The Old Nurse's Story
The supernatural elements in Elizabeth Gaskell's short story "The Old Nurse's Story" develop slowly, building on the atmosphere the author creates as she describes the characters, the setting, and the situation. Certain Gothic elements are evident in the story, from the isolated old house to the limited number of people in the house, the storms outside, and the mysterious sounds heard inside. The supernatural element enters the story after the situation is made clear, and there is no hint from the Old Nurse as she tells her story to her mistress's children that this will be a ghost story. Instead, she appears simply to be telling the children a story about their mother, beginning with the hiring of the nurse before her mistress would be born to their grandmother. The nature of the story is revealed only as the supernatural element becomes apparent to the nurse in the old house. She has no preconceived notions about this and has not been told any stories about the ghosts in the family. Indeed, she has to force people to tell her anything about the meaning behind these events. The reader might assume that something of the sort is going to happen once the nurse and her charge have been transferred to the old house, which is
The nurse hears the organ playing and simply wonders who is playing, but suspicions are raised as others in the house either claim that it is only the wind (when clearly it is not) or shy away from talking about it at all. Agnes indicates that something supernatural is happening, and her reluctance to talk about it at all increases the tensions felt by the nurse:So she said I must never, never tell; and if I ever told, I was never to say she had told me; but it was a very strange noise, and she had heard it many a time, but most of all on winter nights, and before storms; and folks did say, it was the old lord playing on the great organ in the hall, just as he used to do when he was alive; but who the old lord was, or why he played, and why he played on stormy winter evenings in particular, she either could not or would not tell me. Only Miss Grace is affected directly as her guilt leads to her death. He still has sway over the family largely because of the guilt of Miss Grace about what was done to Miss Maude and her child and because of her own (Miss Grace's) role in driving them out into the snow. That is indeed what happens, and how much the past and present can interact is unclear. The child, Rosamond, is four or five at the time. The supernatural elements increase in number and impinge more and more on the life of the people in the house. (4)Two types of reality are created here, the one the reality of those living in the real world, and the reality existing in the East Wing of the house, behind locked doors. The sound itself raises suspicions; the response of others in the house increases those suspicions and suggests that something out of the ordinary is happening. The size of the house and the small number of people in that house also suggest the sort of place where the supernatural is often described in Gothic fiction. described in eerie terms and which has a number of mysteries about it, though the nurse states them simply as facts and seems not to have the imagination needed to invent something to fear. The nurse has particular concerns for Rosamond, who is too young to recognize the threat and who is drawn to her friend, the ghost child, not knowing that the child is not real and that the child might have a malevolent effect, if not a malevolent intent. The two are cut loose from what they have known by the death of both of Rosamond's parents, after which their lives are decided by lawyers and relatives they have never seen. We know that they can because the ghost child could take Rosamond's hand and lead her out of the house, but otherwise the actions in the past seem more like a movie the others are watching.
Common topics in this essay:
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Miss Grace,
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Elizabeth Gaskell's,
Miss Maude,
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,
people house,
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guilt miss grace,
reality existing,
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Acceptance Essays
