In both the stories the characters can be put in to categories. In 'The Speckled Band' Helen Stoner and her sister are the good characters. Helen is the main victim. She gives her own account of the story which make the actions of Dr Roylott sound more evil. In 'The Five Orange Pips' John Openshaw is the main victim and his father who was also killed. He also gives his account and this also makes the action sound more evil. In the time when the stories where written women like Helen would need to be protected by a man like Holmes. This is why Holmes and Watson accompanied her back to her house. This may be the reason why John died as he was a man and was expected to be strong and fearless, Holmes did not accompany him home and he died. Both the main good characters are one-dimensional. They don’t do anything wrong. They just play the part and are not realistic.
In 'The Speckled Band' Dr Grimesby Roylett is the killer, the bad character. We know that he is the bad character in the story as soon as Helen describes him, "he shut himself up in the house, and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might cross his path." Johns Uncle Elias is the bad character in 'The Five Orange Pips' also when John is describing him we know he is the bad character, "He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry." He also said "He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily." In Victorian times Elias would be classed as a very uncivilised man, as men were meant to be brave but to be fierce in public would be uncivilised. Also the bad characters are one-dimensional, as all we hear about them is bad.
Sherlock Holmes may do good work but he is not one-dimensional. He does good work but makes mistakes, like sending John out after he has been to see Holmes, and John dies. Holmes also acts very pompous, he acts as if he knows it all, "You have come up from the south-west, I see" Homes says to John, "Yes, Horsham" John replies, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe-caps is quite distinctive." He does the same in 'The Speckled Band'; "The left arm of your jacket is splattered with mud in no less than seven places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way." In other Sherlock Holmes' stories it is also mentioned that Holmes takes drugs. He is also very sarcastic to Roylett when he comes to see Holmes. He bosses Watson around, tell him what to do and does not tell him what his theories are, for example when they are in the bedroom in 'The Speckled Band' Watson is not told what to look for just to sit with his gun out. The good that Holmes does is that he helps people like Helen and John even though he dies. He is a gentleman and protects Helen and saves her life. He is upset and guilty about the death of John and makes sure that he triumphs even when John is dead. He seems more like a real person unlike the other characters, as he has good and bad points. As Watson is telling both the stories we do not really get a good idea of his character, he is in the shadow of Holmes.
Conan Doyle describes the characters physically by making the bad characters threatening and the good characters sound threatened. In 'The Speckled Band' Watson makes Dr Roylott sound threatening when he comes to see Holmes by saying he has a "hunting-crop." Watson says that Dr Roylott was "burned yellow by the sun." He would be different in the time that the stories were written because he would have a tan and people tried to be as white as possible. He also said, "marked with every evil passion." By using the word "evil" it adds to the threatening atmosphere. He also said that he had a "high thin fleshless nose." This is a very cold image we get of Dr Roylott and does not sound pleasant. Roylott is also described as "a fierce old bird of prey", bird of prey rip apart their victim and show no mercy. Helens eye are described, at the start when we first meet her, "like those of some hunted animal" and Dr Roylott is described as a bird of prey which hunts animals. Conan Doyle makes Helen sound vulnerable and defenceless by saying she was "in a pitiable state of agitation, her face drawn and grey, with restless, frightened eyes." Holmes asks her if she would like a cup of hot coffee as she was shivering and she replies "it is not cold which makes me shiver… it is fear" this make use feel sorry for Helen. In both stories there is a link between hunted animals. In 'The Five Orange Pips' John says that "I have felt like one of those poor rabbits when the snake writhing towards it." John being the rabbit and the KKK is the snake coming to kill him. John's Uncle Elias is not described in physical appearance but sounds the same as Dr Roylott being a fierce and quick-tempered man. John is also described in a similar way as Helen is, "he sank his face into his thin, white hands - "I have felt helpless…" He sounds vulnerable and defenceless like Helen is.
Both the stories are told by Dr Watson. By this you feel that Dr Watson is a doctor a man of science, highly regarded and highly educated and not overly imaginative, and we feel we can trust him more. If Sherlock Holmes was to tell the stories it would be over very quickly as he would tell you at the beginning what happened and who the perpetrator was. Before both the stories are told Watson says, "In glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight year studied." This is used as a literary device to make it sound true. He goes on to say that he has seen many strange cases but this one has to be the strangest of them all. This is aimed at the part of the audience who have read Sherlock Holmes books before, and if you have read them and think they are strange and mystical and he says this one is more it will make you read on. In 'The Five Orange Pips' Watson says, while talking about other cases, "Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without an ending." In 'The Speckled Band' there is no mention of him going wrong in any of the cases.
In both of the stories the visitor at Holmes' study tells us the story about the events which have made them come to him for help. In 'The Speckled Band' Watson and Holmes go to the house that Helen Stoner lives in to solve the case. In 'The Five Orange Pips' Holmes goes to do research on why the Openshaws have died.
In 'The Five Orange Pips' Holmes sends John off in to the night even when he knows the great risk to him, and John gets killed while walking to the station. In 'The Speckled Band' Holmes saves Helen.
At the end of each story when Holmes has found out about the plots to kill John and Helen, the perpetrator/perpetrators get killed by the same method that they used. In 'The Five Orange Pips' the men for the KKK kill John's uncle by drowning him at the bottom of the garden and John was pushed into the Thames. The men from the KKK died on the Lone Star, "We did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered sternpost of a boat was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters 'LS'." In 'The Speckled Band' the snake that Dr. Grimesby Roylott got from India that he was using to kill his stepdaughters killed him after Holmes hit it with his cane to scare it.
In 'The Five Orange Pips' Holmes is partially successful but someone dies, but he finds the killers and they are brought to justice. Holmes feels guilty that he could have saved John by not letting him go that night but he is quite pleased that he solved the case. In 'The Speckled Band' Holmes find the killer and he is brought to justice and the victim is saved. Holmes feels pleased that he has solved the case and saved a life.
Another reason way Conan Doyle creates suspense is that when Watson is telling the story he refers to other cases that Holmes has solved. In 'The Five Orange Pips', Holmes says, "I think, Watson, that of all our cases we have had none more fantastic than this." Than Watson replies "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." 'The Sign of Four' was another Sherlock Holmes book written by Arthur Conan Doyle. In 'The Speckled Band' Watson says, "for I have reason to know there are widespread rumours as to the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter ever more terrible than the truth." This would create more suspense for the reader and would make them read on to find out why he did die.
The morals of both stories are broadly similar but different in detail. In both stories good wins over evil. In 'The Speckled Band' Holmes intervenes and he saves Helen's life and is the hero. If he did not intervene Helen would have died. In 'The Five Orange Pips' Holmes intervened but was too late and John dies. Another moral is that if we see evil then we are duty bound to intervene and that we should protect people the same who are in need of help, not just women who are meant to be defenceless and vulnerable. When good wins over evil in both stories the perpetrators are brought to justice. In 'The Speckled Band' Dr Roylott is killed and in 'The Five Orange Pips' the group of men from the KKK are killed at sea. The modern day perspective to Dr Roylott may be different. He may have had a mental problem or may have been tormented as a child, and these reasons may have made him do what he did. Arthur Conan Doyle would possibly not have any sympathy for Dr Roylott because as a child his father, who drank heavily, beat Conan Doyle and this may be who the evil characters may have been based on. The modern day perspective on 'The Five Orange Pips' killers would not have changed as we are still anti KKK.
The main characteristics of the Victorian short story are that they are 'Black and White.' The good characters win and the bad characters lose. They are not realistic or true to life as twentieth century (and twenty first century) stories. Each story required a hero, Sherlock Holmes in this case. The literary device of the anti-hero came later and stories became more realistic as the hero sometime lost against evil. Each of the stories are simple to understand, the reader knows who wants to win from the start. The stories are set in familiar surroundings, aimed at the middle-class literate audience. Elements introduced from abroad give the sense of mystery and suspense.
