The simile comparing the woman to a 'hunted animal' is very effective in building suspense. She is immediately portrayed as a vulnerable and sympathetic victim. It makes readers aware that she is in danger from some ruthless 'hunter', and their possible concern for her welfare creates tension and suspense in the story.
The lady introduces herself as Helen Stoner and explains about her family history, and the estate owned by their family. She talks about, her step father’s family and starts to describe him and his character.
‘In a fit of anger ….he beat his native butler to death …he suffered a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man."
The information about Roylots violent and murderous temper, shows just how deadly this man is, and enlightens the reader into the real danger Helen is in. She informs us the marriage between her mother and him, and about her mother’s recent death. She gives more information on Roylots character, and suggesting she’s in even more danger. Helen tells Holmes of the change of character he underwent after her mothers death.
This long description of Roylott adds to the readers' impression that he is capable of terrible things. The word 'ferocious' suggest an image of a wild animal. There is the suggestion here that he is the victim of some genetic madness and that he is 'uncontrollable'. ‘… he is a man of immense strength and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger’. These animals like qualities of unpredictability and aggression create great tension precisely because it seems he is a man who could do something terrible at any time, to the helpless Helen. The fact that Roylott later bursts into the office, shouting around in a aid to show his apparent superiority and strength, shows he thinks highly of himself, and seems to hold the notion that he has the right to do whatever he pleases. The way in which Doyle uses characterization is significant and very important in short stories, through informational descriptions he gives, with underlying meanings, he is able to successfully create suspense, atmospheres and arouse anticipation in the reader.
The atmosphere is uneasy at the start of the tale, Doyle has used a lot of emotive language making the readers identify with the poor victim Helen, we have been introduced to the repugnant Roylott and Helens situation seems desperate.
We learn from Helena that hers sister died shortly before her marriage. Helen tells of the death, hers sisters state that night and the clues to her coincidental death. The daughters, Helen and her sister were to receive a dowry of the annual income of the mother in the event of their marriage. Sherlock later finds the will of the deceased mother and sees the exact sum.
“Each daughter can claim an income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is
evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had a
mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to a very serious extent”
From learning these facts, Doyle allows the readers’ minds formulate their own conclusions, with the suggestion of the stepfather being the murder. Doyle has given the details of the death and the situation slowly, with each further bit of information he gives, he keeps the readers engaged. The plot now seems clear; all that seems left is the evidence.
As the story progresses Doyle tends to play with the plot by using the element of surprise. He uses the surprises as deterrents/ distractions from the actual plot/ line of thought of Holmes, making the story more exciting. These surprises also go hand in hand, with creating suspense, which also determines the atmosphere. The readers were lead to believe, that the doctors tropical animals or the gypsies living on the land, could have been accessories to the murder. Also, it seemed that their access to the deceased sister was through her window facing the communal garden. But these first assumptions are dismissed, after the inspection of the deceased sisters’ room, which Helen was occupying, as her room underwent unnecessary repairs. Doyle introduces mysterious factors, as Holmes searches the room, where he finds odd clues, Doyle holds back on Holmes’ explanation till the very end.
The atmosphere is filled with tension, as the story draws to the climax, the tension is mounting. As homes and Watson return back to the mansion in the dead of night, the weather and apparition of the baboon, add to intensity. The most significant part, where Doyle cunningly builds up the anticipation, tension and atmosphere, is during Holmes and Watson’s waiting in silence, and complete darkness. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend”, warns Holmes the usually calm and understated, but through his care, the danger of the situation is revealed.
“I could not hear a sound, not even the drawing of a breath …The shutters cut off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness… Far away we could hear the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.”
The readers await the moment of reckoning. Doyle, doesn’t describe fully the events that happen after, the long time spend sitting in darkness, after all the story is written in the first person, in the eyes of Watson. The events are unclear to the reader as they were to Watson, but undoubtedly, Holmes knew the exact implications of the happenings, and found out what the speckled band.
Both Doyle and Watson heard a ‘yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek’. Watson asked what it meant and Holmes replied, it meant it was all over. Evidently, Holmes had uncovered the truth, but Doyle still at this point in the story, sheds little light on the thoughts of Holmes. Upon entering Dr. Roylott’s room, and seeing the ‘speckled band’, only then does Sherlock tell. Now we learn of precisely the extent of Sherlock’s intelligence. Although at the beginning of the story Holmes seemed almost super-human in his deduction of how the lady arrived. But these type of occurrences which continued throughout the story, caused the reader to marvel at the prowess of Holmes. Many of his observations don’t have occurred to the average human . ' "Her sister could smell Dr Roylott's cigar . . . There must be a communication . . . Only a small one. . . I deduced a ventilator". This shows how successfully Doyle’s uses characterization,
With all the factors Doyle used he managed to give the best possible effect of the story upon the readers, along with this he also wrote the story in the first person. By writing in the first person as Watson, Doyle was able to give the full effect of the story to the readers, as if they themselves were present. The fact, that they were in darkness and Watson couldn’t seem what Holmes’ had discovered, keeps the tension and suspense built through the story. The anguish of anticipation the readers feel is only fulfilled at the end, the revelation of the mystery.