Explore the ways in which Susan Hill presents the woman in black
Explore the ways in which Susan Hill presents the woman in black.
Before we meet the woman, Susan Hill uses the description of the setting in ‘A London Particular’ to foresee what she is like, predicting something wicked. London was described as “Inferno” full of “red-eyed and demonic” “ghostly figures”. These all suggest that Hill was describing or comparing London to Hell, which could imply that Mr Arthur Kipps was about to enter into his own personal hell, containing a “ghostly figure” of haunting and torment. Hill uses London’s “filthy, evil smelling fog” that “choked and blinded the Londoners as a way to pre-empt the sea mist that appears later in the novel, in ‘The Sound of a Pony and Trap’. They both engulfed their surroundings like a “veil” of mystery and suffering. The fog could have also suggested that Kipps was unaware of the Hell in his near future, he could not see what lay in front of him. There is a possibility the fog was a metaphor for the impending suffering and misfortune that lay ahead for Arthur Kipps.
‘The Funeral of Mrs Drablow’ is a crucial chapter in the novel as this is the first time the woman is seen and mentioned. Kipps describes her as a woman “dressed in the deepest black” and wearing a “bonnet” which seemed to have “gone out of fashion”, which suggests straight away that the woman is out of place, not only at the funeral, but also in that time period. Her clothes were “a little rusty looking” and this gives the impression that her clothes are ageing, which links with her alienation from the rest of the funeral attendants. She is described as having a ”terrible wasting disease” with the “thinnest layer of flesh tautly stretched and strained across her bones.” Her face was “pathetically wasted’ extremely “pale and gaunt” with almost a “blue-white sheen”. This all gives a sense of a ghost, the whole portrayal sounding ghoulish. Kipps instantly feels sympathy towards the woman, as he refers to her as “a not inconsiderable
Before we meet the woman, Susan Hill uses the description of the setting in ‘A London Particular’ to foresee what she is like, predicting something wicked. London was described as “Inferno” full of “red-eyed and demonic” “ghostly figures”. These all suggest that Hill was describing or comparing London to Hell, which could imply that Mr Arthur Kipps was about to enter into his own personal hell, containing a “ghostly figure” of haunting and torment. Hill uses London’s “filthy, evil smelling fog” that “choked and blinded the Londoners as a way to pre-empt the sea mist that appears later in the novel, in ‘The Sound of a Pony and Trap’. They both engulfed their surroundings like a “veil” of mystery and suffering. The fog could have also suggested that Kipps was unaware of the Hell in his near future, he could not see what lay in front of him. There is a possibility the fog was a metaphor for the impending suffering and misfortune that lay ahead for Arthur Kipps.
‘The Funeral of Mrs Drablow’ is a crucial chapter in the novel as this is the first time the woman is seen and mentioned. Kipps describes her as a woman “dressed in the deepest black” and wearing a “bonnet” which seemed to have “gone out of fashion”, which suggests straight away that the woman is out of place, not only at the funeral, but also in that time period. Her clothes were “a little rusty looking” and this gives the impression that her clothes are ageing, which links with her alienation from the rest of the funeral attendants. She is described as having a ”terrible wasting disease” with the “thinnest layer of flesh tautly stretched and strained across her bones.” Her face was “pathetically wasted’ extremely “pale and gaunt” with almost a “blue-white sheen”. This all gives a sense of a ghost, the whole portrayal sounding ghoulish. Kipps instantly feels sympathy towards the woman, as he refers to her as “a not inconsiderable