Conan Doyle creates suspense and tension in his stories by giving readers clues which leaves them to dwell in their mind on what may have happened. These clues may be genuine or red- herrings. Suspense is created through the character of Sherlock Holmes, as he is characterised very dramatically and carries out a lot of strange actions which turn out to be entirely necessary. The reader is made to be curious of Sherlock Holmes as they see how he notices so many small details of the cases, his intelligence and curiosity take him one step ahead every time. Watson, on the other hand, is Holmes’ right hand man, his intelligence is maybe not as decisive as Holmes’s, but any traditional detective story should not be without its less observant side-kick. In the stories Watson acts as an audience for Holmes and a narrator and reporter for the readers.
Learning about the stories through Watson’s eyes can cause mis-understandings, for the readers, or benefit them. For example, in ‘The Speckled Band’, Holmes says to Watson, ‘’Do you see it Watson, do you see it?’’, Watson replies, ‘’No Holmes I did not’’. Insert a phrase explaining what Watson has not seen. Some of the advantages of this method would be it allows the readers to try and solve the mystery themselves, it gives readers an insight into Watson’s feelings and we see Watson’s relationship between him and Sherlock Holmes. In contrast, his views may be biased and we can only see what Watson sees; so it he misses a detail, the readers do also (even though this can heighten suspense throughout the stories). We cannot see Sherlock Holmes views, only Watson’s.
The first story I am going to analyse is ‘The Speckled Band’. This story is about a young woman, whose sister strangely died apparently of shock in front of her as she left her room. The two women lived with their stepfather, who was a strange man that never really got on well with the two women. After hearing strange noises in the room where her sister slept she rushes to Sherlock Holmes for help. After examining the incident Holmes soon catches the stepfather in action, and it is revealed he trained a snake to sneak into the room and bite the young women. The snake is caused a fright after Holmes hits it with his walking stick, and it returns back to bite the stepfather.
This story is a ‘Locked room’ mystery, as the incident happened inside one room. This causes tension as it is soon revealed no one else could have possibly been inside the room, this confuses readers and make them want to read on to find out what could have possibly happened. When the young woman is first introduced she is wearing black and is heavily veiled, this tells is she is in mourning. Sherlock Holmes then realises she is shivering, he assumes it is the cold that has caused her to shiver, she then replies with, ‘’ …it is not the cold which makes me shiver…it is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror.’’, This causes suspense as we want to know what has possibly made her so scared that she is shivering with fear. Watson then describes her physical state to us, she is described as having a face all drawn and grey, and she is tired with frightened eyes. A simile is used ‘like those of a hunted animal’; this gives the reader a perfect picture of her distress in our minds. Her physical state tells us she is under stress and may not have slept in days due to fear, this again urges the readers to want to know what has happened to her. Mr Holmes then goes on to point out small but meaningful clues about her which tells him where the lady has been that morning. This tells the readers Holmes is experienced with cases and he already has a series of clues in his head. We then see that Holmes is becoming aware of the element of danger; he predicts that there will be horrors before the night is over, and tries to convert his mind to a more cheerful matter, ‘’but we shall have more horrors enough before the night is over: for goodness’ sake let us have a quiet pipe, and turn our minds for a few hours to something more cheerful’’. This creates tension as it tells the viewers even Holmes is scared of the approaching danger, which tells us it must be horrifying as after all that Holmes has seen even he is becoming worried.
Later in the story he advises Watson ,‘’…do not go to sleep; your very life may depend on it. Have your pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the bed and you in that chair.’’ This is the sentence that tells us Holmes is prepared and is aware of what is coming. When he tells Watson not to go to sleep, and that his life depends on it, this builds tension as it shows death is in question and whatever is approaching is so dangerous that it may kill you. This frightens the readers and makes them feel worried and scared for Watson, Holmes and Miss Stoner. Now all the readers can do it sit and wait in suspense, until it is finally revealed what happened to Miss Stoner’s sister.
The second story I am going to explore is ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’. This story is about a woman whose husband has strangely disappeared; the story opens in an opium den. If you’re going to mention the opium den you need to comment on it further. One day as she walks through the back streets of London she looks up at a random window and sees her husband looking down at her. She rushes up to the room but is turned away by the keeper of the house, before she sees her husband. She then returns with the police but all she can find is the local dirty beggar, known to the police as Hugh Boone. This begger is arrested on suspicion of the murder of the husband. However the wife then receives a letter from her husband which means he is possibly not dead. Holmes works out that the beggar is the husband in disguise, and it is soon revealed he has been living a double life.
This story has no suspect as no crime is committed throughout the story.
Tension is first created when one of Watson’s wife’s friends arrives at her house to explain her grief of the previous happenings. ‘’ He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!’’. This creates tension as we immediately assume someone is in potential danger as he is missing. A while after Watson finds Sherlock Holmes inside the opium den, this surprises the readers and Watson as no one knows why he is there. Holmes is testing the reader with his wit and we don’t know what is going on still, and he knows this. Suspense and tension is then created when Conan Doyle describes the time when Mrs St Clair spotted her husband at the strange window, ‘’the window was open and she distinctively saw his face, which she descries as being terribly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly that is seemed to her he had been plucked back by some irresistible force behind.’’ The emphasis of the words is used to create fear and tension, here Mr St Clair has made it look like someone has pulled him from the window to trick his wife into thinking someone else could be keeping him in captive there.
Tension and excitement is further created while Holmes is finding suspects as no one knows where Mr St Clair is, there are no answers. Lastly, tension is created by the, mysterious letter brought to Holmes by Mrs St Clair..Holmes takes great care in opening the letter, ‘’ smoothing it out upon the table, he drew it over the lamp, and examined it intensively.’’ Holmes moves creates tension as his careful examining shows us the very answer to the disappearance of Mr St Clair could be explained in this letter. Holmes soon sees it is not her husbands writing in the letter, but someone else’s - might he be the man who has kidnapped her husband? The mystery goes on. Unlike ‘The Speckled Band’, ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ is a crimeless story; it is full of red-herrings and clues to keep people interested.
The last story I am going to talk about is ‘The Adventure of the Six Napoleons’. The story begins with Sherlock Holmes and Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, talking about the crimes committed by a man who hates Napoleon so much that he will smash any image of him he sees. Suspense and excitement is created when Holmes is suddenly needed, ‘’Come instantly, 131, Pitt Street, Kensington. -- Lestrade.” this suggests to the reader that it must be very important and associated with the case as he is needed instantly. This fills the readers with excitement as you can tell something exciting is about to happen. Tension is next created when Watson is told the story in which Mr. Harker finds a dead man lying on his doorstep, ‘’ Stepping out into the dark I nearly fell over a dead man who was lying there… a great gash in his throat and the whole place swimming in blood. He lay on his back, his knees drawn up, and his mouth horribly open. I shall see him in my dreams.’’ This creates fear as it seems the fanatic has taken a turn for the worst, as now instead of just the bust being smashed, a murder has taken place, this surprises readers as you could have thought that all the fanatic wanted to do was destroy the statues of Napoleon the First. Fear is also created in the way Mr. Harker describes his experience of finding the dead body, he describes it in all its ghastliness. Tension is soon created when we learn that Holmes is about to catch him, and spots the lunatic on his next mission, ‘’and a lithe, dark figure, as swift and active as an ape, rushed up the garden path… There was a long pause, during which we held our breath, and then a very gentle creaking sound came to our ears.’’ This again creates suspense and excitement as we know something big is on the verge to happen. Fear is created in the way the Lunatic is described as he sounds like a scary man physically. Tension in created as we know Holmes and his team are sitting, waiting, in a long pause, it lets us wonder if even Holmes is scared.
To conclude I wish to talk about the detective genre today. As Sherlock Holmes stories were proven so popular in the past, it is no wonder that authors today have carried on the process of detective stories in the way that Conan Doyle did. They are still as popular today because the detective genre keeps the reader interested with its mysteries filled with clues, red- herrings to put you off, and fear, that you feel compelled to read because you know you will always be safe and not in danger watching it. My favourite story is ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ as it is totally unpredictable and surprising. It is strange as in the end you realise no crime has actually been committed; it is different to most of the other stories. I think Sherlock Holmes stories are so widely enjoyed today because of the traditional features of each story, and how they make people feel. Sherlock Holmes stories seem to be more than just reading a book, they are more interactive with the reader and allows them to guess and predict along with Holmes and Watson.
