The Woman in Black Revision Lessons
Monday January 11th Learning Objectives
• To explore the text of Woman in Black • To refamiliarise ourselves with exam specification. Recap Questions
• 1. How does Revenge feature in the Novella? Who seeks it, for what reason and how does this link to context? • 2. Who is Samuel Daily? What is his function within the story? • 3. How does setting contribute to the theme of isolation? • 4. What are typical features of the gothic novel? How is this shown within Woman in Black? Example Question Context
• Context means the circumstances in which the book was written. It falls into three categories: • Social Context: What society was like at the time- Social behaviour and laws. • Historical Context: The time period in which it is set • Literary: the genre of the text; key conventions of the genre.
• TASK: Create a Mind-Map researching the Context of The Woman in Black. Context
• Although Susan Hill wrote The Woman in Black in 1983, the novella is set in the Edwardian era. This context makes the revenge story of Jennet Humfrye more convincing. • In Edwardian society, the ideal woman was one whose moral values were strong. • It was not considered 'proper' for a woman to have a child outside of marriage. • A woman who did so, risked being cut-off by her family, especially if she was from the upper social class, as the Drablows with their vast estate appear to have been. • In many cases babies were taken away from their mothers to hide the fact that they had engaged in sexual relations out of wedlock. • Gothic Literary Context: • Grand remote settings • Large/Vast natural landscapes • Extreme weather • Darkness and shadows • Monstrous creatures
Writing Style and Structure: • 1st person narrative: we can become closer to Arthur Kipps – exposed to events through his perspective. • Use of Letters: Letters from Alice Drablow and Jennet Humfrye enables realism to occur- establishes them as individuals. • The beginning sets the scene in Monk’s piece – makes Eel Marsh House sound even more terrifying and sinister through contrast. • Hill uses long and complex sentences to build up dramatic detail prior a supernatural event. Tension building as they add anticipation and frustration. Sentences become shorter when situations intensify! The Nursery has lots of short sentences. • Pathetic Fallacy: Weather frequently affects the mood and symbolizes the inner mentality of characters. Arthur initially states ‘My spirits have for many years now been excessively affected by the ways of the weather.’ thus confirming this. In London, the fog is given the colloquial term ‘London Peasouper’ & is described as menacing and sinister. • Hill uses symbols throughout: the colour black, yew trees, church bells, ravens and vultures – all symbols of death! Graveyard outside Eel Marsh House is also a symbol of death. Spider the dog represents safety and protecions. Theme: Fear • The most powerful theme in the novel is the individual fear of the unknown shown by Kipps • Also, the collective fear of what is known (but not discussed) by the residents of Crythin Gifford and the surrounding area. • When Kipps first mentions his sighting of the ‘young woman with the wasted face’ to Mr Jerome at the funeral of Mrs Drablow, there is a ‘silence so deep’ that he can hear his own pulse and see Mr Jerome’s inability to speak, later described as having a ‘sickly greyish pallor’ when discussing the sighting of the woman. • The fear that clearly grips and silences Mr Jerome also keeps Mr Keckwick silent about his role in the affairs that led to the death of the child on the causeway. • Kipps himself is exposed to the terror caused by the unknown during the episode involving the rocking chair in the nursery. He is possessed by fear at the thought of what he will meet inside the room whose door has mysteriously opened and later is chilled by the cry of the child on the wind. • The ghost of Jennet Humfrye is the source of all the fear and repulsion in the novel, not only for her spectral presence but for her deliberate act leading to the death of Kipps’ wife and child – foreshadowed by the warning from Mr Daily that a child died whenever she appeared. Reread Chapter One: Christmas Eve
• Find five quotations that foreshadow the fact that negative events will occur. • Elaborate on the effects.
• Plot: Christmas Eve • The story begins on Christmas Eve. Arthur Kipps is with his wife Esme and her children. They encourage him to join them in the tradition of telling ghost stories. He is upset by his memories and decides he needs to exorcise them by writing it down. • Mrs Drablow • The young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is sent by Mr Bentley, his employer at a firm of lawyers, to sort the estate of Mrs Alice Drablow. He is told to attend her funeral and bring back all her documents from Eel Marsh House where she lived. How does Susan Hill show Arthur Kipps is upset at the start of the novel?
• ‘I had walked about in a frenzy of agitation, and now, realising that I must make an effort to calm myself, I sat down on a piece of old, moss-covered stone, and began to take deliberate, steady breaths in on a count of ten and out again, until I felt the tension within myself being to slack and my pulse become a little steadier, my head clearer.’ • Task: Find five quotations and elaborate.
Chapter Two: How is a disturbing and foreboding atmosphere created in the opening of Chapter 2?
• Fill in the table in order to elaborate on your ideas. Ensure you use Subject Terminology!
Evidence Effects ‘Which had hemmed us in on all sides since dawn’
‘seething through cracks and crannies like breath’ Chapter Two- A London Particular: Plot Recap
• 1. Whose funeral is Kipps going to attend? • 2. Which station does Kipps depart from to travel to Crythin Gifford? • 3. What is unusual about the causeway leading to Eel Marsh House? • 4. What two excuses does Mr Bentley give for not going himself to the funeral and Eel Marsh House? • 5. What are Kipps’ views about the business trip? List three thoughts he has or opinions he voices. Chapter Three: The Journey North
• What are your impressions so far of the younger Arthur Kipps? • Record any ideas and relevant quotations.
• How is Samuel Daily presented in an interesting or unusual way? Look at the descriptions and create a Mind-Map exploring his character. [Use Quotations] Arthur Kipps • Rational • Determined • Haunted by the past • Arthur Kipps is the main character and narrator of the story. We see him as a contented man at the start of the novel, but he is haunted by memories of his past. As he narrates his own ghostly tale we are first presented with a rational, keen and positive young man. He is determined to complete his work at Eel Marsh House, no matter how strange or scary the place is. He maintains his optimistic streak even after being haunted to a state of fevered terror. He hopes that he will be the last person the Woman in Black will torment. • At the end of the story his first wife and son are killed after he sees the ghost of Jennet Humfrye (The Woman in Black) one more time and finally we understand his unwillingness to share his tale on Christmas Eve. Chapter Three Plot Re-Cap
• 1. What is the name of the engine Kipps travels on to Crewe? Significance of this name? • 2. What is the name of the inn Arthur will be staying at in Crythin Gifford? • 3. List five observations that Kipps makes about Samuel Daily. • 4. What three things does Daily say are good examples of ‘nothing to see’? • 5. What does Daily mean when he says, ‘We tuck ourselves in with our backs to the wind, and carry on with our business’?
Extended Response: Character Evaluation.
• Potential question: • “I turned and turned about, trying to free myself from the nightmares, to escape from my own semi-conscious sense of dread and foreboding” [Chapter 6] • Explore the significance of Arthur Kipps and his feelings throughout the novel. You must refer to context in your answer.
• You must ensure you evaluate Kipps throughout the entire text. You can speak about: • Kipps’ changing personality – How these changes have been facilitated structurally from the opening to the end. • Framed Narrative- The Present Day Kipps (Anxious & Tetchy whilst telling ghost stories) skips back to initial Confident Kipps unaware of horrors before him. • Events that have significant impact on Kipps • Kipps fixation on the past – inability to forget the incidents haunting him. • The settings and atmospheres that Kipps has been exposed to – effect they have on his mentality. • Kipps’ family and his reactions to others.