Woman In Black Sympathy

1198 Words5 Pages
Written in 1983 The Woman in Black depicts a period around the early 1900s. Susan Hill tells the story a semi-retired solicitor from London, having for many years worked for and on behalf of a law firm named Arthur Kipps. The reader presents arguments to demonstrate both sympathy for and dislike of Arthur Kipps, from the Woman in Black to support these assertions. Gothic horror ghost stories rely on supernatural events and key themes including isolation and silence. Eel Marsh House, described as being some distance outside town, surrounded by a tidal salt marsh, on a spit of land, which is only accessible during low tide create a sense of isolation. The half-submerged, derelict church and graveyard now frequented only by large black birds…show more content…
He worked for a firm of solicitors in the City of London, assured of his own invulnerability and full of enthusiasm, a “sturdy, commonsensical” young man. Summoned one day to the office of his superior Mr. Bentley and given the task of settling the affairs of a client. We are told that Arthur was “young and priggish” with a fixed view of others, this is confirmed when; on the final leg of his journey he assessed Samuel Daily a local landowner for the first time and a character who’s attitude the reader dislikes. Arthur does have compassion and this is demonstrated when he first encounters Jennet Humfrye (Woman in Black) at the funeral of the late Mrs Drablow. We are told Arthur ”caught a glimpse of another mourner, a woman…” after by the grave he notes that she “was so pathetically wasted, pale and gaunt” and that on seeing she was so ill, he was going to wait after the funeral to offer her assistance. Would prior knowledge of the history and circumstances, have made him more cautious? Each event from the first night at Eel Marsh House, the screams and frantic struggles of a mysterious pony and trap, makes Arthur more vulnerable, more at the mercy of events, yet still stubbornly determined to complete his allotted task. The reader is empathetic to Arthur’s plight as he gets deliberately ambiguous answers when quizzing the inhabitants of Crythin Gifford about the unfolding events at Eel Marsh House. Arthur feels alone, isolated and vulnerable however, his tenacity and determination to complete his task as his world slowly crumbles around him draws admiration and sympathy from the
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