Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band

978 Words2 Pages

In this essay I will be examining the possible villains in Conan Doyle’s ‘The Speckled Band’ In my own opinion I thought the villain was definitely Dr Roylott. It is from the brief encounter between the three men, that the reader can gather his/her own ideas concerning Roylott's involvement in the crime. In the Speckled Band Roylott is described as 'Huge, tall, large faced, with deep set bile shot eyes' etc. Upon entering the office he did not knock but 'dashed open' the door. Here, we get the sense that he is quite a blunt and aggressive character as it is traditional, to knock before entering, this is the first time the reader is able to look into the mannerisms of his character. After declaring (literally) his name, he says, “My stepdaughter has been here I have traced her. What has she been saying?" Roylott has a very dominant tone within his speech. His conversational tone conveys to the reader, that he believes he is better than the person he is talking to. When Roylott doesn't acquire the information he is seeking he 'screams furiously' repeating the question. It was at this point that I as the reader became certain of his involvement in the mystery. Everything that Roylott threatened after this just added to my certainty of his either partial or complete involvement in the crime. “Don’t you dare to meddle with my affairs…I am a dangerous man to fall foul of, see that you keep yourself out of my grip", he snarled. As mentioned before, it is from this brief encounter that Roylott has managed to escalate himself to the top of the suspect list. This is purely because anyone, who had nothing to hide, would not have acted in such a threatening manner, and would be only too happy to have a case such as this, solved (the death of his stepchild). Doyle uses very threatening language whenever Roylott is around, this is to add to the villainous character that he upholds. Doyle's use of descriptive language also helps the reader to gather a picture of Roylott, as he gives a very shady and distinctive description. Julia Stoner was the first victim that was killed in Dr Roylott’s house. This case was never solved. Helen Stoner was the around the age of 30, but looked older; she wore a black dress, which was heavily veiled that cased an air of mystery. She had premature grey hair from stress and shock of the death of her sister. She speaks in a low tone of voice and always worried, she had no money but will be getting some

Open Document