In ‘The Adventure Of The Speckled Band the level of suspense increases on pages 282 and 283, where Holmes and Watson are about to uncover the truth about the ‘speckled band’. The tension really begins to build when Holmes and Watson are at the scene of the crime about to solve it. Holmes commands Watson not to go to sleep as his ‘very life may depend on it’, and this creates an element of urgency and fear. He instructs Watson to sit in the chair and informs him that he will be on the bed. In the paragraphs that follow there is an effective use of detail. Holmes and Watson sit in ‘absolute darkness’, unsure of what is to come and left to rely on other sense apart from sight, emphasising smell and hearing. Setting the scene in darkness makes it more alarming and nervy, particularly since it is described in first person narration through Watson. To show that lots of time is passing by Arthur Conan Doyle slows the writing down by slowing down events, for example when the parish clock ‘boomed out every quarter of an hour’, Watson’s description of the quarter hours passing by is very slowed down: ‘twelve o’clock, and one, and two, and three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall’ – the writing is slowed down with the use of commas and the word ‘and’. After this the writing suddenly speeds up when the action is taking place, and the action is emphasised by the use of appropriate adverbs and verbs, such as ‘suddenly’, ‘sprung’ and ‘seized’. By this point the tension is at boiling point but suddenly, as quickly as it started, the action stops and the truth is uncovered.
Another very good example of suspense is in ‘The Red-Headed League’, just before the main resolution is about to take place. Again, they are left to sit in ‘absolute darkness’, emphasising their use of other senses, for example ‘the smell of metal’ and ‘the cold, dank air of the vault’. Again the writing is slowed down, this time by a long description by Watson of the atmosphere and what he was feeling and experiencing – ‘My limbs were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position’. Then the word ‘suddenly’ emphasises a sudden change in the surroundings and although the writing doesn’t really speed up in the next paragraph the tension and feeling of suspense seems to increase by something happening. The use of language is effective with powerful words emphasising the proceedings, like when Watson sees a ‘lurid spark’. The word ‘gash’ is used and it makes the action seem forceful, and when the ‘writhing fingers’ appear from the ground it seems eerie and surreal. This descriptive writing makes the tension build up to a climax until Sherlock Holmes springs out from his hiding place and ‘seized the intruder by the collar’, proving his clever theory correct. After this the writing slows down again as safety is ensured.
One more final example of suspense is from ‘Silver Blaze’, where Holmes and Watson are following the trail of the horse. On page 18 in the final paragraph the atmosphere starts out very calmly with a description of the sunset. From here on Holmes and Watson are speculating where the horse has gone, and when they eventually spot the horses tracks the tension begins to build because something has suddenly happened, shown by Watson’s description of Holmes’s excitement at finding the horses tracks: ‘I heard him give a shout and saw him waving his hand to me’. However, it proceeds quite calmly for a while as they are following the footprints. I think that the most tension in this part of the story is when Holmes has spoken to the trainer who stole the horse, ‘Shall we argue about it here in public, or talk it over in your parlour?’ and Watson, like the reader, is ignorant in regard to what has happened, which is suspenseful but also quite irritating as we have now been given all of the clues but still can’t work out what has happened. However, all is revealed when Watson asks ‘He has the horse, then?’ and Holmes explains to him what has happened.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s style of writing is extremely sophisticated, witty, puzzling and successful. Although the structure of the stories is very similar, the storylines differ immensely and despite using the same technique of structure throughout, his stories do not become boring. In conclusion, his techniques of creating suspense are effective, with tension being built into some sections and into the structure of the stories and only broken at the end, and this suspense in his stories makes them interesting and fun to read.
