Analyse the ways in which Conan Doyle uses variety of plot, setting and mood to add interest to the stories we have studied

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Sam Hennessy 10E Sherlock Holmes Coursework English

“Analyse the ways in which Conan Doyle uses variety of plot, setting and mood to add interest to the stories we have studied”

In this Essay I will be analysing the ways in which Conan Doyle uses a variety of plot, setting and mood to add interest to the four Sherlock Holmes stories I have studied. The Speckled Band, the Man with the Twisted Lip, the Blue Carbuncle and the Musgrave Ritual are the four stories which I have studied.

A classic Sherlock Holmes story has a few main ingredients; usually they consist of a crime or attempted crime, committed by a clever criminal and a helpless victim who, at the start of the story explains the problem to Holmes in Baker Street. After this Holmes is usually takes a wrong turn in solving the crime and admits that he made a mistake. Lastly, he then seems to work out the solution to the crime before anyone else can and explains to Watson how the crime unfolded.

The Man with the Twisted Lip, the Blue Carbuncle and the Musgrave Ritual all are unique stories because they don’t follow the ‘classic’ Sherlock Holmes structure. The Speckled Band is an example of a classic Sherlock Holmes story because it starts with a crime (murder of Helen Stoner’s sister) and a helpless victim (Helen Stoner) who comes to Baker Street to ask Holmes for help. The criminal in this story is Dr Roylott who is Helen Stoner’s stepfather and he wanted the Stoners family money, but he could only get it by not having his stepdaughters marry. He had killed (with a swamp adder) Helen Stoner’s sister for this reason. Holmes solves the crime by linking the fact that a new ventilator had just been put in and soon after its inhabitant had died. He then remembered Dr Roylott’s obsession of exotic animals and goes into Dr Roylott’s room after having seen the signal from Stoner. When Holmes and Watson enter the Manor Doyle creates an amassment of suspense by having Watson speak in whispers, ‘My God!” I whispered, “did you see it?’. This creates suspense because of the fact that there are many dangerous creatures roaming freely about the manor, it also makes us wonder what Watson saw.

 In Contrast to The Speckled Band, the Man with the Twisted Lip varies from the usual structure of a Sherlock Holmes story. Usually, a distressed victim appears at baker Street and explains the situation to Holmes. In this particular story we are deceived by the first sentence and believe that this story will be about a man called Isa Whitney. ‘Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney DD, principal of the theological college of St George’s, was much addicted to opium’. This is a red herring because it doesn’t mention the victim till Holmes talks to Watson about the real situation. It also varies from a classic Holmes story because no crime is committed, we are led to believe that Mr Neville St Clair has been murdered by the Lascar or by a man called Hugh Boone. But it turns out that Mr Neville St Clair is Hugh Boone and disguises himself as a beggar and gets quite a lot of money for it!

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‘If I am Mr Neville St Clair, then it is obvious that no crime has been committed’. This shows us that no crime has been committed because Mr Neville St Clair couldn’t have killed himself. Holmes solves this crime quite easily after some thought by washing, ‘Hugh Boones’ face. Suspense is formulated when Mr Neville St Clair is spotted at the window of the opium den by his wife. ‘Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the steps’, rushed is the key word here because it shows she knows something is wrong and the readers are intrigued ...

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