Coursework Alex Harris
How does Arthur Conan Doyle Manipulate the Generic Conventions
of the Genre and Audiences Expectations Deliver the Moral
Messages That Victorian Society Would Have Expected?
“The Adventure of the speckled band” and “The Man with the twisted lip” were both written by Arthur Conan Doyle, both told in first person by Doctor Watson and the main character was Sherlock Holmes who solved mysteries as a hobby. The stories were writes at the turn of the 1900’s.
The stories were first available in 1887. The Sherlock Holmes murder mystery investigations were not initially first published in books, they were originally shown in serial form in the strand magazine. A lot of stories where publishes so that the audience were familiar with the Holmes investigation techniques, now they new what to expect of the generic conventions.
The generic expectations of a murder mystery are crime which is usually a committed murder, suicide or a suspicious death. A villain who is usually a male, strong, aggressive type, with a motive to kill someone and will gain something from the death of the victim, maybe revenge or financial gain; Doctor Roylott, wanting to kill her step daughter because she stood to inherit money off her wealthy mother. A typical victim is a weak, vulnerable woman who is easily tricked. The method chosen would be a sinister way of committing the crime. Investigation, providing the audience with a detective and a trustworthy sidekick unravels the clues to find out whom and why.
