Literature 7: The Woman in Black

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• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Literature 7:
The Woman in Black

1. Take a guess: In what year was The Woman in Black written?

1. 1721
2. 1834
3. 1906
4. 1983

3. Take a guess: True or False "The Woman in Black was written in the same style as earlier Gothic stories."

1. True
2. False

4. Take a guess: Which of the following has the Woman in Black not been made into?

1. Theatre Play
2. Television series
3. Movie
4. Musical

5. Take a guess: True or False "The main character of the book, Arthur Kipps, dies at the end."

1. True
2. False

6. Take a guess. What is a "causeway"

1. A road that only leads to a house
2. Road that is slightly raised across wet ground

The Woman in Black

- 1983 by Susan Hill
- In the style of earlier Gothic stories
- Also adapted for theatre, television
   and a movie

Plot

- Arthur Kipps, main character, telling a story on Christmas Eve
- Retelling of what happened to him in the past
- As a solicitor (notaris) was sent to Eel Marsh House
- Home of Mrs. Alice Drablow, who had passed away
- Meets Sam Daily, little too interested in him 
- Townspeople get nervous when he asks them 
- Home lies near the coast, road is cut off by water

Plot

- Funeral of Mrs. Drablow, Arthur sees a woman in black 
- Mr. Keckwick drives Arthur to the house
- Stays for a few days & sees scary things 
   (a moving rocking chair, child screaming, sound of a horse)
- Speaks to Sam Daily again

Plot

- Mrs. Drablow's sister, Jennet, had a child with a man she wasn't married to

- Mrs. Drablow took the child in, but it died in an accident

- Mrs. Drablow's sister, Jennet, sees the boy dying in the

   marshes (moeras) near the house

- Jennet witnesses the death and goes crazy with grief 

Plot

- 12 years later Jennet dies, return as a ghost to Eel Marsh 

- Legend: Every time her ghost is seen a child dies
- Arthur returns home, but at a fair (kermis) he sees the ghost
- His wife and son have an accident in a horse carriage
- His son dies immediately and his wife a few months later

7. Which of the following is not an element of a Gothic novel in The Woman in Black?

1. Unrealistic setting: Eel Marsh House
2. Scary events: ghost of the Woman in Black
3. Sensational plot: Arthur Kipps' son dying
4. Mysterious behaviour: nervous townspeople

8. True or False: "The entire story of the Woman in Black is a retelling by Arthur Kipps at Christmas Eve."

1. True
2. False

9. Who does Arthur Kipps meet early on in the story, who seems a little too interested in him?

1. Sam Daily
2. Sam Sainly
3. Sam Caitly
4. Sam Maisly

10. Who turns out to be the Woman in Black?

1. Mrs. Drablow
2. Jennet
3. Sam Daily
4. Keckwick

11. True or False: "Both Arthur Kipps' son and wife die after he sees the ghost of the Woman in Black."

1. True
2. False

Check the reader:

Literature 7: The Woman in Black
- Read the background information
- Answer the questions (using the internet)
- Check your answers (see Its Learning)

+ Start studying for the literature test!

2. Take a guess: Who wrote The Woman in Black?

1. Margaret Atwood
2. Susan Hill
3. Virginia Woolf
4. Doris Lessing