Doyle Success in Maintaining Suspense The Hound of the Baskervilles - Essay Example

Doyle Success in Maintaining Suspense – The Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle Success in Maintaining Suspense – The Hound ofthe Baskervilles Doyle is believed to be the major individual novelist who introduced the aspect of mystery writings throughout England that inspired other authors to him. Published in 1901, The Hound of the Baskervilles is a great masterpiece based on the mystery and continued suspense that makes the audience tend to learn more of the outcomes of the proceedings within the novel. The beginning of the story depicts an ancient legend of a ghostly hound that is portrayed to haunt the Baskerville family for all generations. Upon the death of Sir Charles Baskerville that occurs under suspicious conditions, his heir, and descendant, Sir Henry newly owns Baskerville estate (Francis and Doyle, 2013, pg. 19). However, in the inception plans where Sir Charles intends to move to Baskerville estate, he receives a letter sent by an anonymous person warning him about making such a move. Sir Charles then opts to seek for Holmes services to investigate the mystery surrounding Baskerville. It is equally important to note that when Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was at the helm of Victorian era. The suspense is not only created by the mystery surrounding the Baskervilles, but also the choice of the Victorian England throughout the setting as it enhanced the tension creation. The Victorian era is renowned for its frightening and shady occurrences with generations of the time seeing it as an eerie time. The town streets comprised of flickering gas lamps that provided poor lighting on the streets thus ensuring casing of scary shadows. Consequently, the police force was weak with all sorts of crime, prostitution, murders, as well as drug abuse, becoming major attributes on a daily basis. The inclusion of the factories within the setting ensure the streets remain dark, dreary as well as smoky and while adding up the fog in the streets, the setting ensure continuation of suspense whenever a reader finds something suspicious in the story. Therefore, the Story ensures creation of suspense from the first to the last chapter through a combination of a haunting ghost story, a strange legend as well as a gothic atmosphere in the scenarios of the novel. The gripping murder mystery that involves all the characters within the novella also enhances in creating and sustaining suspense. Everyone is made to believe that a ghostly killer dog that keeps on haunting the Baskerville family is responsible for Sir Charles death. When Sir Henry comes back to England with an intention of relocating to his uncle’s estate, he finds weird things from his room in London that makes him seek for clearance of the mystery surrounding his newly acquired estate. Upon these introductory statements that set the beginning of the story plot, the author introduces various suspicious episodes that an audience is determined to unlock. First, a deeper understanding of the ghostly killer dog is a major curious issue that an audience is determined to learn how it manages its killings and also the reasons for such occurrences (Colbourn and Dixey, 2009, pg. 78). Again the letter that Sir Charles received creates suspense and a new version to the audience. The audience develops the thirst to learn more about the source of the letter attributing the source as linked with the mystery in Baskerville. Consequently, the question of the ghostly killer dog and its linkage with the letter is put into question by the audience prompting to seek further knowledge. Before Sir Henry decides to carry on the investigations surrounding their family’s mysteries, Dr. James Mortimer is already worried about Sir Henry life and seeks for Sherlock Holmes services in investigating the death of Sir Charles. The cause of the death is attributed to heart attack but the horror expressed in Sir Charles face makes Mortimer think of an otherwise option for the cause of the death. The route of the mystery within the Baskerville family has resulted from a curse stemming from the era of English civil war where the actions of one of the Baskerville’s family members. Hugo Baskerville is believed to have offered his soul to the devil in return to gain assistance in abducting a woman with his death resulting from a giant spectral hound making the beginning of the mystery of the Baskervilles. Again from the Baskervilles family background, suspense is created with the reader torn between the belief of the past actions of Hugo Baskerville or believe in a new perspective. Considering that the death of Hugo occurred in a mysterious manner and the family is aware of the curse upon them, suspense is increased from the initial introductory aspect to more suspicious episodes as the story builds. The interlink between one suspicious episode to another is excellent with the reader yearning for more of the story. The idea of offering the soul to the devil is equally suspicious considering Sir Charles believes until his death that the family’s curse was somehow running away. When Holmes meets Sir Henry in his hotel room in London upon his arrival from Canada, he learns that apart from the warning letter against living on the estate, one of Sir Henry’s new boots was missing from the room. The issue with the missing boot for an exclusively new person within the city in a new hotel builds more curiosity. The issue tends to question the reason behind the missing boot where one is made to believe that it is by no means a common robbery as the use of a single boot remains questionable. The issue leads to a further examination of other possible causes of the mystery surrounding the Baskervilles with any possible actions of an individual being behind such occurrences considered. That makes Mortimer and Holmes to examine and discuss closely the Baskerville family where they realize that Sir Henry is a single child of one of the middle brothers in the family. Since Sir Charles was the oldest with the youngest brother Roger believed to have met his death childless in South America, Sir Henry remains the only heir of the estate. Although there lacks weight in suspecting something wrong with the Baskervilles brothers, the concept of attributing that the youngest brother who was considered as a black sheep is intriguing (Francis and Doyle, 2013, pg. 58). It is clear that no one had the exact details of his life or whereabouts but only assuming. Here a leader develops more curiosity to tend to learn more, and the Doyle ensures maintaining such through introducing such family information. Despite the warning given against visiting Baskerville estate, Sir Henry is determined to visit Baskerville Hall while Mortimer and Holmes follow him as they head to Holmes apartment in Baker Street. On their way, they spot a cab following Sir Henry but their efforts to get the cab become effortless as the cab manages to disappear. From that incident, new events unfold. First, the Mortimer and Holmes notice a bearded man in the cab where Mortimer describes Barrymore a servant at Baskerville as closely identical to the man they spot on the cab. Consequently, Sir Henry’s old boot that had varnished reappears but surprisingly his old boot vanishes. In the introduced concept, the author is trying to draw the audience to think of any other possible sources of the mystery behind the Baskerville family as opposed to the black dog ghost. The dim street within the city plays a significant role in ensuring that Mortimer and Homes lose track of the cab while also they fail completely to identify the bearded man in the cab. The reader is left to wonder what the bearded man might be planning and if at all he works at Baskerville Hall, whether he is behind any of the occurrences within the estate. Consequently, the reappearance of the new boot and disappearance of the old boot brings another suspicious event where one is left to question why such actions would occur. Again the reader is trying to draw a line between Barrymore and the disappearance and reappearance and questioning any motives behind such actions. From the witnessed incidence, Holmes dispatches Watson to accompany Sir Henry to the estate where upon their arrival, the receive news that Selden, an escaped murder is within the area. Consequently, Barrymore together with his wife has plans of leaving the estate in the soonest period they can. The reason for Selden reappearance makes the reader question his mission while also questioning the reason behind Barrymore departure. The reader is made to suspect that Barrymore realized the detective found out his plans while Selden is on a death mission. During the night when Watson hears loud cries of a woman, he supposes it is Barrymore’s wife but Barrymore denies it upon questioning. Since Watson fails to get enough evidence linking Barrymore with the chase at London, he decides to meet Mr and Miss Stapleton, who lived in the neighborhoods of Baskerville who are believed to be brothers and sisters (Greenwood and Oldroyd, 2010, pg. 132). During the visit, Watson and the Stapleton’s hear an animalistic voice that Stapleton quickly dismisses as unrelated to the legendary hound and deviates from the topic immediately. The visit becomes sour for Watson as he is warned to leave by Miss Stapleton, who mistakes his for Sir Henry. On the next episode, when Miss Stapleton meets Sir Henry, they quickly fall in love an incident that angers Stapleton although he invites Sir Henry for dinner upon apologizing. These incidences all present suspicious situations that the leader is determined to learn why some characters behave in particular manner with respect to various situations. The denial of the animalistic voice as the legendary hound sends more questions than answers as to whether Stapleton knew something about the animalistic voice that was unwilling to disclose. Consequently, her sister warns Walton to leave without his brother hearing the conversation after mistaking Walton with Sir Henry. The explanation from the worry of Miss Stapleton for Sir Henry is wanting and eventually leading to a kind of indication that Stapleton possesses the capability of harming Sir Henry. Consequently, the reason behind Stapleton anger, when her sister falls in love with Sir Henry, builds more curiosity despite the fact that he apologizes later. Further suspicion is aroused when Barrymore if found in an empty room with a candle in the middle of the night with his actions seeming questionable especially that he fails to answer the questions posed to him. Although he refuses to reply to the questions Holmes and Watson and Sir Henry enquire, his wife agrees that Selden is his brother but efforts of Watson, and Sir Henry fails when they try to pursue Selden in the moor but Watson notices another man. When a resolution is made to allow Selden leave the country, Barrymore provides a letter written by Laura Lyons that threatened Sir Charles to be at the gate when death will come calling (Corble and Doyle, 2012, pg 98). Laura agrees to have written the letter, but investigations show she had little to do with the death. Watson pursued the man he had noticed only to realize it was Holmes who was still in the town carrying on with independent investigations to ensure the process became quick. Further suspense is created upon realization that Stapleton and the supposed Miss Stapleton were couples leading to a way that something is happening between Stapleton and the Baskerville family. Further intriguing suspense is attributed to the realization that Stapleton had promised to marry Laura Lyons with an aim of gaining her co-operation. From these unveiling episodes, the author ensures creation of suspense upon the reader while also ensuring the readers expectations of the flow of the story is met. In the same instance as Holmes and Watson analyzes the evidence gathered, they hear the scream of a person only to realize it is Selden who they discover dead from a fall. The death of Selden yields more suspense as it serves as a means of eliminating evidence. The realization of existing resemblance of the portrait of Hugo Baskerville and Stapleton leads to suspicious evidence that Stapleton is an unknown family member. Upon traveling to Stapleton’s home Holmes and Inspector Lestrade rescue Sir Henry from death as they shoot a hound released by Stapleton painted with white phosphorous to ensure a hellish appearance (Ronaldson and Doyle, 2010, pg. 211). In his attempts to seek his hideout, Stapleton dies while the detectives find his wife gagged inside the house where further evidence is revealed with the boot of Sir Henry recovered. The suspense of the reader is released to a great extent, and when the author reveals that Stapleton was a son of Rodger, the reader is relieved all the tension. In conclusion, Doyle successfully manages maintaining suspense throughout his work right from the introductory part through the middle until the book is over. The structure of the plot and the setting ensure interlinks between actions and the town set up interlink to provide an excellent presentation. It is also important to note that although suspense is created throughout Doyle’s work, he successfully maintains the interest of the reader through introducing some links that engage the reader in thinking. The reader’s interest remains active all through owing to interlinks presented by the author leading to the upcoming episodes. Consequently, the author ensures complete coordination and traceable links between characters in his work that enhances the audience to recall back on the past episodes whenever a need arises. References Colbourn, S., & Dixey, K, 2009. The hound of the Baskervilles. Oxford: Heinemann. Corble, S., & Doyle, A, 2012. The hound of the Baskervilles. London: MX Publishing. Francis, C., & Doyle, A, 2013. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London: Oberon Books. Greenwood, M., & Oldroyd, M, 2010. The hound of the Baskervilles. New York: Dorling Kindersley Pub. Ronaldson, A., & Doyle, A, 2010. The hound of the Baskervilles. Harlow: Pearson Education. Read More