Themes in The Woman in Black

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Created by: samantharxse
Created on: 18-03-20 13:13

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Themes
- Fear
  - A is initially determined to hide his fear
    - Refuses to accept his own feelings
  - Physiological responses to fear
    - Hill describes the various responses
    - "I sat up paralysed, frozen, in the bed, conscious only of the dog and of the prickling of my own skin".
      - Beginnings of extreme fear
      - Draws out empathy for A
      - We feel afraid with him
  - The woman in black controls people with fear
    - Uses fear to take her revenge
    - "She directed the purest evil and hatred and loathing, with all the force that was available to her"
      - Energy that comes from the ghost is frightening
- Isolation
  - Athur is alone
    - The only one who physically sees the ghost at EMH
    - No one would be able to help him
      - Unsettling
  - Eel Marsh House
    - At the end of a causeway
      - Cut off during high tides and bad weather
      - "Neither could I see the causeway path [...[ the tide had now covered it over completely"
    - Physical isolation creates a sense of entrapment
      - Makes the eeriness of the house inescapable
  - Mrs D lives alone
    - Her funeral is barely attended
    - "I gather she had no friends - or immediate family"
      - Builds tension and fear
- Influences of the past
  - The story of A's visit to EMH is a memory
    - Introduces his story in present tense
      - Shows how fear has pursued the narrator
    - His memory will be presented as accurately as possible
  - Jennet is driven mad by her own past
    - "In some violent or dreadful circumstance, a child has died"
    - WIB's revenge has affected the community
    - Ghost takes her revenge repeatedly
      - Affected by her past
  - EMH is a container of memories
    - Mrs D kept pieces of paper in chests and draws
      - Represents an unwillingness to let go of the past
      - "ancient household accounts"