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The Story Of The Goblins By Charles Dickens

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When the supernatural is seen in a story, it is often thought that its presence is to bring fear or an eerie element to the story. In popular culture, supernatural elements are mainly used to frighten the reader's or viewer's and this is the only aspect of supernatural element that is exploited. Yet when looking closer at stories that have supernatural elements, they evoke more feelings than just fear. An example of this is in a few of Charles Dickens short stories that utilize elements of the supernatural for more than just fear. Dickens uses supernatural elements to aid in sending a message in his story, to have the story without the supernatural elements would be rather boring. Charles Dickens uses the supernatural elements in his short …show more content…

In “The Story of the Goblins who stole a Sexton”, he seems to say that the guilty will be punished for their wrongs. Gabriel Grub, the main character, is a sexton that scowls at the world. He is a man that hits children and thinks that there is no decency in the world. He is called one of, “the foulest weeds on the fair surface of the earth” (“Story of the Goblins,” Dickens 47). Gabriel is taken by goblins to a hellish cavern and is beaten by them for his behavior to the world (“Story of the Goblins,” Dickens 46). Gabriel is punished for being a horrible man and pushed into feeling guilty for it. Dickens seems to be trying to show that being guilty will lead to punishment. In another short story, guilt is seen in another light. In, “No 1 Branch Line. The Signalman” the reader finds out that the Signalman is haunted by a spectre. Every time after the spectre appears a tragedy happens (“No. 1 Branch,” Dickens 84). The Signalman feels guilty since he cannot do anything to stop these tragedies from happening. In the end, the reader discovers that the Signalman is hit by a train and dies after having seen the spectre for the third and final time (“No. 1 Branch,” Dickens 89). The signalman did not need to feel guilty for the accidents, since there was nothing he could do to stop them. Dickens seems to say that the guilty will fall, not matter what the situation that they encounter, even if the guilt is missed placed or

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