The dialogue of Watson and Holmes at the beginning of Chapter Six shows tension first by Holmes disagreeing to eliminate the Barrymore couple from enquiries and suspicion and a lot later on as well when Holmes says “you have arms, I suppose?” to Watson. This is foreshadowing a future event of when Watson will need his revolver to save his life which again helps create tension and sucks the reader in and to read on. Additionally Conan Doyle includes a reminder of the legend from Chapter Two and the purpose of this is that it helps keep the reader roped in and continually remind them a the story and is a constant reminder of the legend, this can also create tension for the reader and suspense because of the reader wanting to get to a part about the hell hound with its fiery burning heart full of rage and anger, ready to get its prey.
The part of the story about the journey to Dartmoor, Conan Doyle at this point chooses his language very carefully to help create the atmosphere one of these examples is “Young Baskerville stared eagerly out the window and cried aloud with delight.” This shows a hard sturdy man almost being set free from a cage and finally being able to show his true hidden feelings. Another example is “In the distance a gray, melancholy hill, with a strange jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance.” Shows sadness and emotionless, out of this sentence the word jagged which describes the summit as being sharp, painful and reminds us of a saw which causes pain, hurt and again links to the genre of gothic horror.
A use of speech in Chapter Six heightens the tension, starts a red herring and also foreshadows future events. Apart of the speech is when Dr Mortimer cries “helloa” and “what is this?” which leads the reader into thinking what could be added to the story that hasn’t already happened. Also “it’s Selden, the Notting hill murderer.” Causes the red herring and helps the reader into believing he or she has guessed the stories conclusion and that Selden is using the legend from Chapter Two to hide behind and to cover his tracks. But later on it is shown that Selden has been killed which makes the reader puzzled to who or what could be the murderer and makes the ending more surprising when the conclusion is revealed.
Afterwards a sentence saying “grim suggestiveness of the barren waste, the chilling wind, and the darkling sky. Even Baskerville fell silent and pulled his overcoat more closely around him.” By referring to Baskerville as almost a frightened broken man after earlier when he was described as a strong, bold, brave character which has now shed his masculine shell, revealing him to be open and as vulnerable as everyone else. Again Conan Doyle uses language as the key to making the reader understand the characters emotions and the atmosphere around them.
Afterwards when Watson, Dr Mortimer and Sir Henry arrive at Baskerville Hall a description of “the lodge was ruin of black granite and bared ribs of rafters making its appearance of a skeleton and links to the genre of gothic because of it being pictured as a decayed, perhaps burned down building creating sadness and depression. Another description used is “the house glimmered like a ghost” is a simile to describe the house again linking it to the gothic genre but can create a light in the darkest of places almost like a guardian angel watching over them and to give them hope in solving the mystery without facing any dangers or casualties. Also it creates a passageway to another world where light and dark fight, were heaven and hell clash making the hell hound a possible force. And the “ivy veil” on the front of Baskerville Hall, which again links to the gothic genre because ivy suffocates plants and refers to death. The ivy is described as a “black veil” which at the time women would wear when attending funerals again linking to death.
And finally at the end of the Chapter, the use of repetition reminds the reader of the hound, one of these repeated words is “melancholy moor” from the sentence “the trees a broken fringe of rocks, and the long, low curve of the melancholy moor.” The technique of aural imagery is used, this is when an image is formed and is linked or created by a sound. A few examples are “the chiming clock” creates the illusion of an old, dark scene and “a deathly silence” reminds the reader again of death and of the moment someone is found dead just before the screaming and shock begins. Both of these examples cause a spooky, supernatural image to appear also the use of “the very dead of night” this being the time associated with the supernatural forces, and to finish the chapter of Conan Doyle leaves it on a cliff hanger of who is this women, why is she crying, this again helps make the reader buy the next issue of “The Strand”.
In conclusion, I believe that Conan Doyle uses language to support his novels story and help the read understand what’s happening throughout Hound of the. This was very different from the other Sherlock Holmes stories because Holmes, who favours science, had to go up against the supernatural which is something that he firmly does not believe in. Throughout the book, science and the supernatural are forced to face each other in a clash of knowledge and facts vs. Beliefs and misunderstandings which at first glance one might have believed that the hound really is supernatural and from a different world. However, once Holmes and Watson start using the “observation and deduction” skills, together they soon find that the mystery was never supernatural at all and that science prevailed once again.