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The Woman in Black themes: - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Hill describes in detail the various bodily responses to fear.
        
        'I sat up paralysed, frozen, in the bed, conscious only of the dog and of the prickling of my own skin.'
        
        These responses are the beginnings of extreme fear. This draws out empathy for the narrator - we feel afraid with him.
    - - The woman in black controls people with fear- Jennet Humfrye takes control in death that she did not have in life. She uses fear to take her revenge.
        
        'She directed the purest evil and hatred and loathing, with all the force that was available to her.'
        
        This energy that comes from the ghost is frightening. The rumours that a child dies every time she is seen create the long-term fear that Mr Jerome, Keckwick and eventually, Arthur Kipps experience.
    - - Arthur is initially determined to hide his fear- When he speaks to Mr Jerome about needing assistance at the house, he refuses to accept his own feelings.
        
        'I tried to make light of something that we both knew was gravely serious.'
        
        This denial of fear seems to heighten it. Arthur is afraid, and feels the danger of going against these instincts.
- - - - Arthur is alone- Arthur is isolated as the stranger in the village, as the only person who sees the ghost physically when he stays the night at Eel Marsh House.
        
        'Until the very last second, it seemed that I was to be alone not merely in my compartment but in the entire train.'
        
        From the moment he leaves London we are made aware of Arthur's aloneness. There is a sense that no one will be able to help him, and this seems unsettling.
    - - The house itself is at the end of a causeway that is cut off during high tides and bad weather.
        
        'Neither could I see the causeway path, not only because of that but because the tide had now covered it over completely.'
        
        The physical isolation of the place creates a sense of entrapment. This makes the eeriness of the house inescapable as we see when Arthur wants to leave.
    - - Mrs Drablow lives alone- When Arthur and Samuel talk about Mrs Drablow, he refers to her isolation. This is emphasised by the fact that her funeral is barely attended.
        
        "I gather she had no friends - or immediate family - that she was something of a recluse?"
        
        The isolation of characters and place is a key element that builds tension and fear in this story. We later wonder what role the ghost of Jennet Humfrye might have played in the isolation of her sister.
- - - - The story of Arthur Kipps' visit to Eel Marsh House is a memory- She introduces his story in the present tense to show how fear has pursued the narrator.
        
        It would be easy to look back and to believe that all that day I had had a sense of foreboding.
        
        The narrator implies from the start that this memory will be presented as accurately as possible.
    - - Jennet Humfrye is driven mad by her own past- Samuel Daily explains the story of the woman in black and how her revenge has affected the community.
        
        In some violent or dreadful circumstance, a child has died.
        
        The way in which the ghost takes her revenge repeatedly shows how affected she is by her past.
    - - Eel Marsh House is a container of memories- Susan Hill shows how Mrs Drablow kept pieces of paper in chests and drawers all around the house.
        
        There were ancient household accounts and tradesmen's bills and receipts of thirty and forty years or more before.
        
        These papers might be seen as representing an unwillingness to let go of the past. This is the same trait that causes the ghost to continue taking her violent revenge.