‘The knees of his trousers’
This quotation is from the part of the story where Holmes had just spoken to Jabez Wilson’s assistant (John Clay) and is discussing the conversation with Dr Watson. The worn out patches stick out to Holmes as the patch on his trousers is very unusual for someone who works in a pawnbroker’s and Holmes sees this as very suspicious and in result he starts to look at clay in more detail. This is a very good example of Holme’s skill of deduction through observation. Holmes is very consistent in his cases and he may not always be seen as likeable, but he displays devotion to Watson and shows many different characteristics; this devotion for Watson persuades readers that he is an honorable character. Holmes cannot be compared to any other detectives as he is the first real private detective; his deerstalker hat, hooked pipe; magnifying glass and sidekick are the inspiration of many future detectives’ personalities in stories.
The other reason people believe that the Sherlock Holmes series of short stories are so believable and realistic is the settings and atmosphere and how well they were combined together. In “The Speckled Band” the interest of the reader is primarily sustained by the setting up of the situation which is mysterious right from the beginning. Interest is continued mainly through the plotline and the trap that Holmes lays to try and discover the truth about what has happened. The two story lines are very similar: what happened in the past to the sister, and the present repetition of the crime. The close examination of the scene is tense along with the events of the night.
To ensure that the mystery itself is properly described and understood, nothing is left to the reader’s imagination and everything is described to give the reader clear vivid images. The horrific details that Conan Doyle puts across are not dampened which makes the stories seem a whole lot more realistic and believable. Conan Doyle goes to great lengths to ensure that every last detail is described perfectly from the characters to the scenery making everything so believable and easy to understand, leaving nothing to the reader’s imagination. Whilst this can be seen as an aggressive way to treat the reader it ensures that the story in the reader’s head is seen in the exact right way.
In “The Red Headed League” most of the story is based and plotted around Jabez Wilson’s shop and the streets of London. By doing this Conan Doyle allows the reader to believe that this part of London is real and creates a very clear image of what London was like in the readers head.
In “the speckled band” lots of words and phrases are used to increase the tension for example:
‘Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it’
This quotation creates very good tension in the story and also creates a chilling, creepy effect which is why most of “The Speckled Band” is set at night to create this tension. The main home of the Sherlock Holmes stories is London and his home in Baker Street but “the speckled band” is set in the western borders of Surrey whilst “the red headed league” is based in the more traditional streets of London. In “the red headed league” Conan Doyle describes the shop of Jabez Wilson so fully you can picture it in your mind creating a real sense of place.
‘It was a pokey, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded laurd bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and uncongenial atmosphere.’
Conan Doyle has described Jabez Wilson’s so fully in order to leave nothing to the reader’s imagination and create the perfect sense of place.
Conan Doyle in “The Red Headed League” and in “The Speckled Band” does not use any other characters that are the same other than Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Conan Doyle does this to make each story and mystery totally different and completely unique. In “the red headed league” Conan Doyle uses a classic character selection, the heroes: Holmes, Watson; the victim: Jabez Wilson and the villain: John Clay. In “the speckled band” Conan Doyle uses the same character outline with heroes: Holmes, Watson; the villain: Dr Grimsby Roylett and the victim: Helen Stoner. Even though the character outline Conan Doyle uses is similar, the actual character personalities are very different to try and make the stories totally unique. By using a range of characters Conan Doyle can make each one an individual. The main focus of characters in “the speckled band” and “the red headed league” are John Clay and Dr Grimsby Roylett. The villain in “the red headed league” is John Clay who also uses the name of Vincent Spalding. John Clay is a mastermind criminal who uses his brain and intelligence to come up with a cunning and deceitful plan. In the story Conan Doyle tells us how clever Clay is…..
‘He himself has been to Eton and Oxford’
This shows that clay is a more advanced criminal and Holmes in this mystery will have his work cut out for him.
‘His brain is as cunning as his fingers’
Holmes knows that with this crime he will have to use all of his experience to overcome John Clay and he knows that in the past Clay has got the better of him.
‘I’ve been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him yet’
Even with Holmes knowledge and crime solving experience he knows that Clay will be a hard person to catch. Clay shows his intelligence by coming up with the scheme of the red headed league where as any other criminal would have found a far simpler and cheaper way of getting Jabez Wilson out of the way.
In “the speckled band” Conan Doyle uses a different kind of criminal/villain but he has the same goal; to try and get his hands on more money. Clay was a cunning criminal whilst Roylett was an evil and greedy villain.
‘He became the terror of the village, and folks would fly at his approach’
Roylett is a far different criminal who expresses his feelings and is not afraid to show his evil and ruthless side.
‘We had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked.’
Here Helen Stoner is saying that she began to get scared by him and what animals he kept.
The language used in the two stories is fairly modern English and easy to understand but with the odd exception to this where words at the time the story was written have different meanings now and can cause confusion.
Humor is an odd aspect of a Sherlock Holmes story but it is used in “The Red Headed League” at the expense of Jabez Wilson.
‘It is a little off the beaten track, isn’t it?’
Holmes here is laughing discretely and asks Jabez Wilson how he fell for something so obvious as the red headed league which would seem so ridiculous to anyone else. The slight bits of humor in “the red headed league” appeal to readers because it gives them a change of scene and a break from the case in hand.
There are many reasons why the Sherlock Holmes stories have stayed so popular through the time they were published and up to present date such as the twists in the storylines. The reader will be following the story and thinking they have the story solved before Sherlock Holmes; and then a sudden twist happens in the story like another clue and the reader is forced to read on to see how wrong they actually were. The other main reason people are still so interested in the Sherlock Holmes stories is the date they were written; people will always be especially interested in novels from another time period and the Victorian period will always be a fascinating era for readers to find out how things used to be done. The Sherlock Holmes series were all short stories and the advantage of this is that they are simple and quick to read and contain all the excitement of a 200 page novel.
