The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Body Snatcher by Robert Louis Stevenson and The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

In the two stories tension and suspense is created through many

different methods. Weather and time of day are very popular scene

settings to make the perfect moment in a tension story. Thunderous

skies and pelting rain on a dark night has more of a chilling feel to

it than a sweet summers day with sunflowers and butterflies flapping

around. Of course there are times and places for such story writing,

but it would not fit the mood for a Sherlock Holmes story.

In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the

drama and suspense begins immediately, and the reader is given almost

a description of what he or she is in store for. Sir Arthur Conan

Doyle makes it known directly that Sherlock Holmes only accepts cases

to solve that seem out of the ordinary, and he is about to be prompted

into quite an unordinary situation. This places the reader in a

quizzing state of mind, so already the reader's attention has been

grasped, and throughout the story like a detective the reader will

pick at each detail of the story.

The obviousness of a strong, suspenseful story unravels when Holmes

disturbs Watson from his slumber at a very unsuitable time in the

morning, according to Watson. It brings tension to the story once

again so early on, for we realize that to be up at such a time in the

morning, would only be for a special case for the two to attempt to

solve.

When the detectives interview the woman at their office, we are told

of her state, she is shivering, and is said to have pre-maturely gray

hair. This itself does not bring spine tingling suspension to the

reader, but when we are told that she shivers not from the cold, but

from her fear, it begins to become a lot clearer. We also find out

that the woman is quite young, but has gray hairs, the only reason I

thought of for a woman to have gray hairs prematurely, was because of

Stress or trauma of some kind. This creates tension by making us want

to find out what was so disturbing or so stressful to cause her

premature grayness, and we suspect the most probable cause to be her

fear.

Shortly afterwards we lean that Helen's cause for the distress she has

been put through is her step father, who is described to have quite a

nefarious attitude at times. We learn from Helen that he has before