It actually states good and evil in the quote but also it’s dramatic just like the book and it builds up tension because they’re waiting for something happen.
The first chapter is the foundation of the plot it begins with Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes investigating a walking stick that has been left behind from the night before. Interest is built up by Doctor Watson’s false impressions of the stick’s owner. Also the initial link with the investigation is made- Doctor Mortimer comes for Holmes’s help but why has he come all the way from Devon?
In chapter 1 there are many instances as to how Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle creates interest, tension and suspense.
For example when Dr Mortimer’s stick is left behind. Interest is being created because the reader may wonder for example why it has been left behind?
Tension is built up by Dr Watson’s incorrect conclusions:
“I am afraid that most of your conclusions were erroneous.”
Holmes says this to Watson when he investigates the walking stick. This creates tension because the reader is being led down one path and then another!
Suspense is shown in the way that Sir Conan-Doyle builds up evidence bit-by-bit from the stick that has been left behind. The first one being the initials CCH that Holmes works out to stand for the Charing X Hospital and the next few being the presentation of the stick, the stick being moved from the country to the town and the teeth marks on the stick seeming to be made by a fairly medium sized dog.
It is only at the end of the first chapter that the reader is pointed in the right direction as to what the mystery actually is, when Sherlock Holmes meets Dr Mortimer and finds out the nature of the problem.
In chapter 2 entitled ‘The Curse of the Baskervilles’ it seems that evil is more all pervading than good- in a manuscript dating back to 1742 Dr Mortimer reads out a legend regarding an ancestor of the Baskervilles family named Hugo Baskerville who was described as a ‘most wild, profane and godless man.’ It also says his companions were ‘idle and wicked.’ These men took against her will a ‘young maiden, being discrete and of good repute.’ and imprisoned her.
It seems that evil triumphs because in her escape she dies: “dead of fear and of fatigue.”
In his case Hugo becomes “as one that hath a devil, meaning that he can’t escape the curse.” The men who had witnessed what had happened to Hugo were broken men and an other one died that same night.
Imagery like “their skins turned cold” – tells the reader of the men’s fear, even the hound were “whimpering”. The creature that killed Hugo is described in frightening terns as if it’s a beast from hell.
“There stood a foul thing, a great black beast, shaped like a hound yet larger than any hound that ever mortal hound had ever mortal eye had rested upon”
It had ‘blazing eyes’ and ‘ dripping jaws’. This is terrifying and sends a shiver down the spine.
Reference is made to Exodus 20v5 in the Bible about God being a jealous God and punishing the 3rd and 4th generations for the evil committed in previous generations – which brings the legend to the present generation of Baskervilles. This shows that the Baskervilles can’t escape the curse.
The Arthur Conan-Doyle brings the legend up to date by referring to the recent mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Despite being an amiable and generous man Sir Charles dies it is thought of heart disease (according to the Devon county chronicle June 14th).
Then Dr Mortimer confides in Sherlock Holmes and tells him facts out of the public domain. This builds up the tension - this is what may really have happened.
Gradually Sir Arthur unfolds Sir Charles Baskerville’s fears of “some ghastly presence constantly haunting him”. The mystery and suspense depends when Dr Mortimer describes visiting Sir Charles’s body where he had died – no physical injury - but footprints . . . . . “ of a gigantic hound.” This leaves chapter 2 on a cliffhanger so it build up the suspense.
The tension is sustained in chapter 3 ‘The Problem’ in a number of ways.
Firstly, in the previous chapter – the account of the curse and Dr Mortimer’s description of what he saw when Sir Charles had died – Chapter 3 is linked to it by the reaction of Dr Watson:
“ A shudder passed through me.” Also that Dr Mortimer in describing what had happened was ‘deeply moved’ indicated how the events had affected him.
Secondly Sir Arthur uses extended sections of dialogue to develop interest and draw out information bit by bit so the reader is gradually informed about what Dr Mortimer observed through Sherlock Holmes cross examining him.
Thirdly, the gradual unveiling of what might have killed Sir Charles adds tension and suspense. It might be a ‘supernatural’ being – something therefore that doesn’t follow accepted patterns of behaviour and so it is difficult to solve the mystery. Dr Mortimer makes reference to the creature as a ‘demon’ It was “huge creature, luminous, ghastly and spectral” like an “apparition”, a “hell-hound” and that there is a “reign of terror” in the district – even ‘hard’ men are too frightened to cross the moor. To increase the tension Sherlock Holmes describes how enormous his task could be “ to take on the father of Evil himself would, perhaps, be too ambitious a task.” Tension and urgency is further increased when the reader is suddenly told that the new owner of Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry is only 1 ¼ hours away from arriving at Waterloo Station from Canada and he needs protecting. Further as the dialogue continues there is more tension implied in the remark that this diabolical agency could work it’s evil just as much in London as in Devonshire – the distant threat becomes immediate. Later in the chapter the description of the moor as lifeless and desolate where Baskerville Hall is and its proximity to a convict prison introduce more sinister details.
Finally there is a three-fold build up of interest and tension as Sherlock Holmes describes Sir Charles’ last moments. There is also a change of tack – Sherlock Holmes argues – could it have been someone rather that something and why did he appear to run from the house and not towards it?
Dartmoor is a good setting for this kind of story because of the description of the moor. The lower slopes of Dartmoor are spoken of as being eerie – “fantastic landscape in a dream.”
Negative words are used to describe the landscape when the house was reached it was described as “glimmering like a ghost” which shows a supernatural element. Further threats from the weather for example “ a cold wind swept down from the moor setting us shivering”. Stapleton also says that the moor is “ so vast, so barren, and so mysterious.”
The escaped convict that is loose on the moor adds to the feeling of anxiety. The book shows that he is not an ordinary convict but one that “would stick at nothing”. This is leading the reader to wonder if maybe he could be the killer.
Even the bright green areas of the moor are death traps – the peat can suck one under. Watson tells us about the sound of the wind:
“A long, low moan, indescribably sad, swept over the moor …. Like a melancholy, throbbing murmur…” This is showing a personification because the moor doesn’t really talk it’s just used to create suspense.
In chapter 9 the wind is mentioned again to increase the menacing atmosphere on the moor for example: “ a long deep mutter, then a rising howl and the sad moan as it died away.” This is showing almost human sounds of the wind this showing yet another supernatural element.
Watson likens visiting Dartmoor to going back to a distant time compared with modern London. One is always surrounded by the spirituality of the past including the graves of prehistoric people scattered all over the moor.
As the mystery reaches its climax and Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes go to Merripit House the reader is given a description of Dartmoor as having gloomy slopes and a huge lake of fog hangs over Grimpen Mire. In fact there is a danger of the fog spoiling their plans to ambush Stapleton before Sir Henry Baskerville is killed. The fog is described as a wreath (link with death) and Merripit House like a strange ship on a shadowy sea of fog. At the end of the mystery the moor itself is responsible for Stapleton’s death as the foul slime sucks him in.
At the end of the book as the motives become clearer the metaphor or the weather is used – the London fog is exchanged for the pure night air of Dartmoor!
Clues found in earlier chapters all link up and are explained by the end of the story. For example when Sir Henry’s shoe goes missing and no one can figure out why, by the end of the story it’s found in a bog and Holmes works out that Stapleton used it to encourage the hound to attack Sir Henry. Holmes also saw a link between the man with the beard who was stalking Sir Henry in London and Barrymore, Sir Charles’s butler who also has a beard but to test if Barrymore was in Devon not in London Holmes sent a telegram to see if he was the one stalking Sir Henry in London but the results came back as inconclusive as the boy who delivered it didn’t give it to Barrymore himself. But in the end it is revealed that it was actually wasn’t Barrymore it was Stapleton who was wearing a fake beard.
Another clue about the culprit is when Stapleton tries to scare off Dr Watson by referring to the hound and the eerie nature of Dartmoor. Miss Stapleton also tries to scare off Watson but not realising its Dr Watson thinking that he is Sir Henry. Also Barrymore is a chief suspect and Dr Watson doesn’t trust him: “there was something indescribably guilty and furtive about his appearance.”
Stapleton’s attitude towards Sir Henry seems ambivalent on the other hand he wanted Miss Stapleton to lure Sir Henry onto the moor but he didn’t want any intimacy between them but that’s probably because we fins out later that she’s married to him!
The mystery of the lone man on the moor turns out to be Holmes as Dr Watson finds out when he traces him to a wooded shack.
In the final climax mistaken identity is an important feature as Stapleton thinks the man who ran away from the hound and was killed by falling over a cliff was Sir Henry but instead it was the escaped convict dressed in Sir Henry’s clothes.
The Hound of the Baskervilles is effective as a detective/horror story for a number of reasons. The style of writing is effective for example the technique of using dialogue through questions and answers this helps the story to move along a line of enquiry sifting out the details.
It is effective as a detective story because there are several suspects at the same time - for example, Stapleton, the convict on the moor and the Barrymores. Also each chapter is generally ended with an intensity of the threat posed or the urgency in solving the mystery. This is perhaps partly due to the fact that the book was originally serialised in the Strand literary magazine. For instance at the end of Chapter 10 “There is that hut upon the moor which seems to lie at the …… heart of the mystery” This however later turns out to be a fake line of inquiry.
However the meeting of Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes in the hut on the moor at the end of chapter 11 shows a weakness in the plot. It seems a real let down to what could have been another possible line of enquiry – to introduce Sherlock Holmes this way seems implausible that he should rough it on the wilds of Dartmoor. Also two thirds of the way through the book the reader knows it’s Stapleton who is the culprit – it’s just a question of acquiring the evidence.
Nevertheless, the tension is kept going by the need of him killing Sir Henry and he is nearly successful. The reader however, knows that it is unlikely that he is going to manage to kill Sir Henry. Overall however I think that Sir Arthur Conan-Doyle manages to create interest and suspense in the first three chapters and successfully keep it going throughout the rest of the book.
