The Fifth Novel Written by Arthur Conan Doyle About Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles

The British novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles” was the fifth novel written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The novel was published during the nineteenth century in London. He had decided to write this novel due to a Devon local legend. His friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson had told him about a tale of a ghostly hound wandering around Dartmoor. That tale had sparked his interest in writing a new novel of a hound on the moor of Baskerville Hall. Arthur Conan Doyle already had a successful central character named Sherlock Holmes. So, he decided to use the same character for his new novel. He had visited Dartmoor in 1901 and established the setting for his story, which allowed him to create a visual format within the novel. He had reimagined England in 1889 that formed the time of the story. In “The Hound of the Baskervilles” the main characters are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Sherlock Holmes was a legendary detective who could solve any case that came his way. He had cracked many cases prior to the murder of Sir Charles Baskerville. Now, Watson was a different sort of fellow, he was kind and friendly to anyone he spoke to, even Sherlock Holmes. He was in the action of it all with Sherlock and he helped to identify a lot of suspects in the book while narrating the mystery itself. This essay will discuss the three important materials in the novel, the plot summary, character analysis, and the analysis of the theme.

In the novel, Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson were assigned by Dr. James Mortimer to investigate the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, who was found dead at Baskerville Hall with a shocked expression upon his face. Later Dr. Mortimer informed Sherlock Holmes and Watson about another task. The task of protecting the new heir of Baskerville Hall, Sir Henry Baskerville. In order to protect him, Watson was chosen to accompany Henry to the mansion. During the time Dr. Watson was keeping an eye on Sir Henry, strange events started happening around the moor. Later he found out Holmes was performing a separate investigation of the clues from his observations. Throughout the novel, both characters had specific roles in the story in figuring out the case. Most of the investigations were discovering clues of the misfortunate death of Sir Charles and finding the culprit who did the heinous crime. Therefore, most of the clues found were shocking and unique observations from both Holmes and Watson in moving the story forward. The clues for the investigation kept the suspense going and could keep the reader guessing till the end. This helped the plot move forward effectively in a way the reader could understand, but also keep them on their toes throughout each chapter.

Furthermore, the main characters had helped certain outcomes to surface from their personal attributes and weaknesses within the story. Sherlock Holmes was an interesting character that had a unique way of figuring out certain aspects throughout the case. He knew the ins and outs of the town and could find the suspects to question for information. He was a determined fellow who acted on his instincts to uncover the mystery of who had done the hideous crime in Baskerville Hall. He had a peculiar line of thought that allowed him to be an enthusiast in uncovering certain clues in expanding his observations of the case. Sherlock Holmes had many flaws and weaknesses that went along with his instincts and knowledge. For instance, he did not fully disclose his full plan to other people until they were accomplished. As well as, his professional caution urges him in never to allow anyone to know his course of action. He sometimes lets his eagerness cloud his judgment while following up on several leads. As a result, his agents and assistants have a challenging time being in the shadows of his plans.

Of course, Dr. Watson had a few positive attributes and weaknesses as well throughout the story. Watson was a kind individual that allowed himself not to be overbearing in his interrogations with people. He has good observation skills in reading the body language of people when having a conversation. He watches their eyes in seeing if they are telling the truth or lying to him at certain moments. He had established good attributes from Holmes in conducting his conclusions. He is good at remembering certain events throughout the day helping Sherlock Holmes. Watson has stern confidence that allows him not to need any assistance in his investigations. Also, with that confidence, he sometimes underestimates his own abilities in conductively requiring the correct course of action. Additionally, both the characters had different strengths and weaknesses that helped them interact with other characters in the novel. Therefore, the dialogue from the main characters reflected certain outcomes that caused them to get overconfident in certain aspects in the story.

The novel’s dialogue from the characters had made the action come to life as each moment kept building upon suspense. The dialogue impacted the interaction of the characters with unexpected events that caught their attention in unique instances in the novel. For example, Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry had concluded their visit with Sherlock and Watson. When they left the building, Sherlock called out to Watson saying, “Your hat and boots, Watson, quick! Not a moment to lose!”. Holmes was eager to follow Dr. Mortimer and Sir Henry as they were walking back to their hotel. This would give him the perfect opportunity to either identify or locate the culprit of the murder. As Holmes and Watson followed, they noticed a cab across the street that started moving inches forward as they started walking again. Then Holmes exclaimed, “There’s our man, Watson! Come along! We’ll have a good look at him if we can do no more”. He was excited that he had found a lead to his investigation that he negatively forgot to think of a strategic plan in pursuing the cab. Therefore, his flaw and weakness had affected their mission in identifying the person in the cab, besides noticing the license plate. Even though Holmes’ weakness had cost them in successfully identifying the culprit, it was able to give them another lead to the cab driver. As they were searching for different leads to the investigation, Holmes had forgotten about the incident with the cab. Watson then kindly reminded Holmes saying, “We have still the cabman who drove the spy”. Watson’s positive attributes allowed him to assist his friend in remembering that unexpected event, which gave Holmes a positive outlook on the investigation. For instance, “Exactly. I have wired to get his name and address from the Official Registry. I should not be surprised if this were an answer to my question”. Holmes's connection with Watson had helped him recollect his positive enthusiasm in moving onto another lead in the case. The characters had bounced back and forth with helping each other in tough situations.

Plot Moving Forward:

The theme throughout the novel allowed ideas to follow in different directions that kept the suspense going, but also collided back to a cohesive conclusion. The theme of this novel is a mystery format. Arthur Conan Doyle had designed the novel to allow the reader to figure out who was the murderer. For example, Sherlock Holmes had noticed some portraits of the Baskerville family on a wall and was mesmerized by a particular portrait. Watson noticed his friend's interest in the portrait and was astonished to what he had discovered. The face of Stapleton had visually appeared as Holmes and Watson started to examine it closer. Watson Exclaimed, “…this is Marvellous. It might be his portrait”. He was shocked that Stapleton could possibly be an heir to the Baskerville family. The theme of this novel showed itself that a mystery can go in different directions for each of the characters good or bad. The theme allows the reader to be surprised in every chapter till the end. For example, “The fellow is a Baskerville – that is evident.” … “This chance of the picture has supplied us with one of our most obvious missing links. We have him, Watson”. The theme overall had expressed a lot of clever illustrations between the two characters in solving the case. The novel showed a lot of the themes throughout it moving the story forward between each individual character.