The Woman in Black

 

The Woman in Black - summary The Woman in Black   is a ghost story by Susan Hill, in which Arthur Kipps relates his haunting experiences at Eel Marsh House. The tale begins on Christmas Eve, when Arthur's stepchildren invite him to tell a ghost story. Arthur is too disturbed by his memories to share his story aloud, so he writes it down. In his story, a young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is sent to settle the affairs of Alice Drablow. He sees a woman dressed in black at her funeral, though apparently no one else does. At Eel Marsh House, a house beyond a causeway, Arthur is haunted by noises and sightings of the woman. Eventually a local man, Sam Daily, reveals the full story of how Alice Drablow's sister, Jennet, haunts the house. He explains that a child dies each time the woman in black is seen. At the end of the story, Arthur sees the woman in black again and his wife and son die in a terrible accident. The Woman in Black  is   is a ghost story about heartbreak  

and revenge.

 

  Mrs Drablow The young Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is sent by Mr Bentley, his employer at a firm of lawyers, to sort the estate of Mrs Alice Drablow. He is told to attend her Drablow. funeral

and

documents

bring

back

from Eel

all

her

Marsh

House where House  where she lived.

The Funeral

Christmas Eve

On the train to Crythin Gifford, Arthur

The story begins on Christmas Eve. Eve. Arthur Kipps is

meets Samuel Daily, a local landowner,

with his wife Esme and her children. They

who comments that Arthur will be one of the only

encourage him to join them in the tradition of

people at Mrs Drablow's funeral. This turns out to be

telling ghost stories. He is upset by his memories and decides he needs to exorcise them by writing it down.

the case - apart from Arthur Kipps, only Mr Jerome, Mrs Drablow's agent, attends. However, Arthur sees a sickly-looking woman dressed in black  black at the church and again at the graveyard. When he mentions her later to Mr Jerome, the agent is visibly upset, but denies having seen a woman.

 

 

screaming. He is terrified by the time Keckwick turns up. In the nursery

Eel Marsh House  House  After the funeral, Arthur gets a lift across the Nine Lives Causeway to Eel Marsh House with the reserved caretaker, Keckwick. He turns up in a pony and trap and says nothing all the way across the marsh.

No one will help Arthur clear the estate, so he decides he will need to stay the night there until he has collected all the papers. Samuel Daily offers him his dog, Spider, for

A pony and trap

company and Arthur accepts.

Arthur sees the woman in black again and starts to feel

The night at Eel Marsh

very frightened. In the house he finds that Mrs

House is disturbed by a regular bumping noise that

Drablow has left papers in almost every drawer and

comes from behind a locked door. The next

desk. He realises that his job will take a long time

evening, Arthur is sorting through papers and

and that he will need to come back the next day. He

letters when the bumping starts again. He becomes

goes out to meet Keckwick and hears the noise of a

increasingly afraid as he hears the pony and trap

pony and trap followed by the sound of a child

and child's cry again. Back in the house, the door to the locked room is suddenly flung open and through

 

it Arthur finds a nursery filled with toys and a

Samuel Daily arrives at the house in the early hours of the morning. He has been worried about Arthur. He drives him back across the causeway and eventually explains that Alice Drablow had a sister, Jennet Humfrye, whose child died in an accident. He says that the

rocking chair in motion.

sightings

of

the

woman in black began when Jennet died. He also tells Arthur that every sees

time the

someone

woman

in

black their child dies in dreadful circumstances.

Samuel Daily rescues Kipps

The Woman in Black  Black 

 

As he regains his strength, his beloved fiancée,

and trap, which careers into a tree and crashes.

Stella, arrives and the following day they both leave

Both Stella and Joseph die in the accident. 

Crythin Gifford for London. Arthur feels relieved that nothing has happened since his sighting of the woman - no children have died. He feels hopeful that the curse has ended.

Arthur finishes his story by saying that he has seen the ghost of Jennet Humfrye and she had her revenge. 'They have asked for my story. I have told it. Enough.' Stella and Arthur are soon married and a nd have a child together, Joseph. One day the family visit a park where Joseph insists on riding in a pony and trap. As his wife and child move out of sight, Arthur sees the woman in black. She steps into the path of the pony