Ghost Stories: A Tool for Telling Tales & Conveying Messages - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the literary world, there are several techniques writers employ in their creative works to convey a message. One of those methods is a ghost story. In some stories, the ghost may be the main focus, but in others, it's just auxiliary to the storyline. At times the spirit may be caused by some witchcraft, or it may appear by its self (Jones). In the tapestried chamber and the monk, volume two, chapter one, there is a troublesome ghost. And thus, it is proper to say that all ghost stories invoke emotions on the reader.

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For a ghost story to be great, it needs to invoke the feeling of fear to its audience. The emotions are felt in the texts. In the story, the tapestried chamber, there are two essential characters called general Browne and Lord Woodville. These two are the best of buddies since their childhood days. They recently become acquainted with each other again after a long time far apart. During that period, Browne becomes a fearless warrior in the army. On the other hand, lord Woodville had become the owner of beautiful property with houses of stunning magnificent. During the reunion, the lord prevailed upon the general to be his guest for a week.

The general reluctantly accepted the offer and was shown to his house for rest. Meanwhile, Lord Woodville had something up in his sleeve. The house his friend was sleeping in was rumored to be haunted, and he wanted to confirm this. And thus, he decided to send the brave warrior unawares into the house. During the night, just as general Browne was about to close his eyes and go into slumberland, a female ghost appeared. The encounter with the spirit left the general in shock.

After that experience, General Browne cut short his visit and decided to go to another place. When his host realized what had happened, he felt sorry for the guest and apologized. After a long talk with each other, the two parted ways. In the end, lord Browne confirmed that his great female relative haunted the apartment.

The other text also has a peculiar plot. It is a romantic story between a young woman and her wealthy young lover. In the monk, Agnes grows up in the Covent and a castle. Her experience with the nuns makes her decide to become one. During her stay in the villa, she encounters one Don Raymond. Don Raymond is young and very rich. He has several aids at his disposal. The two fall in love and Agnes comes up with a plan for them to flee together. It was essential to Agnes that the program worked since failure would only result in a lot of heartaches. The scheme involved Agnes having to pretend to be a ghost with a lamp and a dagger.

After explaining the idea to don Raymond, they set the execution time to be late4 at night. As per the plan don, Raymond went to the location where they were to meet. To his satisfaction, he meets a woman who looks like his lover and elopes with her. During their journey, they are involved in an accident where Don Raymond gets severely injured. After recuperating from his injuries don, Raymond enquired about his lover and was told that no female had been rescued.

Don Raymond became very, and each night the female ghost visited him. It caused him to worry. One day he sent his servant to go and fetch a strange man who knew Don Raymond problems. The man was popularly known as the wandering Jew. The man could be able to communicate with the ghost. He employed this trick and asked the ghost tormenting don Raymond what it wanted. The spirit stated that for it to stop its nocturnal activities, don Raymond needs to bury her bones.

Don Raymond was surprised by this request, and the wandering Jew informed him that the ghost was his relative, and so he was required to bury the bones. After fulfilling the wish of the spirit, it disappeared forever from their lives. Even after triumphing over the ghost, don Raymond still had strong feelings for Agnes. Every time he thought about her and decided that he will look for her.

Agnes is found by don in a convent. He explains everything to her and tries to convince her to flee again. After suffering a defeat during the first escape, Agnes says to don that she will not run away. She further states that she cannot bear to break the heart of her father. After cutting off all communications with don, Agnes informs him through a letter that she is pregnant with his child.

Because of the above, it's vital that the reader feels the emotions portrayed in the story. For instance, when General Browne comes face to face with the ghost, he is scared to the extent that he cannot react. Due to the brilliance of the writer, this feeling can be felt by the audience of the story. The writer employed a variety of styles in language to achieve this goal. There has been the use of similes and adjectives, which help the audience to recreate the exact emotions.

Besides that, in the story, the monk the ghost has also caused fear among the dwellers of the castle. Agnes was able to capture this fear on the face of the help in her painting. Also, as don Raymond was recuperating, he came face to face with the ghost, which bites his lips. The expr3eincice left him a terrified person. The writer used a style of language that enabled the reader to visualize this scene. And by having done so, the readers feel close to the characters.It is essential in the literary world that the audience can feel the passion of the writer. It can only be achieved by the writer using psychological writing. For instance, ghost stories should be frightening to the reader. If the audience fails to experience this feeling, a writer would have failed in this kind of genre. Invoking emotion in ghost stories helps the audience to have an imaginative mind of what is likely taking place in the story (Murphy).

For example, the writer in the monk fails to explain how Agnes was unable to show up during the escape. And thus, the audience is left in suspense and is to fill that part in their imagination (Slavin). In conclusion, it would not be possible for the writer to achieve this fete if he had not used emotion invoking language. Another similarity seen in both texts is that the ghosts are all female in character. In the tapestried chamber, the spirit is the great aunt of lord Woodville, and in the monk, the spirit is a female relative of Don Raymond. Another similarity that can be deduced from this is that both ghosts have living relatives.

Works Cited

Jones, John Paul. "What'S The Matter With Ghost Stories?". Geohumanities, vol 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 278-281. Informa UK Limited, doi:10.1080/2373566x.2018.1500866.

Murphy, Laura. "The State Of Exception And Exceptional States In Elizabeth Bowen'S Wartime Ghost Stories". Open Library Of Humanities, vol 5, no. 1, 2019. Open Library Of The Humanities, doi:10.16995/olh.477.

Slavin, Molly. "Ghost Stories, Ghost Estates: Melancholia In Irish Recession Literature". C21 Literature: Journal Of 21St-Century Writings, vol 5, no. 1, 2017. Open Library Of The Humanities, doi:10.16995/c21.16.