Explore the ways in which Hill creates sympathy for Arthur as the hero of the Woman in Black
Explore the ways in which Hill creates sympathy for Arthur as the hero of the Woman in Black
Key to the success of TWiB is Hill’s expertise in encouraging the reader to identify with the main character, Arthur Kipps. She achieves this by stimulating feelings of sympathy towards Arthur. Some of the ways in which she does this are by using a variety of different methods such as a range of structural devices, detailed descriptions of the setting, the central theme of fear and the change in Arthur’s character.
Perhaps the most effective way in which Hill creates sympathy is by vividly describing feelings of anxiety, terror and emotional distress. The first hint of this comes within the first chapter when Arthur is being pressed by his step sons to tell a ghost story. “I was trying to supress my mounting unease, to hold back the rising flood of memory,” this quote implies that Arthur struggles to contain negative feelings and the memory of bad experiences.
The reader is left with a lasting understanding of the anxiety which Arthur is experiencing, and this creates sympathy for him. The terror which Arthur experiences at intervals throughout the story is demonstrated by when he says “my fear reached a new height, until for a minute I thought I would die of it.” This shows that Arthur’s fears have exceeded anything he has ever experienced before, therefore arousing sympathy in the reader.
Hill also evokes sympathy in the reader by making Arthur suffer a series of unfortunate and terrifying events. Being petrified while alone at Eel Marsh House and listening to the eerie noises in the middle of the night; the haunting event when the previously locked door to the nursery was open and found to be clean, neat and tidy as shown when he says “I looked at the bed, made up and all complete with sheets and pillows, blankets and counterpane”. Further examples of the shocking events he experiences include recurrences of the pony and trap sinking in the marsh when the
Key to the success of TWiB is Hill’s expertise in encouraging the reader to identify with the main character, Arthur Kipps. She achieves this by stimulating feelings of sympathy towards Arthur. Some of the ways in which she does this are by using a variety of different methods such as a range of structural devices, detailed descriptions of the setting, the central theme of fear and the change in Arthur’s character.
Perhaps the most effective way in which Hill creates sympathy is by vividly describing feelings of anxiety, terror and emotional distress. The first hint of this comes within the first chapter when Arthur is being pressed by his step sons to tell a ghost story. “I was trying to supress my mounting unease, to hold back the rising flood of memory,” this quote implies that Arthur struggles to contain negative feelings and the memory of bad experiences.
The reader is left with a lasting understanding of the anxiety which Arthur is experiencing, and this creates sympathy for him. The terror which Arthur experiences at intervals throughout the story is demonstrated by when he says “my fear reached a new height, until for a minute I thought I would die of it.” This shows that Arthur’s fears have exceeded anything he has ever experienced before, therefore arousing sympathy in the reader.
Hill also evokes sympathy in the reader by making Arthur suffer a series of unfortunate and terrifying events. Being petrified while alone at Eel Marsh House and listening to the eerie noises in the middle of the night; the haunting event when the previously locked door to the nursery was open and found to be clean, neat and tidy as shown when he says “I looked at the bed, made up and all complete with sheets and pillows, blankets and counterpane”. Further examples of the shocking events he experiences include recurrences of the pony and trap sinking in the marsh when the