Examine how Arthur Conan Doyle builds tension and sustains mystery for the reader in 'The Speckled Band'
Examine how Arthur Conan Doyle builds tension and sustains mystery for the reader in 'The Speckled Band'
The speckled band is a fiction story about a well known detective called Sherlock Holmes working solving crimes or investigations. This particular investigation is about the death of lady called Julia Stoner, just weeks before her wedding, her sister Helen believes she was either frightened to death or killed by gypsies, not knowing the exact truth for her sister's death; she went to Sherlock Holmes to seek for advice as she is concerned what the future awaits. Dr Roylott who lives with Helen Stoner, the stepfather of both girls is one of the main characters in this story, who may be the villain however with the gypsies living in the same area and wild animals roaming freely, the suspect cannot be for certain. The main mystery of this story is how Julia stoner died and what does the speckled band actually mean as these were the last words that Julia actually said, as the title has a great importance in the story,
The adventure of the speckled band was published in 1892, and is widely admired as one of the best written and most exciting Sherlock Holmes stories. Queen Victoria reigned over Britain at this period. Urban city life was hard as people had to live in cramped conditions. The average life in the Victorian times was to live up to forty years. Crime was rife at the time as this was the time of Jack the Ripper the mass murderer, killing many prostitutes. The Victorians feared crime as they thought that the police were no good as Jack the ripper was on the loose. His victims were women who were prostitutes and his murders were brutal. Victorians believed in Sherlock Holmes as the stories began to make the Victorians trust the police. It was the way hr solved the crimes and always caught the right suspect. It showed people if one man can catch the villain then the police certainly can.
Arthur Conan Doyle involves the reader from the beginning of the story, as the story begins the weather is stormy and rain reflects the beginning atmosphere of the adventure, this builds tension for the reader as they instantly get a feeling like something terrible is about to happen.
"The wind was howling outside and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows",
This is an example of pathetic fallacy; this sentence contains adjectives, showing negative signs like something is ready to happen. Before the description of the setting when Julia Stoner died, Doyle talks about Sherlock Holmes meeting Helen Stoner and Helen as a normal yet slightly depressed. From the opening it reveals that Sherlock Holmes us a clever and has sharp thinking which is essential for a detective,
"You have come in by train this morning I see", (Sherlock)
"you must know me then," (Helen)
"No but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your right glove... the left arm of your jacket is splattered..." in these sentences it exposes Sherlock as n intelligent and observant person, as any average person would not observe a person and take in much detail.
In the beginning of the story Sherlock is portrayed as smart as he is well dressed. In the story it reveals him as a professional detective and shows he is admired for solving mysteries, a quote that supports this is,
"I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes..." this quote is praising Sherlock for the work he does, this may create tension to the reader as this gives a hint to the reader that the mystery in this story will definitely be solved with Holmes's help. Helen Stoner is portrayed as a weak unattractive and scared ...
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In the beginning of the story Sherlock is portrayed as smart as he is well dressed. In the story it reveals him as a professional detective and shows he is admired for solving mysteries, a quote that supports this is,
"I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes..." this quote is praising Sherlock for the work he does, this may create tension to the reader as this gives a hint to the reader that the mystery in this story will definitely be solved with Holmes's help. Helen Stoner is portrayed as a weak unattractive and scared woman.
"Her face all drawn an grey with restless frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal,"
This sentence reveals to the reader that she has a lot occupying her mind and is in need of help. Helen is fearing her future as she is about to get married in a couple of weeks and just weeks before her sisters wedding, she died, however, now she is being forced to stay in her sister's room, the very room that Julia died in. Doyle uses a lot of descriptive writing in the quote explaining her appearance brings more tension to the reader as it is clear that Helen is distressed and in fear therefore the reader is engaged and wants to read on to understand how she ended in this state.
In the story it reveals Sherlock as a calm and rational person,
"Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick comprehensive glances, you must not fear..."
In this sentence it shows him as a comforting person, and is sure to reassure her, he sounds confident that he will solve everything, this puts the reader at ease as, Sherlock comforts her therefore the reader feels a sense of comfort. At the same time he also makes sure he does not miss out on any detail. This creates tension for the reader as they will be engaged in the story, trying to figure out everything Helen is saying and hopefully finding clues to solve the mystery, and wondering what Holmes would be thinking is his position. As Helen is telling her story, it creates more tensions and mystery to the reader as she introduces Dr Roylott as a violent and aggressive man. Instantly as his character is revealed he becomes on of the prime suspects. A quote which supports his character is,
"In a fit of anger, he beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence," in this quote it shows that he is even a criminal and has not learned from his lesson as he continues to harass and attack people. This sentence introduces Dr Roylott as a unlawful, therefore he is easily a suspect as his bad history reflects his bad character. It also shows in the story that she did not have a happy life living with her stepfather as he was not a very pleasant man.
As a detective he deduces who killed Julia, he works it out by studying all the facts he has got, he asks many questions to uncover more clues and to crack the mystery,
"I believe Mr Holmes you already made up your mind". This suggests that Sherlock Holmes after gathering the information has decided who is tom blame and knows what to expect, this creates mystery and tension because this again has engaged the reader as if Sherlock has come to a conclusion using the clues and information then they could also solve it, this makes them read on because if they have an answer in mind, they want to read on to find the truth. Helen explains the mysterious death, in such depth; this creates tension because the reader wants to know how all the clues can be linked up to solve the mystery. Sherlock asks questions about the bell rope and the saucer of milk, this creates tensions as it hints to the reader that these clues are somehow have a connection to the mystery as he is interested in these objects for a reason.
Doyle builds tensions through Dr Roylott as he is portrayed as the villain from the beginning, as Helen is describing him,
"a series of disgraceful brawls took place...until at last he became the terror of the village..." this sentence creates more tensions as he is represented as the bad character, however the gypsies are also mentioned in the story, there is also a light chance they may be to blame as they are stereotyped as people who are ill mannered and have no respect and also there are many clues linked to the gypsies being the villain,
"Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people. I do not know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjectives which she used". This quote adds mystery as the gypsies also fit the character of the villain, ill mannered, violent and also fit in the clues.
Dr Roylott is portrayed also as an unattractive man,
"a large face seared with a thousand wrinkles and marked with every evil passion was turned from one the other of us while his deepset blue eyes and his high thin fleshless nose gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey", this sentence refer to him as ugly, this reflects his behaviour as he has not got the best personality and also is being described to an animal, a prey is associated with fierce and a negative creature. Dr Roylott is shown as such a ferocious person with such bad characteristics, it would be almost as if 'his character and appearances fitted the crime', however even if Dr Roylott is the villain, the reader is more engaged to the story as they still have questions unanswered, what is the speckled band? If Dr Roylott killed Julia, what is the reason?, and the most important and infamous question in the story, how was she killed?
The resemblance to a fierce old prey is used this makes Dr Roylott look like an evil person as preys are associated and linked with negative feelings and imagery, it also says,
"A thousand wrinkles and marked with every evil passion, burned yellow with the sun", this description makes him appear old but yet fierce at the same time. It says in the sentence that his face is marked with every evil passion; this may be a hint from Doyle as only as an evil person would carry out such an evil act.
The description affects the reader as he is portrayed as a stereotypical villain throughout the story. This creates tension and mystery as he is revealed as such a violent and aggressive man, there is a fear towards him as he has an 'uncontrollable temper' which is shown throughout the story, and this causes the reader to be uncomfortable as he is still on the loose and therefore could easily harm Helen.
Doyle uses language to create mystery and tension through the story by Sherlock asking questions, which make the reader think how the questions are relevant to the mystery.
"Was your sister dressed?" this creates tension as the readers mind will immediately start wondering how this question will makes Holmes any closer to solving the mystery.
Doyle also creates tension in this quote,
"and what conclusion did the coroner come to?"
He investigated the case with great care..." this creates mystery as even the coroner found the death as a mystery, this makes the reader have hope in Holmes to find out and succeed, also this quote continues by saying all entrances to Julia's room was locked or shut therefore her death must have been caused by something or someone in her room, but the mystery still remains, what got in to her room and how it entered the room?
In the story gypsies play a part, were there gypsies in the plantation at this time? This quote shows that there is a small possibility the gypsies could be to blame, as they have an infamous character and attitude throughout the Victorian times and the story.
Also the title 'the adventure of the speckled band' and how could this relate to the mystery. Holmes figured out that Dr Roylott is also violent towards Helen,
"Five little livid spots the marks of four fingers and a thumb were printed upon the white wrist" this shows Helen is trying not to reveal Dr Roylott as a bad person, this may show that maybe in her mind Julia may know inside her that her step father is to blame however does not want to face the facts that he fits the perfect villain. Also the people Dr Roylott gets along with are the gypsies, this may show the reader his personality as he gets along with low class, bad mannered people, this may reflect his character.
"he had no friends at all save the wandering gypsies", quote shows that he is unpleasant to anyone either, he gets along with gypsies , gypsies re associated with ill mannered and rude behaviour and have got a bad label in society in the Victorian time and in the modern day society.
Doyle adds repetition on the clues as it adds emphasis also he may use repetition to give the reader that the clue he is repeating has an importance to the story. He repeats to Helen the importance of how he needs to know the full details.
Helen's speech includes a variety of descriptive writing.
"there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified women," this quote adds tension as Julia screamed before her death therefore something must have caused her to scream.
"I seemed to hear a low whistle", this quote adds tension as the reader has no clue what this whistle could be but is definitely linked to the mystery, an also the metal clanging sound causes tension as the reader cannot suspect how the noises intervene with the death.
"Her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help", in this sentence it uses a sense of imagery as you can imagine what state Julia is in, and the tension gets built as the reader is eager to find out how did she end up in such a dreadful state.
"She stabbed her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor's room", this sentence is a big clue that her death is obviously related to Dr Roylott's room or she would never have pointed towards his room.
When Dr Roylott is inspecting the room, this has a great importance to the story as this part of the story slowly unveils the important clues to solve the mystery. When Holmes is inspecting the room he finds out about the ventilator and wonders if this links with Julia's death. He works out that Dr Roylott has a cheetah living in his room as there is a saucer of milk and a leash.
The part of the story where the reader fears fro Helen is when she returns home after visiting Sherlock Holmes, the reader is informed about Dr Roylott's anger and are worried what Dr Roylott may do to Helen when she returns home.
Towards the end of the story the mystery is solved, Dr Roylott had been training the deadliest snake in India to climb through the ventilator and to return when hearing a whistling noise. The speckled band relates to the snake as the snake had a 'particular yellow band with brownish speckles'. At the end of the story the reader feels relieved that Dr Roylott has been caught and also that he is dead, so he cannot cause any more trouble to anyone the villagers or any more distress to Helen. This is a typical ending as the villain is caught and is dead, therefore cannot continue to cause any more misery.
Thahmeena Miah English Miss Limb