Sherlock Holmes's The Speckled Band
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many fictional detective stories. His
first story "A Study in Scarlett" was published in 1887. Since then he
has written many more. The famous detective in all his stories is
Sherlock Holmes who also has an associate called Dr Watson. Sherlock
Holmes became a household name usually pictured with a hat and
magnifying glass. "The Speckled Band" was one of his stories which was
published in 1892 and is still being enjoyed by many more than 100
years later.
In "The Speckled Band" there are two victims, one already dead, the
other, Miss Helen Stoner, fearing for her life. When we first see Miss
Helen Stoner in the story, she is dressed in black and heavily veiled.
We can tell that she is terrified straight away when she talks. The
first thing she says is "It is not cold which makes me shiver", "said
the woman in a low voice". "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror". The
impact on the reader for this shows exactly how she was feeling, and
how scared she was.
In this story the murderer was Dr Grimesby Roylott. He is a typical
murderer and we can see this by the way he's described in the story.
It says that he has even murdered people in the past, and once beat
his butler to death. He was a very vicious and violent person and had
furious quarrels with whoever crossed his path. He was quite an evil
man who had no friends. He also seemed rather strange because he liked
to keep Indian animals including a cheetah and baboon.
Dr Roylott was a very tall man and wore a top hat, long frock coat,
pair of gaiters and had a crop swinging in his hand. He had a large
face covere...
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...bands for money.
I liked the story because I found it quite interesting. It was very
detailed to help create an image and had a good plot. It was a very
enduring story meaning that it kept the reader wanting to read on. It
was effective by the suspense built-up and by the atmosphere created.
The story contained short sentences to help build up tension at
certain places which was also very effective. "But I saw nothing".
People like to read murder mysteries because they like to see how the
detective solves or doesn't solve the crime by using clues to work out
exactly what happened. Murder mystery stories want to make the reader
read on especially to find out who the murderer is and why they did
it. This story is a perfect example of a typical murder mystery and it
is very enduring seeing that it is over 100 years old!
and starts to loose her words a bit. She says this quote in a way that
This quotation is Marie-Laure’s realization and understanding of fears, because of this understanding Marie-Laure begins to use her hand and power of logical reasoning rather
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of the character Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. He was a Scottish writer and physician, he wrote many things in his life. Doyle did not just write detective mysteries he also fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. Even though he wrote many other thing he is mostly well known for writing all of the canon Sherlock stories. Doyle himself had a career in the medical field there he meet many influential people to base his characters from. A letter was found where he wrote to one of his colleagues whose name was Joseph Bell that the most important traits of his character Sherlock was mostly based on him. Bell himself had the career title of forensic
Stevenson’s novel shares the profile of women in the current era. Throughout the novel, the few women that are present are seen as figurative damsels in distress. On many occasions, Stevenson provides evidence that the woman's reaction to disturbing events often include screaming or fainting. During the first section of the novel, a little girl is trampled by Mr. Hyde and the note about her is the screaming emanating from her lips, “quote quote quote” (Stevenson ). She is pictured as helpless and in need of a strong figure to save her. Mr. Utterson comes to the rescue and
of each of them was good as it helped give the reader a better picture
A comparison between Roald Dahl's Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band
...lly speaking to the reader like she knows the woman do not exist (311). The protagonist seems both disoriented and sane in this quote, the confusion is done intentionally by the author to confuse the audience.
sure that she is afraid of death, “death is so vague.” He tries to tell her that
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
shaking all over." He locks her up in fear that she will run away with Tom
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 setting, developing
First, Holmes is the first scientific detective. Second, all of his cases ended up solved so therefore there are no flaws in his method. Well after researching in and out of books and web sites, I finally found the "true" way Holmes solved crimes. The site I found such spectacular information is Sherlockian.Net. This sight was helpful and it made me understand most of the stories by Conan Doyle.
How Does Arthur Conan Doyle Create Tension And Suspense In The Speckled Band The Speckled Band is just one of the murder mystery stories featuring the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was not any ordinary detective, he was a detective who was famous for solving murders. In this case Holmes is trying to solve the mystery of the 'Speckled Band'. Some examples of tension building techniques are dramatic events and in some instances the inclusion of red herrings. Bad weather and night time are also used as a means of building up atmosphere and tension.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia, demonstrates how a specific character can be used to expand upon the complexity of the story’s main character. Specifically in the case of Irene Adler, Conan Doyle does not go into much detail about her, as much as he uses her as a contrast to Holmes. Adler’s presence in the story is the antagonist, but seems much more than that to Holmes’. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s use of Adler seems to be very unique and creative compared to some of his other works, though after her appearance, Conan Doyle’s works with Sherlock all come to a similar structure, that Sherlock seems to come to adore the villains, more so the villains intellect, and put up with the people that hire him.
Mr. Holder went to Mr. Holmes in a hysterical manner. He was calmed down and started to tell him his mystery. Then Holmes asked him whether any one visits them, no one replied Holder except for Arthur’s friend George Burnwell. He added that Mary does not go out of the house, which seemed strange for a young lady but her uncle thought of her as a pleasant and quite girl, and thought of his son of being guilty.