Helen Stoner tells the reader about the mysterious events that happened to her sister, this story within a story adds much tension to the start of “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.” Helen Stoner’s recounts of her sisters death adds tension to the story because it is scary can see this when it says “the wind was howling,” and “There burst forth a wild scream of a terrifies woman.” this shows us that it was a very windy and stormy night and Julia was very scared and was panicking when she died. Conan Doyle adds tension to the story with his description of Helen Stoner’s appearance she is described as “A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled,” and “shivering,” but she says “it is not the cold witch makes me shiver……it is fear, Mr. Holmes it is terror,” her face was in a “ pitiable state of agitation ,” and “all drawn and grey with restless frightened eyes like those of some hunted animal,” witch gives the impression that someone has died and that Helen Stoner is terrified and in danger also it makes the reader want to know more and in doing so raises tension.
In comparison to the description of Helen Stoner and Dr. Roylott Sherlock Holmes is described as speaking “soothingly,” and “logically,” also as being calm, collected and relaxed this adds tension because he is different to the other characters, because he is very professional and cunning but they are, in the case of Helen Stoner terrified and agitated whereas Dr. Roylott is angry, dangerous and suspicious.
The language used in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” adds tension because it is over 100 years old it was written in 1892 and it uses old words such as ”aperture” witch means ‘opening,’ and “dog-cart ” witch is ‘a cart with two seats placed back to back ’ these words raise tension more now than they did when the story was written because that was how they talked in the late 1800’s. the other way Doyle raises tension is by using powerful vocabulary such as “morose ” witch means ‘gloomy ’ and “scruples ” witch is an ‘uneasy feelings arising from conscience ’ . He also uses detailed descriptions and powerful similes suck as “restless frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal.” also the effective imagery, an example of this is “a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab.” imagery is describing something is like something else to give the reader a better picture of a setting or character, so using a ‘crab ‘ to describe the building makes it sound as if its closing in on the house and whoever is inside. Doyle writes the story as Dr. Watson many years after the event, by writing the story in the first person narrative it adds tension by making the reader feel as if it is a recount from a real event.
In conclusion Conan Doyle creates tension and suspense very successfully by using powerful descriptions of settings like Stoke Moran, when he says “a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab,” this is very affective imagery and a good simile. He also raises tension with the descriptions of the characters like Dr. Roylott, when he says “a large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, and marked with every evil passion.” Another way Doyle raises tension and suspense is with the plot because thought the story the tension is shifting up and down until the climax at Dr. Roylott’s death. Finally
In my opinion I think that Doyle, very successfully, created suspense and tension in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”
