The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man Michel Tremblay

This gothic horror tale is designed to probe our deepest fears. What makes any horror story work is not what is said, but what is not said. The job of the narrator is to look after hanged men from midnight to sunrise and the reader can associate with this man’s fear as we see what he sees, hear what he hears, and feel what he feels. By manipulating our emotions, the author makes it seem as if we can hear the sigh of the hanged man as well. When the narrator runs for witnesses and they return to realize that the laughing, breathing head is nowhere to be found, the readers are left to wonder if the head might roll into their room some dark and lonely night.

THEMES:

 The unknown

 Human imagination

 Isolation can be frightening

 The supernatural