Suspense in Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles

Suspense in Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles

When Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle was writing The Hound of the Baskervilles

it was the era of Queen Victoria. He used Victorian England for the

setting because it increased tension. The Victorian times were a

frightening and eerie time. There were flickering gas lamps, which lit

the streets casting scary shadows, and also there was a weak police

force and crime, prostitution, drug abuse and murders were common.

Factories made the streets dark, smoky and dreary and there was often

fog that was caused by the smoky factories.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?s style of writing in Hound of the Baskervilles

is the typical classic English mystery style because it has several

predictable elements such as an isolated house, a corpse, a small

group of people who are all suspects and a detective. It also tells

the reader clues so they can make their own mind up from a narrator in

this case Watson- who is a loyal companion to Sherlock Holmes:

?Well, Watson what do you make of it??

This shows that Watson and Sherlock Holmes are a team. However Holmes

is the brain of the team Watson is more of the associate of Holmes.

The fact that Watson isn?t as clever as Holmes means that Watson can?t

work things out so the reader has to wait for things to be explained

by Holmes. Holmes is removed from the action in this book because he?d

give too much away too early on.

The narrative has twists and turns giving the reader false clues this

making it harder for the reader to work out who the murderer is.

Although it is straight forward and reasonably easy to follow lots of

strange things happen such as- a visitor leaving a cane with dog teeth

marks on it which is maybe rel...

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...e of inquiry.

However the meeting of Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes in the hut on the

moor at the end of chapter 11 shows a weakness in the plot. It seems a

real let down to what could have been another possible line of enquiry

? to introduce Sherlock Holmes this way seems implausible that he

should rough it on the wilds of Dartmoor. Also two thirds of the way

through the book the reader knows it?s Stapleton who is the culprit ?

it?s just a question of acquiring the evidence.

Nevertheless, the tension is kept going by the need of him killing

Sir Henry and he is nearly successful. The reader however, knows that

it is unlikely that he is going to manage to kill Sir Henry. Overall

however I think that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle manages to create interest

and suspense in the first three chapters and successfully keep it

going throughout the rest of the book.