One thing that every detective has is a good use of observational skills. At the beginning of the story when Sherlock says to Helen
“You have come in by train this morning, I see”
Helen is confused by this comment at first and then asked Sherlock if he knows her? Holmes simply explains that he observed the half ripped dogcart ticket in the left palm of her hand. This points out that he has already examined the client’s hands and clothes as he goes on to say that
“the left arm of your jacket has been splattered with mud”
He continues by saying that she was sitting on the left hand side of the driver and mud was splashing onto her with the roads being bumpy. Most of his observations could have been noticed by anyone but Sherlock Holmes has the intelligence to acknowledge the clues that make him the perfect detective.
The other aspect that makes this detective a good character and an enjoyable read, he is calm under pressure, for instance in the scene when Dr Roylett barges into Holmes and Watson’s apartment, Roylett confronts Holmes with extreme anger. Under this particular situation most people would be scared of such a man like Dr Roylett, as he is a very strong and violent man. Holmes keeps calm and as the man is interrogating him he talks about the season and how it is different to the others! This has no relationship to what the big Dr is confronting him about. After the argument the Dr says
“see that you keep yourself out of my grip”
Roylett then bends the fire poker and storms out. Holmes the does something extremely unexpected he picks up the poker and bends it back to the original shape, which was completely straight.
Holmes at the end bends the law. In his confrontation with the snake, he drives the animal back to its evil source and kills doctor Roylett. Although this could be classed as an action of manslaughter Holmes does not care as he cares a lot about his job and is a professional as most detectives are.
A damsel in distress is the main way of describing Helen Stoner. She is a young woman who has suffered from grey under not age but fear. She is under a typical situation when the stepfather has a scam that will benefit him even if it might involve killing.
Helen seeks aid off the clever Sherlock Holmes as she has heard the word that Holmes is the best detective in England. She is hoping for a solution for her life-threatening problem. Not only is it that she knows Sherlock his a good detective but she has no one else to turn to. With her close relatives dead, her sister gone and her stepfather the source of all this aggravation, she has no choice but to come to this stranger whom she ahs never seen or spoken to.
Another problem that is annoying her is that her stepfather is violent towards her this also puts more danger into the case. As Holmes examines her wrist she tells him that Dr Roylett had grasped her she explains,
“he is hard man and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength.”
Although in this difficult matter the story would not be a story if the hero that is Detective Sherlock Holmes resolved the heroine’s problems.
The other typical feature or a heroine is that she is related to the victim of the murder. It was a close relationship between Helen and her sister. This made Helen feel that it was compulsory to say something to someone. They were not only sisters but also best friends as well. They met in each other’s rooms behind Roylett’s back and this meant they shared close secrets with each other.
There was also another reason for Helen to come to Holmes for held. The reason was that she was worried for her life. Just as her sister was getting engaged the tragedy happened and now she was getting engaged she had to move into her lost sisters room. She believed that this was not a coincidence so she did the right thing and asked Sherlock for his expertise.
Dr Roylett is a very, very typical villain. Right from the beginning of the story it makes out simply that he is short tempered, violent and string. With out these characteristics the opposing force could not have any effect what so ever on Holmes or Helen. He is also capable of murder two times. The first was when he literally beat his own butler to his death and the second was when he killed his own stepdaughter Julia the victim of the story. Not only this but he keeps a baboon and a cheetah and lets them roam around the grounds. This makes him feared by the nearby village people and his daughters who have to lock their doors at night.
He shows his aggression by bending the fire poker to show his mighty strength in front of his enemy in this scene. Its not his aggression that makes him so evil its what he did to Stock Moran where he lives. He use to be one of the wealthiest men in England at the time but he gambled it all to support his drinking.
There are two main settings in this short story; they are London and Stock Moran in the countryside. London is the first the reader comes across with Helen stoner, Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes. In London it does not go into detail at all of how the day was but it does in Stock Moran twice. The first is when Helen stoner gives her opinion of that night in which her sister was murdered. It was dark and stormy etc. This is described as gothic horror and brings an intense atmosphere to it. The second is of the actual house. Stock Moran is described. It is shut off from everywhere else. This makes it isolated where screams cannot be heard for miles around bringing a most eerie sense to it. Parts of the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in. this is not like a manor house to be like this and forms a picture in the readers of a house looming upon a black hill isolated from the world and evil happening s going on inside.
The house is rundown and grotty. With its mortgage hanging heavily over it and the owner almost in a state being bankrupt he cannot afford to rebuild it into its original state.
In a detective fiction such as “The Speckled Band” without clues the mystery could not be concluded and rounded up and the whole meaning would have no meaning. The clues are not always objects they can be people and their role in the whole mystery like what motive they have and why. The motive that drives Dr Roylett holds is a typical money scheme. If the daughters engages in marriage they receive 500 pounds, each which was a big amount in them days. So the plan that Roylett had in his devious mind was to kill both of them and collect the money himself and pay for the mortgage for the house.
All of the clues may make a bit of sense to us like the ventilation vent above the bed but apart from that we cannot properly fit them together like Holmes can and he rounds up by telling us them and explaining how each one took its own role in the act of murder. He then tells Watson who is the narrator of the story, which then enables the reader to hear the final conclusion of it.
My overall round up of it is that the story was well written and as I explained at the beginning it had the perfect ingredients for a good story. The thing that I liked most about it and what I like about in every story is the twist at the end. It was most certainly unexpected and how it was done was clever as well. As the Sherlock Holmes would say ‘its elementary my dear Watson!’