With Close Reference to two or three episodes, investigate the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Authors Avatar

With Close Reference to two or three episodes, investigate the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in “The Hound Of The Baskervilles”

Identify and explore the different aspects of their relationship and analyse how each one contributes to the enjoyments of the novel.

There are five main points I am going to explain about the different aspects of Holmes and Watson’s relationship and how each point adds to the enjoyment of the novel.

        

The first obvious main point to start with is that the book is Holmes’ biography. All the Sherlock Holmes books are all about what Watson does with Holmes on their cases and at home before and after each case. This particular tale however, is not only based at home and in one other place, it’s based on a few different places like Devonshire, Coombe Tracey etc. Watson always tells the storyline, as he is the biographer of these cases and of Sherlock Holmes’ life. This is evidence of the books authenticity, as this could physically happen in real life. As well as this being the biography of Sherlock Holmes, it is also an autobiography for Watson. It is shown in this book especially, as there are a few chapters where Holmes is not in the book itself, only written to by Watson. We see this point right at the beginning of the book, when it says “Mr Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he stayed up all night, was seated at the breakfast table.” This shows us that Watson has been around Holmes for a while as he even knows and writes what time Holmes wakes up in the morning. This is telling us that Holmes and Watson must have been friends for a number of years because otherwise Watson would not have know about what time Holmes wakes up etc.

Join now!

        

The second main point is that Holmes and Watson are obviously very close friends but although they are such close friends their friendship is very strange as they have a very competitive side to it. The bizarre relationship between Watson and Holmes is shown especially when Holmes is listening to Watson saying what he thinks of the stick, letting Watson think he’s getting it all right when actually Holmes has a completely different answer. Another time Conan Doyle adds to their friendship is by telling us the extent of which they know each other. “For when I see the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay