The Speckled Band is about a mystery where a daughter is found killed in her room with no clues to what had caused her death. The woman who was killed was called Julia, and she had a sister called Helen, their father was Dr. Roylott. Helen goes to see Holmes and Watson explains why she is there. Holmes and Helen go into conversation and she tells him about her mother who died and left a sum of money to be shared. She finds out that Dr. Roylott had been following her and Dr. Roylott later confronts Holmes. Doyle then describes the scene of crime when Holmes goes to their house to investigate. The layout is described and Helen tells Holmes about the night Julia died. Holmes finds a dummy lever and vent and then solves the mystery. Julia was killed by a snake which traveled to her room through the vent. In the process there is a description of a foreign country, India to make it interesting and Watson comes to a wrong conclusion about the death which happens in most of Doyle’s stories.
The features of the genre (mainly a typical Sherlock Holmes Mystery by Doyle) are an event taking place at the start which creates interest. It then goes into Holmes investigating, picking up clues that keeps tension and interest, followed by a surprise or red herring and eventually Holmes solving the case revealing everything. The setting is usually in the countryside (rural), compared with Baker Street (urban). Doyle uses pathetic fallacy in his stories to create the atmosphere, his most common devices are storm, smog, fog and pollution, the pollution also criticizes the society in which he is in. The main feature of the genre was the contemporary issue, I think that is why most people followed it so dearly. There was the division of the rich and poor and most of Doyle’s stories are about the rich. Doyle uses Holmes and the setting to of his stories and mysteries to criticize society. Doyle always follows a proven formula in his stories. Holmes is a well-developed character and his main feature is his arrogance shown in all Doyle’s stories, apart from one, The Man With the Twisted Lip. It was easy for people to relate to as the locations and issues were all familiar to the readers. Doyle uses all these and makes his stories effective because people liked reading about it and could relate easily to it.
Doyle has a very structured approach to characterisation in his stories. It is two dimensional and ranges from Holmes and Watson which is strong, to the villains, and to the victims which is weak. The Cardboard Box is full of Holmes’s arrogance with quotes such as “That is my trade”, “I have found out everything”, “I choose to be associated only with those crimes which present some difficulty in their solution”. This is also true in The Red-Headed League when he says, “My poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer a shipwreck, if I am so candid” and "Ha! Our party is complete". His arrogance is his main character and it is shown in most his mysterious but there is a change in The Man With The Twisted Lip when Holmes is shown as a more humane character as he shows sympathy and is consoling towards other people. He also realizes that he isn’t omnipotent when he meets his match in The Final Problem as there is someone as intelligent as him and they both end up dying. Doyle has kept accurate characterization in all his stories, even with Watson. Watson is shown as a sidekick and a loyal friend to Holmes. In the Cardboard Box, Holmes says, “You have followed me wonderfully”. In other stories such as The Final Problem, Watson tries to think like Holmes and is actually trying to be him. In the Twisted Lip, Holmes says to Watson, “You have a gift of silence it makes you quite invaluable as a companion” which is quite ironic because it makes you think that if he says nothing and comes to wrong conclusions, how does he help Holmes? Doyle may have included Watson to praise Holmes even more and depict him as a perfect human.
Watson only serves as a vehicle of admiration for Holmes. "You have followed me wonderfully!" is the only time Watson gets to say something like that in the Cardboard Box but it doesn’t even have anything to do with the case which shows that Watson never gets any glory. In some stories Watson also comes to wrong conclusions and I think Doyle has done this to lead readers to red herrings and it also allows them to solve the case for themselves before Holmes reveals everything. In the Speckled Band Watson merely follows Holmes as Holmes solves everything and Watson’s theory is wrong.
Doyle has unique style. It has a structure and formula; his stories always have and explanation at the end. In every story it starts with a basic plot, usually someone coming to Holmes. (In the Cardboard Box Holmes received a letter for help and in the Speckled Band Miss Stoner came to Holmes.) In the middle Doyle drops clues leaving the readers to solve the crime themselves and he successfully creates tension. This then leads to a build up of mystery and is eventually solved and revealed by Holmes. The main settings of Doyle’s stories are in London and urban, and there is usually a contrast with the countryside. Doyle uses the countryside to his advantage with the heavy fog in The Hound of the Baskervilles and the pathetic fallacy adds to create a vivid and eerie atmosphere as most crimes take place in the fog and at night. The reader can relate to the story and get involved easily, (that is why it is effective) as everything is familiar such as, “Streets of London”, “pervades London”, “Strand End to Lowther Arcade”, “Victoria”. Doyle also shows off his own knowledge with references to exotic place in the Cardboard Box and The Speckled Band, he describes India. This isn’t all as in the Final Problem, he has Holmes traveling around the whole of Europe. Most of Doyle’s stories have a cold atmosphere, especially the Speckled Band. He describes the woman’s heavy clothing and uses lines such as “light the fire”, “sitting by the fire”. In other stories it is “winter of that year”, and “early spring”. I think Doyle uses the cold to show what urban life was like in London. Doyle always creates tension and suspense in his stories which is a highlight of the detective genre. After Doyle, there were shared conventions across the genre and everything is not given away, he keeps you thinking. The Speckled Band has tension right at he beginning and so does the Cardboard Box. The Speckled Band starts in the cold and has phrases such as, “Fear. It is terror” and “Dark enough, sinister enough”. The comparison of the cozy, warm fire to the “Grey”, description of Miss Stoner also creates an atmosphere as she is described to be in a “pitiable state” with “frightened eyes”, this implies what the rest of the story is going to be about, something terrible that has happened to Helen Stoner which has made her like that. The Cardboard Box starts with an article in a newspaper and it says, “revolting practical joke unless some more sinister meaning should prove to be attached to the incident”, and this sets the scene of the story. Other stories such as Red Headed League, Hound of the Baskervilles, and The Final Problem all involve guns, and so violence, resulting in death.
I think the most important reason for Doyle’s success was that he creatively critisised the society he lived in at the time and most people read the stories because of the social context. Sherlock Holmes was what everyone dreamed about at the time with the problems of the corrupt police force and the terrorism of Jack the Ripper. He is made to seem better than everyone else and is portrayed as the only person who can put a stop to Jack the Ripper. Even though Doyle had strong feelings towards the police force, he still mentions in his stories that they are brave. This is quite clever as it shows he is not biased and he won’t get into trouble for saying anything. All the crimes are solved by Holmes as everyone know that he is better than the police. Doyle tackles the fact of drug abuse at the time. The Man With the Twisted Lip is a great example as it is set in back alleys of streets where there are many opium dens. “Much addicted to opium”, “slave to the drug”, “opium den” all show this. Holmes also keeps smoking all the time and it somehow helps him relax and helps his thinking. The social division of the rich and poor is shown as all Holmes’s cases are being solved for the rich, this also reflects on his arrogance as only the rich can afford him. The Speckled Band shows that money can drive a father to kill his own daughter. “How could she, a young and timid woman make her way into such a place”, “Pluck her husband…ruffians”, “heavily dressed”, “emigrant ship”, all show the rich and poor division. Doyle also implies that pollution could lead to more crimes. This is because in his stories most of the crimes are committed in the smog and pollution where it is hard to get caught. He also shows through Holmes’s eyes the state of pollution and how bad it is, it is like a message to the readers about what state they are living in. The fog plays a role in building tension and leading Holmes to the crime. The turn of the century was when science and religion was debated. All of Doyle’s stories have an explanation at the end that proves science. Doyle never mentions religion or superstition. The Speckled Band has an ending which has a logical explanation of the snake and the whistle while the Cardboard Box explains why the severed ears were sent.
The genre has moved on since then and our knowledge today helps us asses the early detective fiction. Some aspects of the early fiction has remained in the detective fiction today and some of it has been left behind. A few things make it seem dated. Doyle has slow-moving plot with a formula he always uses, this makes it predictable and two-dimensional. The hagiography of Holmes is unbelievable. Technology has moved on and most prefer fast paced action and most of the stories today involve ‘high-tech gadgets’ to solve crimes. The relationship of the genre to violence today is dated. The things that have been left behind are the slow-pace two-dimensional plots. There isn’t a formulaic approach today as the action and scene of crime is shown straight away in books or in movies. Prudish Victorian values are no longer used as the stories tackle today’s ideas and peoples way of thinking. There isn’t total admiration for the detective today, they make mistakes but still usually come out on top. In Doyle’s stories, we didn’t know what Holmes saw through his eyes, it was a veiled approach, today everything is shown to make it more vivid. Things have also remained in detective fiction today to keep the genre active and popular. The plot is easily accessed by the reader as they are taken into it and can relate to present issues. The detective has an archenemy or nemesis. There is also tension between the main characters such as good and bad. Some stories even involve a sidekick like Watson. Therefore detective fiction was popular in the 19th century and still is today because people can relate to it and it has the essence of tension and suspense throughout.
