged stone, excluding all view but a strip of sky; the perspective one way only a crooked prolongation of this great dungeon; the shorter perspective in the other direction terminating in a gloomy red light, and the gloomier entrance to a black tunnel, in whose massive architecture there was a barbarous, depressing and forbidding air. So little sunlight ever found its way to this spot, that it had an earthy, deadly smell; and so much cold wind rushed through it, that it struck chill to me, as if I had left the natural world.”
The narrator frequently tries to qualify his fear in his observations due to his skepticism and curiosity. However, his overwhelming fright becomes more apparent as the story goes on, even as his rational nature remains. His increasingly anxious feelings about the red light and supernatural occurrences enhance the suspenseful mood:
"That I more than once looked back at the red light as I ascended the pathway, that I did not like the red light, and that I should have slept but poorly if my bed had been under it, I see no reason to conceal. Nor did I like the two sequences of the accident and the dead girl. I see no reason to conceal that either."
The overarching ominousness of the story when paired with the slight shift in the narrator's mood regarding his surroundings leaves the reader feeling unease over how even the most staunch skeptic has been shaken by the events of the story.
Related Themes:
