I believe this man is going upstairs to commit a crime, which is either murder or robbery from looking at the picture. I think this because the illustration is drawn in a grey, gloomy texture which suggests something evil is occuring. Another reason I know the man/woman is about threaten or kill someone is because of the obvious knife the man/woman is wielding. The knife makes me think this because the only case where a knife is used properly or to its use is in a kitchen, but this man is creeping up the stairs, which I can tell by the bending of his knees in the illustration, which suggests he/she knows what their doing is wrong.

Darkness is an important part of the setting as it sets the scene. When we see the knife we immediately think some sort of crime is about to occur. I believe adding the darkness is inferring that the man/woman is not supposed to be in that house because at night people are asleep and this man is awake walking around with a knife. Isn’t that odd? Tense? It tells us the man is not meant to be in that house. The darkness also creates tension for the reader as in darkness It is hard to see, which means anything can be there, this is what creates the tension.