Literary Techniques In Susan Hill's Woman In Black

In the gothic novel Woman In Black written by Susan Hill, Arthur Kipps, a solicitor, is sent up to the north of England, to an isolated house called Eel Marsh House to gather some papers from the deceased that was living there, Mrs. Drablow. Every time he speaks to someone and the subject turns to the house they suddenly try to avoid a conversation about. Even though that the first time he went to the house he encountered a woman with a wasted face wearing all black that terrified him completely, he decided to stay in the house for a couple of days. In chapter 10 Arthur wakes up in the house and all the lights in the house go out and he needs to get a light from the nursery down the corridor. Hill creates a sense of fear, dread premonition and foreboding by using multiple varied literary techniques.

Primarily, Hill creates a feeling of dread and premonition by opening the chapter by using similes and pathetic fallacy as she describes a storm and Arthur says that the house felt like "a ship at sea"(p.151) as if it is always moving and swaying. Reflecting on how Arthur feels, but then, a few lines later he thinks about how the house has been standing there "steady as a

A good example of this is when Arthur hears a sudden cry, he "listened hard." because now he is upset and he hopes for some explanation to calm him down but "Nothing" (p. 152) else was heard. Hill builds up tension and gives the reader unclear information, thus, invoking him to speculate about what the future holds for Arthur. Later, to leave the reader in a state of horror, Hill explains that someone is in the nursery and suddenly he sees "A woman." (p.162) Making the reader, assume it is the woman in black. Then, to confirm and intensify the feeling of fear she says "That woman." hooking the reader in a clear state of horror because nothing good happened up to know with the woman in