Essay on Compare The Ostler and The Darkness Out There

Compare The Ostler and The Darkness Out There In this essay I will compare two stories - The Ostler, written in the 19th century by a man called Wilkie Coliins, and The Darkness Out There, by Penelope Lively, written in the 20th century. They are both horror stories, a genre which has been popular throughout the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. This is perhaps because, since we are no longer scared on a daily basis, as would have been the case in medieval times, we need to find an artificial way of creating the thrill. I will look at the similarities and differences between the way each story is structured, the build up of tension, the settings and the characters. First I will summarise each story and look at their 19th and†¦show more content†¦The stories were written in different centuries. The Ostler was written in the 19th century and The Darkness Out There was written in the 20th century. There are many differences between them which make this obvious. The most obvious of these differences is that an ostler is a profession that does not exist today. They worked at inns, looking after the horses of travellers who were staying the night. In The Ostler, when the main character, Isaac, discovers that his fiancÃÆ' ©e is the woman who tried to murder him in his dream, he feels that he has to keep his word and marry her anyway, which probably would not happen today, because peoples ideas of what is right and wrong have changed, and most people do not have such a strong sense of duty. Although the character of a manipulative woman still appears in many stories, some aspects of Rebeccas background would not appear in a 20th century story. She is obviously from an upper class family but has somehow fallen. It is not clear how she came to be is the state she was when Isaac first met her, but some of the most common ways were to get pregnant outside of marriage, or have an affair with a married man. It is also possible that she has treated other men in the same way she treats Isaac, and that this has somehow contributed to her downfall. The language that is used in The Ostler also makes it clear that this is a 19th century story. Long words, suchShow MoreRelatedEssay about Faustus Study and Opening Speech3593 Words   |  15 Pageswhich held that learning was based on the authority of the wise rather than on experimentation and new ideas. This soliloquy, then, marks Faustus’s rejection of this medieval model, as he sets aside each of the old authorities and resolves to strike out on his own in his quest to become powerful through magic. As is true throughout the play, however, Marlowe uses Faustus’s own words to expose Faustus’s blind spots. In his initial speech, for example, Faustus establishes a hierarchy of disciplines