How does Doyle use setting to help create mystery in The Hound of the
Baskervilles?
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh on 22 May 1859. He died in
1893. His first book he published was when he was still a student. In
1885 he married Louise Hawkins. Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in a short novel called "A Study in Scarlet" which was printed in 1887. He continues to write thrilling stories until he realised he wanted to be known not just for Sherlock Holmes but wanted to get involved in other projects. Readers were astonished when Doyle finally killed off the famous detective when he was shoved off a cliff in 1893 by his arch-nemis Professor Moriaty. Thousands of readers made complaints and the once well known
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Sherlock inspects the letter to find each individual letter has been cut out from the Times Newspaper and stuck on the sheet
"As you value your life or your reason to keep away from the moor".
In contrast with London the countryside, where Baskerville Hall and the Moor are set, it has mystery as well. Like the death of Sir
Charles. The mystery here was that the death of Sir Charles because no-one knows the real cause of his death whether it was natural or supernatural. Conan Doyle creates mystery here by using the weather and other various methods to make the reader imagine the setting. Words like
'grim', 'gloomy', 'foggy' and 'dull' help to make the Moor more of a mysterious atmosphere. Baskerville Hall is an isolated place with few people that live in the same area.
Conan Doyle helps to establish the Hall and the Moor as places of mystery before Watson and Sir Henry gets there because of the information that Doctor Mortimer gives them. He tells them about the death of Sir Hugo:
"Tore the throat out of Hugo Baskerville." He describes what happened on the night. The dangerous hound that killed Sir Hugo.
"A great, black beast, shaped like a hound yet larger then any hound that ever mortal eye had rested upon". Doyle makes links to the past and the present situation. He also relates to past and present:
Doyle employs contrast to intensify the threatening aspect of the
Moor. He contrasts it with
Sherlock Holmes novels are the face of mystery, featuring literature’s greatest detective, but one might ask, how does The Hound of the Baskervilles fit into the genre’s common conventions? Mystery being a sub genre of genre fiction novels, it has many common conventions found throughout the majority of the novels. In the average mystery, the plot focuses around a crime, commonly a murder or a robbery, in which the culprit must be found by the protagonist. The crime in Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles is that Sir Charles Baskerville has been murdered, or frightened to the point of death. Generally the protagonist who solves the mystery, has a dominant character flaw and/or defining characteristic which aids them in cracking
In the story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” the author Conan Doyle portrays many different narrative techniques. He uses these techniques to provide meaning for the audience as well as help them visualize the situation that was being described. The different techniques used are narrative discourse, suspense, conflict, close, and focalization in his story. Narrative discourses are events, to describe a series of events that are contingent one on another. Typically focuses on one or more performers of actions. Personal experience can influence narrative discourse due to the explaining of significant events in the life of the narrator. Narrative discourse is made up of exposition/ setting, developing conflict, climax, final suspense, and conclusion. The narrative discourse is being portrait in the story by Sherlock trying to find the mystery. Helen Stoner goes to Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson for help on figuring out the mystery of her sister’s death, and they both investigate. It all begins with the renovation that was done to the room. Holmes arrived to Dr. Grimesby Roylott’s home in order to investigate the noise that his daughter seemed to be hearing from the bedroom that the sister was killed in. Holmes describes the room “very strange” he found the ventilator open into another room as well as the bell-rope. The ventilator was the small opening between two rooms as well as the bed was fastened to the floor. “A ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who
In Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes the Hound of the Baskervilles, weather and seasons convey a motif of new beginnings.
Conan Doyle uses uses a combination of literary devices to build up tension and create a sense of mystery I chapter 3
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a British physician and writer, mostly well known for his stories “Sherlock Holmes”, which are generally in the field of crime fiction. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
Suddenly, a low sound seems to ring through each of our ears, a moaning howl that I heard that I heard on the moor that afternoon with Stapleton. Sir Henry keeps questioning the sound and wondering what the locals say about that sound, but I try to change the subject, finally admitting that it is the howl of the Hound of the Baskervilles. As Sir Henry starts to sound very superstitious about the Hound, we spot Selden just as he seems to realize that he has been found. He took off and ran across the moor, and we chased after him we realized that he had too much of a head start. Standing on the moor, I gaze out into the distance on the moor and spot another tall figure of another man outlines against the moor. But then, a split second later, the man was gone. I am quite interested in who the tall figured man out on the moor was, and who might've been helping Selden. And why Stapleton acts so strange at times, but then covers it up and is all normal again. They are many suspects that I have thought up and a lot of mystery going on at this time Holmes, I wish you were here to investigate along with me. I will check in with you soon with much more information I
Analyse the use of Dr Watson as the narrator of The Hound of the Baskervilles
The fourth and final gothic element Edgar Allan Poe uses in Masque of the Red Death, is the air of mystery and suspense. Poe does this by creating a gloomy setting and entering a ghost that creates mystery because the readers cannot see his face or know what he is or what he is up to. Poe describes him as, “The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave.” There is many ways Poe shows the mystery and suspense, Poe also uses a lot of death and blood to create a mystery because the reader doesn’t know who is going to die next, neither does the characters in the story.
The passage “An Invitation to a Murder” written by Josh Pachter, included a variety of similarities and differences to the drama “The Dying Detective” written by Arthur Conan Doyle. Josh Pachter described the scene of the gathering for the murder a locked-room mystery. Furthermore, the poison that killed Mrs. Abbott was in a medicine bottle; however, the poison that killed Victor Savage was from an ivory box. In contrast, the poison that murdered Victor Savage was presented in an ivory box. Moreover, the mood articulated in “An Invitation to a Murder” was happy for the reason that Mrs. Abbott thought life would be improved after her husband’s death. Conversely, the mood in “The Dying Detective” was sorrowful as everyone suspected Sherlock
Authors use literary as devices such irony, foreshadowing,or flashbacks to help develop the theme of a story. Novels such as Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, use these literary devices to elaborate on and support one common theme. Even short stories such as “A Sound of Thunder” by Ray Bradbury use literary devices to make their stories and plots more interesting and to develop their themes. Literary devices are an important part of writing and an essential part of any plot, story, or theme.
The author uses setting to convey the night of the Dunwich Horror. The setting describes the strange things around them the night of it all starting. This can be seen in the quotation “The Dunwich horror proper begins on the night of September 9th. The hills groan, dogs howl, and a stench hangs in the air. A farmhand, Luther Brown, frantically tells Mrs. Corey, for whom he works, of the disheveled fields he has just witnessed. Bushes and trees have been uprooted and pushed aside as if something as large as a house has swept through the area” (“The Dunwich Horror”). The setting helps create the suspense of what's about to occur. Lovecraft describes this night as “it was in the dark of September 9th that the horror broke loose. The hill noises had been very pronounced during the evening, and dogs barked frantically all night. Early risers on the 10th noticed a peculiar stench in the air. About seven o’clock Luther Brown, the hired boy at George Corey’s, between Cold Spring Glen and the village, rushed frenziedly back from his morning trip to Ten-Acre Meadow with the cows” (lovecraft). The suspense that Lovecraft creates wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for the scary surroundings. The suspense all ties in to the theme of horror brought through by the
He chases butterflies and studies the moor and it’s inhabitants. In the book mortimer is a very creepy person and studies humans and skulls. While in the film mortimer is a acts in a more serious manner while Stapleton is incredibly creepy, he asks would you have an objection to me running my finger along parietal fissure? Also he makes more points about Holmes’ skull (Attwood, The Hound of the Baskervilles). This ends up making Stapleton a very creepy character for the suspense of the movie. In the book Watson looks up to Holmes with great respect and takes his smallest compliments and appreciates them greatly. Holmes states with great pride, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light.” (Doyle 3). By saying this he means, Watson is such a fool that he makes Homles seem even smarter than he is. In the film, however, Watson stands up to Homles at the end when he saves Homles from drowning in the moor pit even though he got shot by stapleton (Attwood, The Hound of the Baskervilles). Also, when Watson finds out Holmes has been investigating the case after Holmes told him that Holmes had work to do in london, He was outraged. There is also other small details in the story that do not have a huge effect on the plot but still change it slightly. For example, Laura Lyon does not exist in the film, even though in the book
This excerpt alone can describe the relationship between the detective and his partner, separating Holmes from Watson by interpreting how he observes and infers upon the scene of the crime versus Watson, who is intelligent nonetheless but not as keen as Holmes in identifying such specific details. In terms of this discussion, it can be assumed that Doyle may have intended to use this dialogue to play out the scene in a dynamic way to show the difference between the two. Here, Holmes carries most of the conversation while Watson listens and struggles to follow Holmes’s complicated thinking. Another factor to consider is how Holmes asks Watson many rhetorical questions. This aspect of their interactions compares their sense of understanding as well, suggesting that Holmes has a habit of asking these questions to explain his observations to Watson.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle utilizes many detail-oriented literary elements to develop the many adventures of the famous fictional British detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner, John Watson. Long winded description and complex vocabulary are infused into Doyle’s writing to accentuate Holmes’s great intelligence. By incorporating such a heavy, educated tone upon the mysteries, the tales of Sherlock Holmes are expressed as very complicated stories that challenge readers in comprehension as well as encourage curiosity through puzzling cases.
The book The Hound Of The Baskerville was written in 1901. The novel was published in serial form from 1901 to 1902. It has proved to be a great success even today and is considered by some Sherlock Holmes scholars to be Doyle’s best work. It has inspired more than twenty film and television reinterpretations, made in diverse places such as Germany, Australia, Canada, the United States, and also the United Kingdom. The most recent such reinvention of this story can be seen in the BBC series Sherlock, although this is in fact very much different from the original novel.