How Does Arthur Conan Doyle Create Suspense In The Speckled Band

How does Arthur Conan Doyle create an atmosphere of mystery and build suspense in The Speckled Band? To what extent are his methods typical of all the other stories in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes?

The story ‘The speckled band’ was written by Arthur Conan Doyle in

1982 and is one of the many stories in the large Sherlock Holmes series of stories. As known the stories are based on inquiries and investigations, because of course Sherlock Holmes is an investigator, this in itself gives a sense of excitement to the story because you know that there will e a constant thrill throughout the story, especially seems as it is likely that it will be based on something like a murder, or an affair, etc.

As soon as the story starts, Holmes

This same scenario is presented in A case of

Identity when Miss Sutherland comes to Sherlock Holmes in a similar vulnerable state, frightened. As usual straight away Holmes picks up on all the little details, such as the mud stains on the victim’s clothes, and manages to create a clear picture in his mind of the situation. The victim is called Miss Helen Stoner. When she first came into the story she was wearing black, veiled and grey haired. She was shivering and terrified, which creates a scary if not intriguing scene leaving the reader asking “why is she in this state?!”, the lady also gave a violent start, by saying “It is fear Mr Holmes, It is terror.”

The story then goes on and Holmes is told about the lady’s step father, who instantly Holmes recognizes as the

To add to the atmosphere or fear and horror, the reader is told about the Doctor’s hobby of keeping wild dangerous animals, and that there is a Wild baboon and a cheetah in the grounds of the house.

In the story Holmes suspects Grimesby Roylott as the murder suspect, and he treats the case as urgent, and helps Helen Stoner straight away. This gives the reader the impression that it is important, and so it adds to the feeling that something big is going to happen, and that the case is dangerous. The addition of creepy objects in the house also helps relate an atmosphere, such as the useless ventilator, and the ropes which hung down to the lady’s bed.

Holmes also suspects the animal as a dangerous exotic one, in this case it being a snake, and this is not obvious to the reader, and so they will be kept waiting to see what these strange object, and weird animals are all there for.

In the end, the murderer who correctly turns out to be Doctor Roylott, gets killed by his own weapon the deadly snake.

This makes the story come to an exciting end, and it in many ways sums up the complete suspense and mystery that has been throughout