Holmes and Watson discuss the stick for most of the first chapter. This builds suspense further and the audience want to know more about the stick and also because they know that the plot is being kept from then. “Because this stick thought originally a very handsome one” this make the reader want some answers and so builds suspense.
There is very obvious tension between Watson and Holmes. For example, when Watson conveys his thoughts about the stick, Holmes responds with, ‘Really, Watson you do excel yourself, said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette’. Holmes is mocking Watson and making him seem inferior. ‘Chairing Cross Hospital’ is mentioned several times in chapter 1. This was a real hospital and so shows cultural context and puts a vivid setting in the mind of the reader. It also makes the story seem more realistic.
Later on in chapter 1, the owner of the walking stick returns to the house of Holmes and Watson. The owner sits down and starts rolling tobacco, he is described as having “long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.’ This shows that the visitor is nervous about something and this builds suspense as it makes the audience wonder why he is nervous.
The owner of the stick is revealed to be Dr Mortimer, who received the stick for services to Charing Cross Hospital. Whilst Holmes and Dr Mortimer are talking, Dr Mortimer calls Holmes “the second highest expert in Europe.” Holmes is deeply insulted by the insinuation that he is not the best at what he does. “Indeed sir! May I inquire who has the honour to be the first?” Holmes says this sarcastically and this shows that he believes he is Europe’s top expert. This builds suspense as it leads the audience to believe that this is the first of many disagreements between the two characters.
The opening line in chapter 2 is Dr James Mortimer saying “I have in my pocket a manuscript”. This engages the reader as they want to know what the manuscript contains, but they are made to wait for several pages before the content of the manuscript is revealed. This waiting builds suspense as the audience desperately wants to know what the manuscript contains. It then goes on to mention some dates, ‘I put that at 1730’ and ‘the exact date is 1742’. These are key dates and they also make the manuscript and the novel more factual and therefore more realistic.
Charles Baskerville is a ‘Sir’, a member of the English aristocracy and this would immediately suggest a certain type of person to the reader and place the character in a context, such as a fairly high class and respected person with no doubt a lot of money. In 1902 the English class system was much more rigid than today. While describing the manuscript Mortimer says “yes it is a statement of a certain legend which runs in the Baskerville family”. The word ‘legend’ makes it seem more believable, the word gives it more credibility, legendary things are often quite old and mysterious, and so this is also building up suspense and makes the reader want to read on to find out what the legend is about.
Doyle also gives cultural context through how the men treated women at the time of the story. The manuscript says, ‘when they had brought her to the hall the maiden was placed in an upper chamber’. This implies that the women were owned by the men and that men could do anything they wanted to women and it would be socially accepted. It shows that the men had a lot more social and political power. Back in 1902, when people were reading this, it would be seen as normal. However, to modern day readers it would be seen as disgraceful and would not be socially accepted.
When Hugo finds out the women has escaped, ‘so found the cage empty and the bird escaped’, he gets extremely angry and wants immediate revenge. It says ‘Then it would have seem, he became as one that hath a devil, for rushing down the stairs into the dining hall.’ England was a very religious place in 1902, and to use the word devil would have been the worst word you could possibly use to describe someone. This builds suspense as it shows how angry he is. Hugo then orders for the hounds to be put on the women. This builds suspense further because it shows that Hugo will do anything to get the women back, dead or alive. ‘Everything was now in uproar, some calling for their pistols, some for their horses, and some for another flask of wine.’ This again shows the extreme lengths that the men will do to recapture the woman. It is building up suspense because the men are drunk and have pistols, you realise that anything could happen.
‘But soon their skins turned cold, for there came a sound of galloping across the moor, and the black mare, dabbled with white froth, went past with trailing bridle and empty saddle.’ This line builds up a lot of suspense because these men have to now go where this horse has come from, knowing that its owner has either been knocked off the horse or killed or the horse has run away because of fear of something, and we know the horse has been running quickly because it says it was galloping and its mouth was frothing. The chosen language also creates a horrible atmosphere and creates tension and suspense, when words like ‘dabbled with white froth’. The author hasn’t just said there was white froth he has used the word dabbles to create more of an image in the readers head.
When the men on horses find the hounds they are describes as, ‘Whimpering in a cluster at the head of a deep dip.’ Hounds are sometimes used to chase foxes, they have also been described a ‘fearless’ dogs. So for a pack of these dogs to be whimpering on the floor, whatever they are scared of must be extremely terrifying. This is all building up suspense, first the horse was scared, now a pack of hounds, so you know something big is about to happen.
‘The moon was shining bright upon the clearing’ Moonlight is always used to shows mysterious goings on and create an eerie atmosphere. This is exactly the effect the author wants to have on its readers, when they know there is a full shining moon he wants them to think of all these mysterious things, also because of the title of the novel, you immediately link full moon with the hound so you know something is about to happen. This creates a lot more suspense.
‘But it was not the sight of her body, nor yet was it that of the body of Hugo Baskerville lying near her, which raised the hair upon the heads of these three dare-devil roisters, but it was that, standing over Hugo, and plucking at his throat, there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon’ This is a very long and dramatic sentence, it is used mainly for suspense and also to shock and scare the reader. Another effect this very long sentence has is that after a part or the hound is described there is a comer; this allows the reader to picture what had been described so at the end of the sentence you get this picture in your head of what the Hound looks like.
It then goes on to say ‘it turned its blazing eyes and dripping jaws upon them, the three shirked with fear and rode for dear life, still screaming, across the moor. One, it is said, died that very night of what he had seen, and the other twain were broken men for the rest if their days.’ This shows how horrific the beast must be if just seeing it can kill you, or send you mad. Harsh words such as blazing, dripping, fear and screaming are used to again create an image in the readers head, all of these words can also be associated with death or suffering, they are also quite harsh, not very nice words normally associated with horrible things.
Chapter 2 ends with ‘Mr Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!’ This leaves the chapter on a cliff hanger, the novel was original brought out in papers, one chapter each week. So this would make the reader want to buy the next chapter to find out how the story finishes. It is also a good way of building up suspense because a reader would have to wait a whole week to find out what happened and in this time they would be desperate to know what was going to happen and why the footprints were there.
David Locke
