The Moor Symbols the Merrier

648 Words2 Pages

Symbolism gives deeper meaning to relatively ordinary objects, animals, and people. It is repeatedly used in literature to get across a deep meaning without fully explaining it in words, enhancing the story by making it flow smoother. In addition, it can be used to hint at key aspects of the story which helps the reader to better understand symbols. In mystery books it is utilized to help grasp what is meant and to better understand not only the situation, but the book as a whole. In the book, “ The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Arthur Conan Doyle, the moor, the hound of Baskervilles, and Baskervilles Hall are the most prominent symbols in the book.
The moor symbolizes danger and tragedy within the book. It hides the hound which lies in waiting to strike upon its next victim just like what happened to Selden , “ The gleam of the match which he struck upon his clotted fingers and upon the ghastly pool which widened slowly from the crushed skull of the victim” (95). In the book it does not say the crushed skull of a man or even a person, but a victim. A victim to which died on the moor when the hound came upon Selden's trail, only to disappear into the vast moor again. Criminal or not, to die in such a manner is tragic which is reenforced when Watson says, “ The tragedy was still black enough, but this man had at least deserved death by the laws of his country” (96-97). Selden was a criminal who deserved to be brought to justice, but to die in such a manner is in itself horrendous. Selden, however, is not the only one to be fatally put in danger upon the moor, “ If the earth told a true story, then Stapleton never reached that island of refuge towards which he struggled through the fog upon that last night”. Stapleton ran ...

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...mpression as gloomy. Later on in the book, “ The house is banked in with rolling clouds... It is melancholy outside and in” (73). the house is dull and depressing which matches how it looks outside. Baskervilles Hall comes to symbolize the dreary and depressing mood that is hung over the place.
Ultimately, Conan Doyle makes the moor, the hound, and Baskervilles Hall as symbols in his book .T he moor symbolizes danger and tragedy, the hound represents the unknown, constant threat/danger, and Sherlock's biggest enemy. The Baskervilles Hall symbolizes the miserable and depressing mood of the place. These symbols influence the book, and in order to understand the book as a whole you need to comprehend what is being subliminally said to you.

Work Cited
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles. New York: Dell, 1959. Print.

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