The red room

In my opinion the writer of the short story "The Red Room", H.G. Wells does not seem to be mocking romanticism. Instead, his story was written taking into account as much Gothic elements as possible,so that his production could be regarded as partially belonging to such a genre. It is necessary for the purpose of this paragraph to clarify that a good Gothic novel should include a setting thatis usually a ruined castle with dark rooms, secret and underground passages, the presence of ghostly figures haunting the atmosphere emphasizing mystery and horror. In fact the title of the short storyproves to be directly associated to Gothicism, since it contributes to create a misterious tension and suspense, which is re enforced throughout the reading as the narrator describes the hostcharacters in the castle, such as "the man with the withered arm", which helps the idea of creating tension through the repetition of this particular feature of him. The noticeable unfriendliness thatdepicts the three host characters in the castle contribute also to create tension, and foreshadowing that something eerie may happen.
The setting of the story seems to be the perfect scenario for a Gothicstory to take place: The Lorraine Castle, which is described as large, cold, dark and presumably haunted. Besides there are numerous empty dark passageways and corridors in order to reach the Red Roomthat seem to conduct the narrator underground, and make the idea of a haunting feasible. However, once in the Red Room the narrator does not encounter any spectral ghostly creature, but all hisprevious thoughts about the room being possibly haunted by the presence of a young duke and his timid wife, merely cause him to feel overwhelmed by fear, which is the only trace of haunting that he finds.It is the ending of the story what leads me to conclude that the author did not mock romanticism, but somehow he managed to mock the Gothic conventions, since the spirits and ghosts never appear in...