The Hound Of The Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle lived in London in the late 19th century. His career was not exactly very successful in the early stages of his life. It started as him being a doctor onboard a ship, he was then a general practitioner in Southsea, but this career did not work for him either, and later he became an unsuccessful optician! So Doyle made the decision to dedicate himself to writing. Undoubtedly his most famous works are the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Watson.

They were loved by all the public, who made Holmes a cult figure.

When people read Doyle’s books it allows them to think that they live in a world rid of crime and violence, a safe place with no criminals and murderers nothing like the London in the late 19th century. The novel was written in 1902, the main plot of it is that many years before a member of the Baskerville family, Hugo Baskerville, had beaten a young lady and had kept her in the house as his prisoner.

While at a banquet this lady escapes and runs onto the moor to attempt to escape. Hugo, when he discovers she has escaped gathers his men and chases her onto the moor.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles Essay

Hugo then decides to go ahead and chase the lady personally. After a while, his men come to see whether he has caught the lady, but they are horrified to see that the bodies of Hugo and the lady are lying dead on the floor, they are then terrified at the sight of a Gigantic hound standing over Hugo’s lifeless body, ripping flesh from his throat.

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Since then, it is said that this hound stalks the Baskerville family, and will kill any of the descendents if they wander over the moor at night.

In addition to the legend of the Baskervilles there are many other features that also make the novel successful as a horror and suspense thriller. Firstly, the scene is set on the moor, a barren and desolate place with a very evil reputation “But the moor with its mysteries and its strange inhabitants remains as inscrutable as ever. ” Secondly, within the moor there are many supernatural things such as the Grimpen mire. The Grimpen mire is an area of bog with rather strange tales been told about it.

The novel is set late into the Victorian era. Conan Doyle did not set out to change the world with his novels, but to entertain the Victorians. It is a classic detective story, during the Romantic period of literature. It is a Gothic tale. There are many elements of macabre that link this novel with the Gothic genre. These include the setting in the ‘wild moor’, set at night time. The most important link is that to the ‘phantom’ hound, and especially the eyes. “Its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare.

” There is a strong link to the Gothic genre with the mention of “phosphorescent eyes. ” There is a stereotypical set of characters, the hero, the trusty sidekick, the damsel in distress, and of course the arch-villain (black-sheep). It is all very melodramatic. The hero is Sherlock Holmes, who is very clever and is always right. The sidekick is Dr Watson, who isn’t that clever, and tends to get things wrong. The damsel in distress is Stapleton’s sister (actually Stapleton’s wife). The arch-villain is no other than Stapleton himself.