Section 2
A lot of the success of the Hound of the Baskervilles comes from the hero-Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is a character that lives an odd sort of life. He’s eccentric and almost un-human.
An example of his eccentricity is that he sometimes stays up all night, thus waking up late. Also, Dr. Mortimer, a phrenologist, spots that Holmes’ skull has a strange shape.
A detective must be able to solve problems, and Holmes finds solving problems easy. A piece of evidence for this is that when he gets some clues, he says things like ‘interesting, but elementary.’
Holmes is probably the best detective in all of Europe and the main reason for that, I think, is because of his wide knowledge-Holmes corrects Watson when he comes to wrong conclusions and he even knows about the inner workings of hospitals. Holmes is a good observer. He’s always looking for clues. This is evident when he saw the manuscript in Dr. Mortimer’s pocket. He even dated the manuscript to a close date.
Holmes is only interested in facts and evidence. He’s not interested in fiction. This is evident when Holmes has an air of resignation as Mortimer begins to read the legend and how he yawns and tosses his cigarette end into the fire at the end of the legend.
When Watson’s conclusions were wrong, Holmes made gentle fun out of him. This is shown to be true when he speaks with a mischievous smile. And when Mortimer describes Holmes as the second best expert in Europe, Holmes gets angry and tries to disprove him by saying he’s even worked for the biggest person in the world, the Pope. This shows the reader that Holmes is proud of his abilities.
Section 3
Stapleton is a worthy opponent for Holmes for many reasons. He is clever because he uses a false identity. His real name is Baskerville, although this is not revealed until the end of the story. Also, Stapleton is an archaeologist and a naturalist.
Stapleton is clever enough to use nature as a tool. He knows his way around the Grimpen Mire if he is exposed and needs to go into hiding. He also had the courage and intelligence to train the hound to cause death.
Another reason for why Stapleton is a worthy opponent for Holmes is because when he is against Holmes, his intelligent and devious plans challenges Holmes and so it puts a doubt in your mind about who’s going to come out on top. You feel that Holmes and Stapleton are almost equal.
Section 4
The location of Dartmoor adds to the interest of the story because it’s spooky. This is backed by the fact that there are ancient monuments in Dartmoor, there are tors, there is a prison in Dartmoor and it’s usually foggy.
The death of the Hound is the climax of the story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses Doctor Watson for the first person. Doyle uses very active and violent words like ‘burst,’ ‘grasping’ and sprang. He uses repetition to build emotion and pace. Here is an example of the repetition; ‘more savage, more appalling, more hellish.’ This repetition helps create the fear.
Doyle uses alliteration to make an impact-flickering flame, delirious dream of a disordered brain, crisp, continuous and crawling. This also helps build up the pace.
Conclusion
Holmes caught the imagination of the original readers for many reasons. I think the main reason for this is because he is different compared to everyone else; He stays up late at night, he takes heroin to calm his mind (it was legal to take heroin over a hundred years ago) and the fact that he’s got a strange shaped skull (as noticed by Dr. Mortimer).
Holmes was adventurous and exciting. The reader liked this because then he himself would get excited. Holmes was like a good friend to a reader. This is backed by the fact that when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill his character off, the public didn’t like this and Doyle received death threat warnings to keep Holmes alive.
Another reason for why Holmes caught the reader’s attention is because he amazes them. The fact that Holmes got all that information from just a man’s walking stick baffles the reader. Also, in the late 1800’s, Victorian people feared crime greatly and public hangings were common. At this time, an infamous murderer, Jack the Ripper, was loose on the streets of London. He ruthlessly murdered many prostitutes, often sending the police force body parts to show off his crime. Still, the police couldn’t catch him. That’s why many Victorians felt they weren’t been protected by the police. So when Sherlock Holmes came, they (the Victorians) immediately fell for Holmes because they liked the fact that he cracked every case and defeated evil. The readers also liked Holmes because of the fact that he’s always one step ahead of everyone else.
