You'll have to get used to that, just as I had.' This suggests that their relationship is not very close. Later, Eric says that he sees some of Birling's 'respectable friends' with 'fat old tarts round the town'. Birling's reaction to this is angry and he clearly does not want any further mention of that topic. From this reaction, it is possible to conclude that Birling might also go to prostitutes, as that sort of behaviour was fairly common amongst upper middle-class men at that time. .
There is a suggestion that Gerald had an affair because Sheila says to him 'all last summer. you never came near me'. There is also a hint at Eric's drinking problem, because even at dinner Sheila notices that he is 'squiffy.' He later acts uneasily when Gerald and his father are joking with him about the possibility of him having 'been up to something' and he says that he does not 'think it's very funny.' The audience knows that the joke was harmless and might wonder what Eric has to worry about. As soon as the Inspector enters the stage, the lighting becomes brighter and any shadows would be eliminated. This effect is to show that they can no longer hide and that the Inspector will bring everything to light. This indeed does happen and all of the problems that have been hinted at previously are brought out, plus some others. .
The war would have been an even sadder issue in 1947 when the play was first shown than it is now, and one which would have made people feel uneasy and would have provoked a lot of emotions and a lot of bad memories. This means that when Birling spoke about it in his speech, the audience would suspect that the play was about to become darker because such a distressing topic would not be mentioned if something bad was not going to happen. This is an example of dramatic irony because the play was written in 1947 so the audience knew that there were two world wars about to happen, but the characters did not.
How do the two stories "The Red Room" and "The Signalman" build up tension and suspense. ... "The Signalman" is a short story about a man who works for the railway company. ... These are not named either which ties in with "The Signalman". ... "The Red Room" and "The Signalman" are of the same genre. ... Whereas, in "The Signalman" there is a ghost. ...
Both The Signalman' and The darkness is out there' have unexpected endings. ... Dickens' story The Signalman', has many examples of different ways of building tension. ... The signalmans appearance is quite peculiar as is his behavior. ... We end up having to choose sides between the author believing the signalman is crazy and the signalman behaving crazy. ... The one time the signalman chooses to ignore the voice was the one time he should have. ...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
The Signalman by Charles Dickens (Through the eyes of the narrator) In "The Signalman," the narrator meets a signalman frightened about the apparitions he has been seen. ... The signalman wonders what the apparition means. A look into how the narrator perceives the signalman, the conflict of the story and the narrator's awareness of the meaning of the signalman's apparition will help understand "The Signalman." ... Despite the first impression the signalman left on the narrator, the narrator wanted to believe that the signalman was O.K., but the signalman kept doing odd th...
'The Signalman' features a lonely train signalman who works in signal box by a railway cutting. ... In 'The Signalman', the narrator attracts the attention of the signalman by shouting "Halloa! ... In 'The Signalman', the signalman inhabits a small, "solitary and dismal" signal box. ... Whereas, 'The Signalman' ranges over a period of only three days. ... The story is based on the signalman, but the narrator is very nearly as important as the signalman. ...
English Literature Coursework Examine the settings that the writers have chosen for their stories in "The Signalman", "The Man With The Twisted Lip" and "The Red Room". ... He tells us that he finds the signalman in "as solitary and dismal a place as I ever saw". ... At the time when Charles Dickens wrote "The Signalman" (1865) the railway was a new and dramatic invention so the setting for this story was original and exciting for his readers. ... There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the signalman. ... The Signalman is found in "the cutting that was extremely deep.... was made thro...
The signalman The characters in the signalman are also very mysterious as they are in the red room, with very little background. There are two main characters, The signalman and the narrator. The signalman is a " dark sallow man, with a dark beard and rather heavy eyebrows," this adds to the atmosphere of the story and also makes him fit in with the setting of the story. ... The signalman seems to be more lonely and dedicated to his job. ... I think this because he walks a lot, and he really wanted to help the signalman with his troubles. ...
