The similarities and contrasts in the two short stories are related to the setting, being in London and on the outskirts of London in the late 19th century. In “The Speckled Band” and “The Man with the twisted lip” we see Holmes and Watson travel as part of their investigation to the homes of Helen Stoner and Neville St Clair; the contrast is that “The Man with the twisted lip” is set in two different places, “The Cedars” and “The opium den”.
In the “The Man with the twisted lip” the home of Mr Neville St. Clair, “the cedars”, is set near Lee, in Kent, “a large villa, laid out the grounds very nicely”. But the disappearance was set in the opium den, a boarding house on “Swandam Lane”, a seedy part of central London. “The front room was plainly furnished as a sitting room, and led into a small bedroom which looked out upon the back of one of the wharves”.
“The Speckled Band” is set in Stoke Moran on the Western border of Surrey in a run-down two-hundred year old mansion which is set in a few acres of ground. The investigation centres on the bedroom of deceased Julia Stoner currently occupied by Helen Stoner. This room is described as “it is a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country homes”
In these two short stories we see two different crimes, in the “The Man with the twisted lip” the main plot is of the disappearance of Neville St Clair and the sub-plot is the disappearance of Isa Whitney both set in the opium den. In “The Speckled Band” the crime is a suspected murder of Julia Stoner.
“The Man with the twisted lip” is about the disappearance of the husbands of Kate Whitney and Mrs St Clair. The sub plot is resolved quickly with the Dr Watson finding Isa Whitney in the opium den. On finding him Watson tells Isa
“Your wife has been waiting this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself’!” After finding Isa, Watson and Holmes work together to investigate the disappearance of Neville St Clair, this is the main plot of the story. St. Clair's wife had seen him in the second floor window of the opium den, “the window was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she described as being terribly agitated”, but he had suddenly vanished. They have questioned Lascar, “a man of the vilest antecedents” who denies any knowledge of the missing man. They have arrested a crippled beggar suspected of committing the murder, but he refuses to provide answers. “There’s plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can’t get the end of it in my hand” Holmes tells Watson as he struggles to find the answer to the disappearance.
In “The Speckled Band” Helen Stoner sister Julia died several weeks before she had got married. If she had lived she would have received an annual sum of money from her mother’s estate, following her mothers death in a railway crash eight years ago she had left “a considerable sum of money, not less than a thousand a year, and this she bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely whilst we resided with him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to each of us in the event of our marriage”. Helen is due to get married in the spring and is concerned about the similarities she has with her sister circumstances prior to her death, also her stepfather Dr. Roylott tells Helen that repairs have to be made to her bedroom forcing her to move into the room where Julia died. Helen said “I believe that it was an excuse to move me from my room “, as she felt there was no need for repairs. During the time in the room she said she had heard “the low whistle which had been the herald of her own death”. This led her to seek advice from Holmes.
Both stories crimes show many clues and red-herrings which Holmes and Watson explore to investigate and solve the crimes together. The similarities in these stories are that clues are found in the rooms that were occupied by Julia Stoner in “The Speckled Band” and Neville St Clair in “The Man with the twisted lip”.
In “The Man with the twisted lip” there are many clues within the story to solve the disappearance. The first clue was found by Mrs St Clair which was the children’s bricks found upon a table within the room were her husband was last seen, “It was the toy which he had promised to bring home.” This proved to the Inspector that “that the matter was serious” this is because Lascar and Boone had denied anyone had been in the front room that afternoon. This led the rooms to be more carefully examined and further clues were discovered. “On examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the window sill and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the bedroom” and blood was found on Boone “upon his right shirt-sleeve” but this was explained by Boone from a cut near nail of his ring finger. Items of Mr St Clair’s clothing were also found within the room “His boots, socks, hat and his watch were all there” but Boone denied ever seeing Mr St Clair “and swore that the presence of the cloths in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police”.
Along with these clues were red-herrings, in the form of the two men present at the scene of the disappearance, Lascar and Boone. Lascar was the proprietor of the rooms and had stopped Mrs St Clair entering the room where she had last seen her husband. “She met this Lascar scoundrel, of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back, and aided by a Dane, who acts as assistant there, pushed her down the stairs” as described by Holmes to Watson. Lascar was also known “to be a man of the vilest antecedents”. Although there are concerns about this character it was apparent that he could not have been involved in the crime as he was at the foot of the stairs seconds after the appearance of her husband. Hugh Boone the “sinister cripple” was inside the room where Mr St Clair was last seen, he was found by Mrs St Clair, an inspector and two constables. Boone “was certainly the last human being whose eyes arrested upon Neville St Clair”. Also Mr St Clair’s coat was found upon a mud bank stuffed with pennies which was an attempt to fake the death, “it seemed likely enough that the weighted coat had remained when the striped body had been sucked away into the river”. A few days later a letter was received by Mrs St Clair from her husband with his signet ring enclosed stating “Dearest, do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a huge error which it may take some time to rectify. Wait in patience Neville”. Holmes says this could be a forgery as he believed Mr St Clair was died. Mrs St Clair asks Holmes “you think that he is dead?” he replies “I do”.
In the “The Speckled Band” the clues within the story to solve the death of Julia Stoner were mainly to be found in her bedroom. There was a bell rope that hung down to the bed which was discovered by Holmes to be a “dummy and that the bed was clamped to the floor”, Holmes told Watson this “Instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole, and come into the bed”, The reason the bed was clamped to the floor was so that whatever came out of the ventilator went onto the bed. The other end of the ventilator opened into the stepfather’s room rather than the outside air, “Her sister could smell Dr Roylotts cigar. Now, of course that suggests at once there must be a communication between the two rooms. It can only be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon at the coroner’s inquiry. I deduced a ventilator” Holmes explained to Watson.
In Dr Roylotts bedroom the position of the wooden chair showed it had been used to stand on to reach the ventilator, “An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the habit of standing on it, which, of course, would be necessary in order that he should reach the ventilator” Holmes told Watson. The other clues found in the stepfather’s room by Holmes were a metal safe with a saucer of milk on the top of it, on finding this Holmes asks “there isn’t a cat in it for example?” at which Helen replies “No what a strange idea!”. In Dr Roylotts room there was also “a small dog lash hung on one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon its self, and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord”.
The red-herrings in the story relates to the speckled band which Julia had said before her death, “O, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!”. Helen had thought that her sister was referring to the gipsies “spotted handkerchiefs
Which so many of them wear over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which she used”. The gipsies were camping on the ground of the Stoke Moran estate with Dr Roylotts permission.
The estate also had a cheetah and a baboon roaming the estate grounds which had frightened Helens sister greatly prior to her death. Dr Roylott “has a passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a correspondent” and these animals “wander freely over his grounds, and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master” Helen informed Holmes.
Within both stories we see Holmes as a respected master of deduction in the Victorian period. The language is formal with Holmes using long sentences to explain the methods he has used to investigate and solve the crime and disappearance. This is shown when Holmes informs Watson in “ The Speckled band” that he had “ come to an entirely erroneous conclusion , which shows , my dear Watson , how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data” .In “The Man with the twisted lip” Holmes remarks to Watson “ There is plenty of thread , no doubt , but I can’t get the end of it in my hand”. This is the language used during the Victorian time.
It is also apparent that both Helen Stoner and Mrs St Clair have sought help from Holmes as they have heard that he has a reputation for solving crimes.
Sherlock Holmes’s character in “The Man with the twisted lip” is a well known and respected man by the police force this was seen when he entered the police station in Bow Street “the two constables at door saluted him”. The police are willing to work with him as seen by Inspector Bradstreet showing him into his office and asking him “what can I do for you Mr Holmes?” he then provides him with information about Hugh Boone and allowing him into to cell were he was imprisoned. His authority and the way he is able to reassure people is seen when he confronts Neville St Clair in the cell “Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch, and patted him kindly on the shoulder”. He uses his authority to persuade Neville to provide information to Inspector Bradstreet so that “the case would never go into court at all” this is to avoid the shame, the publicity of a court hearing which would bring to his family.
The way that Holmes worked in solving the disappearance is by quietly sitting and thinking all through the night with “an old brier pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shinning upon his strong-set aquiline features” this shows that Holmes is committed to his job.
In “The Speckled Band” Holmes works quickly and methodically to solve the crime by inspecting the house where the death occurred, “whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the door” this shows that he uses his detective skills to piece together the clues like a jigsaw.
He also works in a calm and composed manner, this is shown in the way Holmes deals the Swamp adder “the deadliest snake in India”, Without hesitation “he drew the dog whip swiftly from the dead mans lap, and throwing the noose round the reptiles neck, he drew from its horrid perch, and, carrying it at arms length, threw it into the iron safe, which he closed upon it”, this is showing that he is brave and deals with danger without hesitating. As well as this Holmes shows his commitment to his profession, this is shown in the way he informs Helen Stoner “As to reward, my profession is its reward” this means that Holmes motivated by solving crimes and not by money.
The endings of these two short stories are different in “The Man with the twisted lip” there is a happy ending were the main character is reunited with his wife and family having gone missing for several days. “The Speckled Band” ends with the death of Dr Roylott who is killed by the swamp adder.
In “The Man with the twisted Lip” the ending concludes a successful piece of investigative work by Holmes and Watson as they restored the normal everyday life of Mr and Mrs Neville St Clair. Apart from Mr St Clair going missing for a few days there is no scandal, as the newspapers do not find out the facts behind his disappearance and is wife is not told the true story behind his disappearance. So satisfied in Holmes with the outcome of this investigation that he says to Watson “If we drive to Baker Street we shall be in time for breakfast”.
The ending to “The Speckled Band” is not happy as it results in the death of Dr Roylott, this does not play on Holmes’s his conscience as Dr Roylott is described by Helen Stoner as “ a man of immense strength , and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger”. An example of this is given “he hurled the local blacksmith over the parapet into a stream”. The final sentence of this story ends with Holmes stating that “ I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr Grimesby Roylott’s death ,and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience”.
To conclude from looking at detective fiction in the nineteenth century and comparing the two short stories above I have been able to examine the winning formula that detective fiction has been written to. This is the way these stories are written to involve the reader in the detective’s role of gathering clues, to solve the crime and find the culprit. This method has stood the test of time; in fact detective fiction is probably stronger today than it was in the nineteenth century. This is due to having wider audience as it has been translated into television and its popularity is evident as it scores of highly in the ratings.
