This essay will examine how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle successfully creates a suitable atmosphere for a detective story. It will closely analyse a chapter from The Hound of Baskervilles, looking at character, setting and language.
In the novel The Hound of Baskervilles there are a lot of characters who add to the sense of mystery. One example is Selsdon, the convict, who is described as “a fiendish man”, which shows that Selsdon was someone who was a dangerous threat to the people: “like a wild beast”. In addition to this, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle seems to be suggesting that he could be a possible suspect to the newest crime.
The Barrymores are the Baskerville family’s servants. Mrs Barrymore, the housekeeper, discreetly adds to the sense of mystery, as she is delineated as “the figure of a woman” who “was silhouetted against the yellow light of the hall. This introduces Mrs Barrymore as a person who cannot be seen clearly and so appears suspicious. In addition, the reader might conclude that she has something to hide.
Also, Mr Barrymore is another character who adds to the sense of mystery, which is described as “a tall man” who “had stepped from the shadow of the porch”. This proposes that the butler was a secretive person. By reading this description, the reader might think that he also has something to hide, or maybe he was connected to the crime.
At the beginning of the novel, when Sir Henry arrives in London, there is a bearded stranger following his every move. Mr Barrymore is therefore presented as a red herring because he is also a dark bearded man and his quiet manner, appears as a secretive and mysterious man.
We are shown Watson and Sir Henry’s fear of Baskerville Hall, as Sir Henry says “it isn’t a very cheerful place”. This shows that the place is not very welcoming and they don’t feel comfortable there. The reader can conclude that the setting is perfect for a gothic novel, as it is very mysterious, gloomy and sinister.
The setting in The Hound of Baskervilles is typical of a gothic novel and suitable for a murder-mystery because it is mysterious, dark, dreary and dull.
Watson describes the moorlands as “sinister hills”, and he also comments on the “gloomy curve of the moor”, this shows us that Watson seems to be scared of the place. The readers might conclude that the place is in such a horrible state like that, because of the recent crimes which might have happened around there, causing to people to leave the area looking sinister, isolated and vague.
The house is described as “a ghost at the farther end”, which indicates the house looks very creepy and as Sir Henry himself said “it’s enough to scare any man”. After reading these quotes the reader might be expecting something to happen in the house, as it seems like a perfect setting for a crime.
An adjective is a word whose main role is to a or , giving more information about the noun or pronoun's referent, and therefore create tension. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle describes the moors, he firstly introduces it as “well-hedged”, “lush” and “luxuriant” making the place sound very well taken care of, therefore happy and bright. The audience understands that it is a very pleasant place to be at, from that initial description, and Dr Watson and Sir Henry enjoyed their first sight of it. However, as they follow on with their journey, the words used to describe the moors change from positive to negatives adjectives like “gray” and “melancholy”. This shows how their concept of the moors changed as they could see it in more details.
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes about what is happening on the moors, he uses phrases like “curved upward on either side of us”, “the long gloomy curve of the moor” and “broken by jagged and sinister hills”. The words “gloomy”, “broken” and “sinister” make the descriptions quite negative, and make the moors seem really scary and shuddery.
A simile is a comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word "like" or "as". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses similes to make a phrase more descriptive and detailed. One example of a simile is “hung like a black canopy above him”. The canopy is used to make it sound frightening; to the sense of having something black and dark over your head. This simile helps the author portray a gothic setting, using shadows and darkness.
Metaphors are comparisons that show how two things that are not alike in most ways are similar in one important way. Metaphors are a way to describe something. Authors use them to make their writing more interesting or entertaining. An example of a metaphor is “…in a few minutes we were flying swiftly down the broad, white road”. This describes how fast their car was going, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used the word “flying” to exaggerate the phrase. The audience will be able to get a mind image of what that scene looked like, and that is what I think the writer was aiming for.
To conclude this essay, The Hound of Baskervilles is a great example of a murder-detective mystery, thanks to the setting created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; the mysterious characters, which make the mystery of the murderer even more interesting, and it makes it hard for you to be able to stop reading, and also, the language he used to make the novel more descriptive and so the audience would read it and feel like they were in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s mind. When he describes the Baskerville Hall and its surroundings, he uses a very descriptive and detailed language, including similes, metaphors and a change from positive to negative words (and vice-versa). The main impression that the characters got from the Baskerville Hall was that it was “enough to scare any man”. This description helps the novel become even more mysterious and suspicious, and therefore meaning that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was able to achieve his aim of creating a suitable atmosphere for a murder-detective novel.
