1 The opening para works to make us more receptive to believing in the paranormal. How?
- Associates cowardice with not acknowledging the paranormal: we do not as readers wish to be cowards
- A 1st person account always draws us in; we feel as if someone is confiding in us.
2 Atmosphere: how are we drawn into accepting the revelations of the teller?
- P44 the visualisation of the murder room is quite acceptable – the product of a vivid description upon an active mind
3 How does the tension build during the first two sightings?
- The tension builds as on the first sighting of the two men the banker realises that no-one else in the street seemed to be aware of them. On the second occasion, we are startled when the servant interprets the vision as ‘a dead man beckoning’ and then more disturbed when we learn that the servant had not seen him, but had rather had an ‘occult’ intuition when the banker touched him.
4. Look closely at the descriptions of the morning and inside the courtroom. Comment on how they contribute to the atmosphere.
- The raw morning in November with ‘a dense brown fog’ is atmospheric, with the gas street lights also contributing. Inside the court the atmosphere is ‘a cloud of fog’.
5. How does the tension rise as the trial begins and again when the banker, apppointed Foreman of the jury, counts the members?
- The sense of mystery deepens when the accused is seen to be one of the two visions from the street; he becomes violently agitated at the sight of the banker and wishes his attorney to challenge him. ‘At all hazards, challenge that man!’
- The banker, now Foreman, counts the Jury and each time there appears to be one extra. His brother juryman appears to confirm this, so we know this is not just a hallucination and therefore find this doubly chilling.
- Everything to do with the paranormal is vague or unclear; however, the banker is clear and precise in his descriptions of the real – for example, the officer ‘had an agreeable presence, good eyes enviable black whiskers, and a fine sonorous voice.’
6. Find an example of anti-climax.
- Anticlimax: when the officer thinks he sees an apparition but ‘it is the moonlight’. However, the banker saw the second of the two men.
7. What does the passing of the deceased’s miniature contribute to the sense of mystery and the atmosphere of tension?
- On the fifth day the passing of the deceased’s miniature (picture) to the banker and then back to him, and the message, ‘ I was younger then, and my face was not then drained of blood’ both add to the sense of mystery . Why the banker?
8. Explain the ghost’s direct interventions in the trial and comment on how these contribute to the atmosphere.
- We are told that three of the jury have the murder ‘fever’ and are unreliable; whenever the discussions are going against the murdered man, he beckons to the banker. He then appears in court, for example, pointing out the accused’s evil face when a character witness speaks for him.
- We are disturbed further when we hear that the person nearest the Apparition is always ‘attended by some trepidation of disturbance’ as ‘if it could visibly, dumbly, and darkly overshadow their minds’. Even the Judge is affected, and has to drink ‘ a glass of water’.
9. Explain the ironic twist at the end of the tale (clue: role reversal?)
- The climax of the tale – also an ironic twist, as it reverses the roles of haunter and haunted – comes when we learn the words of the condemned man: ‘The Foreman,’ he says, ‘ got to my bedside in the night, woke me, and put a rope around my neck.’