Explore the points of comparison and differences between Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and Rendell’s “Bloodlines” – Wider Reading
This document was downloaded from Coursework.Info - The UK's Coursework Database
Click here to visit Courswork.Info
Explore the points of comparison and differences between Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and Rendell's "Bloodlines" - Wider Reading
The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bloodlines by Ruth Rendell diverge in a number of ways. These two stories were written at different times during history. The Adventure of the Speckled Band was written in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth century, where as Bloodlines was written in the mid to late nineteenth century. These two stories are set about one hundred years apart. The differences in the stories can be compared in the following ways:
The character and method of the detectives in each short story are not the same. In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes is the detective and Dr. Watson is his accomplice. Holmes has appeared in many of Conan Doyle's previous works of literature. He comes across to the reader as mysterious and clever. He is regarded as mysterious due to his alleged brown cape and hat. This vision of him makes the reader think that he likes to keep things to himself (which he does). He is quiet when he is not absorbed in a case, and he is calm and collected for the majority of the time. He rarely loses his temper throughout the whole of the story. Sherlock Holmes is also delineated as extremely clever in the way he thinks and acts. He has meritorious analytical and observatory skills. One can perceive these skills very early on in the story. "... I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left glove... you had a good drive in a dogcart, along heavy roads, before you reached the station." From the quote, one can see that Holmes uses ratiocinative skills to come to that conclusion.
Holmes works alone and does not share the information he has achieved until he is sure that it is true. From this, one can see that Holmes has pride in his work. This can be seen from the following, located at the very end of the story. "I had come to these conclusions before I had entered this room..." The fact that Watson is telling the story keeps the reader in suspense. Due to the fact that Holmes doesn't share his clues with anyone else, not even Watson causes tension and suspense and it makes the reader become even more submersed into the story.
Sherlock Holmes comes across as quite a strong character. From the following taken from the narrative, Holmes demonstrates his strength: "... he picked up the steel poker and, with sudden effort, straightened it out again." One can also tell that Holmes is a very placid and collected character because when Dr. Roylott confronted him, he remained composed and dignified in front of the erratic Dr. Roylott. Holmes showed that Dr. Roylott did not intimidate him by perplexing him. The following demonstrates this:
"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well..."
"Ha! You put me off, do you?..."
Here, Holmes is demonstrating his superiority, to the reader. He shows no remorse in doing so. When Holmes straightens out the poker, he is effectively insinuating that he is just as good as Dr. Roylott, possibly even more so. He is also proving that he has equal physical strength.
Holmes tells Watson after his interlude with Dr. Roylott that he does not wish to be associated with the police. "Fancy his [Dr. Roylott's] insolence to confound me with the official detective force!..." Again, this shows that he thinks he is "better" than the police as he is implicitly rude to them here. We can see that Holmes enjoys working independently from the following (at the beginning of the story): "As to reward, my profession is its own reward..." This shows the reader that Holmes is only a detective because he enjoys the occupation. It is also saying ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Holmes tells Watson after his interlude with Dr. Roylott that he does not wish to be associated with the police. "Fancy his [Dr. Roylott's] insolence to confound me with the official detective force!..." Again, this shows that he thinks he is "better" than the police as he is implicitly rude to them here. We can see that Holmes enjoys working independently from the following (at the beginning of the story): "As to reward, my profession is its own reward..." This shows the reader that Holmes is only a detective because he enjoys the occupation. It is also saying that Holmes is not concerned about money.
On the other hand, Bloodlines by Ruth Rendell is dissimilar in terms of the character and method of the detectives. In Bloodlines, there are two detectives involved. Only one main detective features in the story and that is Wexford, but the other detective, Burden, has his own place in the story as well. Wexford comes across to the reader as very persistent. He is very qualified in his job and gets on with it. One can see that he does so right at the beginning of the play when he is interviewing Arlene Heddon. "You won't mind if I come back in a day or two and we'll have another talk." It is Wexford that takes charge throughout the story, and he voices his opinion the most. Wexford does have a personality, but Rendell doesn't show it to the readers. He does not reveal much information about himself throughout the duration of the story. One can also see that Wexford is very competent. He realises from the clues in the facts that it was Carol Fox that had killed Tom. The following is taken from the narrative towards the end of the story. "From those pictures he suddenly knew who had killed Tom Peterlee and why." This is the only time in the story in which the narrative withholds information about what Wexford thinks. It is Wexford that puts all the clues together to solve the crime.
Burden, the other detective, is not really involved in the murder of Tom Peterlee, but he helps Wexford out. This act shows the reader that Wexford and Burden are quite close acquaintances. Burden is a very busy man and he has other things to do. The reason why Burden does not appear to be on the same level as Wexford is because he is working on a different case to Wexford. He is very judgemental when he meets Arlene, he comments about her and he says that: "Intelligent girls don't live in caravans with married welders." This quote shows that although Burden's views are very set and prejudiced, he is still observant enough to see Arlene's intelligence.
Wexford and Burden both have stable marriages and family backgrounds. Wexford is married to Dora, and Burden to Jenny. We can see that the two couples are on good terms with each other as the two police officers often go out for drinks together and are on good terms with each other. Also, we know from the text that their wives are friends with each other, which shows that their relationships aren't just a professional one.
The relationships between the two sets of detectives (Holmes, Watson, Wexford and Burden) are different. In The Adventure of the Speckled Band Holmes is considered as the main character. He is the potentate, whilst Watson plays the role of his "faithful sidekick." From all of Conan Doyle's past works involving Sherlock Holmes, we see that Watson is not as clever as Holmes and this one is clearly no exception. Watson is actually very smart, but when he is working alongside Homes, Holmes' intelligence overshadows his. Although Watson is not working on the same level as Holmes, one can see that they are extremely close. This closeness between the two characters can be seen from the fact that Holmes and Watson are living on the same premises. Watson's purpose is partly as a dramatic device in which he is the narrator. This helps to keep the suspense because Holmes doesn't tell Watson anything he discovered. Although Watson is the narrator, he doesn't dominate the narrative and we can see that Holmes is the leader and he takes control.
In Bloodlines, as mentioned before, Wexford and Burden's relationship is mostly a professional one although they are friendly enough towards each other to go out for drinks with each other. As said before, Wexford and Burden do not work together, where as Holmes and Watson do in the stories. Due to that fact, we cannot really compare the relationships of Wexford and Burden's with that of Holmes and Watson's. Although Burden is a police officer, he does not work with Wexford. Burden's opinions about characters and situations underline Rendell's view of society.
The crime and the way the facts are revealed to the reader are different in the two stories even though they are both murder crimes. In The Adventure of the Speckled Band the reader can tell who had committed the crime, but not how it was done. On the other hand, in Bloodlines, one knows how the murder was accomplished, but not who had done it. Both of the crimes involved in the two stories are murders and both stories feature stepfathers and money. In The Adventure of the Speckled Band, it is the stepfather that commits the crime. Dr. Roylott then dies at the end of the story. In Bloodlines the stepfather is already dead. Both of these men are portrayed as the enemies as Dr. Roylott killed Julia Stoner and he had planned to kill her sister, Helen Stoner as well. The reader finds out in the end of Bloodlines that Tom Peterlee was murdered by Carol Fox (his mistress), but he is also considered a bad character as he abused his wife badly. In both stories, we see that there are a lot of violence and brutality, all involving women.
In the Holmes story, the reader has been given enough facts to determine who had killed Julia Stoner, but the method of the murder was not clear. Holmes knew how the crime was done but because the story is a first person narrative, from Watson's perspective, we did not find out until the end when Holmes tells Watson this. Bloodlines is different because the narrative is an omniscient one, and it tells the reader what is going on, but the person that had committed the crime is not revealed until the very end.
The time and the location of The Adventure of the Speckled Band allow Dr. Roylott to be more calculating and devious about the way he commits the crime. The murder in Bloodlines was more of a spontaneous reaction to the events that precede it. The murderer in the first story premeditated the murder very carefully and the story was started before a second murder took place. The fact that Holmes was trying to prevent a second murder, without the reader actually acknowledging it creates more tension and suspense in the story. In Bloodlines, the detectives were investigating a crime that has already taken place, instead of trying to prevent another murder from taking place (like in The Adventure of the Speckled Band). This gives the story less tension and it is less dramatic.
The stories reflect the time in which they are set through superficial details as well as details with more profundity in them. The Adventure of the Speckled Band was set in the 19th century; this can be seen in a number of ways. In the opening paragraphs of the story, the narrative actually said: "It was early in the year '83 [1883]..." Holmes pointed out to Helen Stoner that she had ridden in a dogcart, but now they don't exist anymore. The language in which the story is presented in is very formal and nobody talks like that anymore. The story suggests that quite a lot of people lived in India at that time. "When Dr. Roylott was in India..." This is evidence that India was still a part of the British Empire and it also suggests that the story was set in the 19th century. The difference in monetary values was mentioned in the story as well. One thousand pounds is hardly worth calling a fortune now but it was considered as quite a sum of money in the 19th century. The way that the story portrayed women as inferior to men also shows the reader that the story was set in the 19th century. Helen Stoner and her sister's money was placed in the trust of her stepfather until marriage illustrates to the reader that women were regarded as inferior to men at that time. The sentences in The Adventure of the Speckled Band tend to be longer and there are a high number of clauses in the sentences.
In Bloodlines, you can tell that it was set in the 20th century due to the following articles; the ram raids involved the stealing of electronic goods. Gary was involved in these ram raids and he drove a land rover. Wexford is known to the community of people in the story as a policeofficer indicating that men and women then had more or less of an equal standing in society. The reader is aware that there are more technologies discovered in Bloodlines due to superficial details as microwaves, Dictaphones and cell phones. There is also a difference in morality. In the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries it was not possible for a girl to leave home at the age of seventeen. In Bloodlines, one sees Arlene Heddon living in a caravan with Gary Wyatt, whom is married with children. From here you can see the differences in moralities between the two time settings within the stories.
The two stories also different in many other ways, not mentioned above. Bloodlines focuses mainly on a community of people rather than individual characters. Within this community, you can see that the author, Ruth Rendell, not only focuses on the murder itself, but also on aspects of society. She concentrates on the position of women, how women are abused, family life within the community and shifting relationships. She also centralises on the closeness of people within a community.
Another main difference in the stories is that Sherlock Holmes does his job because he enjoys doing it. He is not really bothered about payment. He shows the reader this when he says: "...you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which suits you best." Holmes is insulted if anyone tries to connect him to the police in anyway. One the other hand, in Bloodlines, Wexford and Burden are policemen by profession and they get paid to do their job. The Adventure of the Speckled Band has fewer characters so we get into more depth with the characters and we get to know them better, this means that the reader can see how Holmes and Watson's relationship is like. As mentioned before, Bloodlines point of focuses is on a whole community and how they behave towards each other.
The Adventure of the Speckled Band does not show women's status that clearly. It is vague as to how women are in society. Helen Stoner's own money is placed in the trust of her stepfather, which shows that women are regarded as subordinate to men (as stated before). Bloodlines on the other hand show us clearly how women are treated in society. Heather Peterlee is abused and beaten in the story when Tom Peterlee was still alive. What is so ironic is that Carol Fox murdered Tom and Heather and Carol are providing alibis for each other all the way through the story. This fact demonstrates that women can be just as strong as men. The formality of the two texts is also different. This is due to the fact that they were set about a century apart. The dialogue in Bloodlines is casual and colloquial. This does not necessarily show that people are close to each other, but people in the 20th century talk to each other in a generally less formal way.
To come to a conclusion, one can say that two stories can be similar in genre, length and other superficial points, yet quite different as a whole. Prime examples of this are the deviation in the setting, as well as the sense of morals, mainly due to the time period each story was set in. Other than that, both are unmistakably mystery novels, and contain similar themes such as suspense, puzzles, and a strong anticipation for the conclusion of the story. These motifs are all present in both The Adventure of the Speckled Band and Bloodlines. One can see that although they are both crime genre stories, they have many differences as well as similarities in characters, themes, and setting. However, both share the same conclusion, where the main character eventually solves the enigma of the case, and justice is finally done.
This document was downloaded from Coursework.Info - The UK's Coursework Database
Click here to visit Coursework.Info/
Xue Chen 10Y Tuesday 2nd January 2001
