WIB Themes

WIB Themes

1. Revenge

   • Jennet Drablow
     • "Moreover, that the intensity of her grief and distress together with her pent-up hatred and desire for revenge permeated the air all around" 179
       • Semantic field of anger, shows Jennet's anger to everything in Crythin Gifford.
       • "Intensity" makes us feel sympathetic for this evil character, as Jennet has had an extremely sad life.
       • metaphor "revenge permeated the air all around"
         • "pent up" shows that her hatred hasn't been just caused by the death of her son, but her frustration throughout her life.
     • "She had been a poor, crazed. troubled woman, dead of grief and distress, filled with hatred and desire for revenge." 194
       • "Poor, crazed, troubled" Three adjectives, emphasises how this woman was.
       • Various adjectives with a semantic field of despair, mental illness and anger.
         • "had been" shows that Arthur thinks that his troubles with this woman are over...
         • "woman" she was still very young when she died, but her corpse-esque features makes her seem much older.
   • Kipps
     • "I had seen the ghost of Jennet Humfrye and she had had her revenge" 200
       • What did Arthur do to evoke this revenge in the first place?
       • Short sentence at the end of the book that leaves us with his final departing view on Jennet Humfrye.
         • He says "she had had her revenge" in an emotionless way, showing he doesn't feel anything about the death of his wife and child, as if it was inevitable.
   • Alice Drablow
     • Kipps and the village are the ones that have to suffer from the revenge Jennet Drablow has against her sister, Alice.
     • "But to harm who? Was not everyone connected with that sad story now dead?" 179
       • Kipps is unsure as to why the WIB is still seeking revenge, as everyone related to the story is dead.
       • Arthur is the last one alive.
       • Rhetorical question makes the reader question, is everyone actually dead?
       • Sibilance "sad story" hissing noise- relates to Jennet's anger.
       • Two rhetorical questions reminds us that even though Kipps has been through a lot, he is fairly blind to the story.

2. Supernatural

   • The villagers "tales"
     • "she would have been branded as a witch and local legends and tales were still abroad and some extravagant folklore still half-believed in" 45
       • Jennet thought she could escape persecution by suicide, she was wrong.
       • semantic field of mythology and tales-Makes us understand why Kipps didn't believe in the ghosts.
       • "Half believed" relates to the state of denial the Drablows were in when the child drowned.
       • "folklore" relates to the various folklore that was believed in Britain at this time E.G Robin Hood.
   • Kipp's ignorance
     • "I did not believe in ghosts. Or rather, until this day, I had not done so, and whatever stories I had heard of them I had, like most rational, sensible young men, dismissed as nothing more than stories indeed" 78
       • "Did not believe in ghosts" ironic as he has seen and will be seeing far more.
       • Large use of personal pronouns "I" reminds us that this story is from his perspective.
       • "rational, sensible young men" his "sensibleness" leads to blindness, putting him into more danger.
         • Kipps is refusing to believe in the supernatural. "dismissed" relates to how if he didn't dismiss the ghosts, his wife and child wouldn't have died.
   • The WIB
     • "Rest in peace," I thought, but this poor one did not, could not." 152
       • Ironic, as "rest in peace" is written on her grave, yet she is disturbing the village.
       • repetition of "not" shows that Jennet has been restless all her life and is restless after death.
       • "poor one" shows that Kipps feels sympathy for her, even though she has terrorised him
       • Jennet will not rest in peace, even after her terrible life. She will not rest until she has had revenge.