‘The Engineers Thumb’ is about a Hydraulic engineer Victor Hatherly who is brought to Watson's surgery with the top part of his thumb missing. Watson cleans up the wound and refers him to Holmes. Here he relates a strange, disjointed tail, which Holmes ends up investigating.
The way the arch villain is presented to the reader in ‘The Speckled Band’ is a stereotypical arch villain. Dr Roylott is the villain in this particular Sherlock Holmes story and he is made to seem frightening, threatening and to not care about anyone. His behavior suggests that he is not afraid of anyone else and that he is in control. We suspect he is a murderer and we see this when referring to the quote ''He became terror in the village''. This quote shows us that he is in control of the village because everyone is scared of him. Another quote that gives the reader the impression that Roylott is a villain is ''He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him''.
The Arch villain is clearly shown in the story by the descriptions that we are given of him. Quotes and facts suggest that Dr Roylott is an actual villain before we know the truth. ''In a fit of anger he murdered his native butler to death and suffered a long term imprisonment'' suggesting he is dangerous. Conan Doyle wants the reader to feel intimidated by Dr Roylott by his appearance. ''He was a huge man, he has a large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles and burned yellow with the sun and marked with every evil passion''.
Dr Roylott is presented as a menacing figure through various references in the story. ''He has a nerve and he has knowledge. This man strikes even deeper''. Also ''We heard the hoarse roar of the Doctors voice and saw the fury with which he shook his clenched fist'', this suggests that Dr Roylott may not be able to control his anger but he is clever despite this.
Another way in which the arch villain is presented to the reader is the way he speaks and what he says. In ‘The Speckled Band’ Dr Roylott uses forceful language to intimidate Holmes and to make him feel uncomfortable and powerless. '' I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See that you keep yourself out of my grip'' showing the reader that Dr Roylott does not like other people interfering with his business and that he does not mind using violence. Another factor of being the arch villain.
The way the arch villain is presented in the Engineers thumb is similar to the speckled band as we find out the arch villain through the victims telling their story. However the arch villain in the Engineers thumb is not particularly revealed until the end where he tries to kill Mr Hatherly. Throughout the story the villain plays a mysterious character from the beginning where he is questioning Mr Hatherly and swearing him to keep it a secret. The villain seems a suspicious of the victim when it should be the other way around. The character Colonel Lysander stark is presented as mysterious, dangerous but the obvious suspect, although he is the stereotypical arch villain by his looks and his aggressive manner.
Sherlock Holmes is shown often the central character and is shown as the best detective in the field with every skill that is needed as a detective. He has a good instinct that enables him to draw the correct conclusion from small observations. For example, in the 'Red Headed League', by looking at john clays 'worn wrinkled and stained' knees he is able to realize the John Clay has been digging a passage to the bank. On the other hand, he is shown as a lonely man with no family life. This persuades the reader to like him because some might feel jealous for his investigating skills, so they pity his lonely life.
Holmes again demonstrates a good instinct, which enables him to retrieve the facts before actually knowing them. This is shown when he gathers the facts that Mr Hatherly hasn't traveled as far as he thinks when he comments that “One horse? Fresh or glossy?” By the answer that Mr Hatherly gives him he able to notice that as the horse was not tired and was still clean then he had not traveled the 12 miles that the villain had told him he had. He here has the wit and knowledge to make him the best detective.
Dr Watson is important in the stories because he is the narrator. Doctors are one of the most trusted professions as they have an image of being rescuers or saviors. I think the reason why Dr Watson is shown as a doctor is to make the readers trust him and therefore make the story believable. He is show as less skillful than Holmes, which makes the reader trust him even more because they can feel at the same level as him. Also he has great skills of observing and describing which aids the reader to recreate the events that happened whilst reading it.
The setting in ‘The Speckled Band’ makes the story seem scary and exciting by the use of adjectives. There are many quotes that add to the atmosphere of stoke Moran and that emphasis that Dr Roylott is a suspicious character in the story. 'Indian animals wander freely over his grounds and are feared greatly' shows that Stoke Moran is possibly a dangerous place to be because of the exotic animals roaming it and it makes the setting seem mysterious. '' We had no feeling of security unless the doors were locked'','' The windows were blocked by old fashioned shutters with broad iron bars'' show us that stoke Moran and the setting around it gives a sense of unease and insecurity. The windows being blocked with iron bars gives a feeling of entrapment and it is almost like a prison. The descriptions of Stoke Moran add to the scariness of the story. “All was dark in the direction of the manor house'' this suggests that only that area was in darkness and places around it were shadowed by its eeriness. The weather also plays an important part in the story. It was rainy, dark and stormy. This makes the story more interesting because you know that something bad is about to or has happened.
The setting in the Engineers thumb creates just as much tension as the speckled band because of the mysterious way Mr Hatherly is taken in the train and he has no idea of where he is going. Along with the Speckled band the weather creates an atmosphere because its raining dark and in the middle of the night. This makes the mood scarier and the story is again frightening.
Other factors that produce tension in the story is not just the stories that the victims tell but the way they tell it. They create a chilling atmosphere as they tell their almost unbelievable story to Holmes and Watson that then they can investigate.
Helen Stoner's narrative helps create tension by the way she builds up weird events and how she relates to where they took place. She relates back to her story at stoke Moran where the weird event of her sisters death took place. Here she comments that ' It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside and the rain was beating''. This suggests that things were out of control and unusual at the manor house. As she continues to tell her story it becomes even more unusual and strange for the reader leaving you puzzled and with having to unravel the mystery.
Doyle uses different techniques to add to the feeling of the story, an example being flashbacks. He gets the victims to tell their story to him and when they do odd facts appear, especially about the villains. Flash backs help the reader to feel more involved in the story because it gives them specific events that happened making it feel like you are there, as well as understanding it and trying to solve the mystery yourself.
In conclusion,’ The Speckled Band', 'The engineers thumb' and the 'Red Headed League' build up the tension well and make the reader feel fully involved in trying to solve the mysterious stories. The 'Speckled Band' and the 'Engineers Thumb' are equally as exciting and gripping because they both make the reader feel aware of the atmosphere, plus the setting that the victims describe are well explained and are easily imaginable. Other Sherlock Holmes stories I have read also are well written and fast paced but are longer and the stories have more detail. This could leave the reader feeling that the story is unsolvable and so the reader would not want to continue with the story. However, ‘The Speckled Band' is the right length to be a good story and enchanting descriptions within it makes it exciting overall.
Feminist criticism interprets women’s experience as depicted in various kinds of literature- especially novels. It attacks the male notions of value in literature- by offering critiques of male authors and representations of men in literature and also by privileging women writers.
Reading Arthur Conan Doyle's stories (especially Sherlock Holmes) there is a sense of long-standing, dominant and phallocentric ideologies that contribute towards the patriarchal attitudes and male interpretations in literature. The detectives in Conan Doyle's stories are always male and Conan Doyle only seems to cast women in stock character roles i.e. the victims are always female and powerless. Conan Doyle writes in a typical masculine style. He interprets females in the stereotypical type of how women are 'supposed' to feel, act and think. This I feel is why many female readers may not be able to relate to any characters in the Sherlock Holmes stories because the stock character roles that Conan Doyle produces.
