The Hound Of Baskervilles Essay, Research Paper
The Hound of Baskervilles
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hound of Baskervilles is a fictional mystery written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Hound of Baskervilles was first published into book form in nineteen hundred twenty-seven by Liberty Weekly. Being one of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries The Hound of Baskervilles, is a very well known book.
The setting of The Hound of Baskervilles is very significant to the story. Set in the seventeenth century in London then moving to a suburb of London, Devonshire, where the mystery begins. Sherlock Holmes and Watson live in London, and run their private detective agency from London. They live in a very nice area of the city, and most people there are quite wealthy. Sherlock Holmes and Watson are both kind of loners, and they don’t have any family. One of the other characters Sir Henry Baskerville, who is coming to London to claim the estate of his deceased uncle, Sir Charles Baskerville, has family in the United States where he has lived his whole life. Sir Henry Baskerville has come to London to claim the estate that was left to him by his uncle who died of “fright.” The mystery begins to evolve when Sherlock Holmes finds a cane in his home and does not know who it belongs to. A man by the name of Dr. Mortimer comes to claim the cane, but he also came with a job for Sherlock Holmes and Watson. He has reason to believe that Sir Charles Baskerville was murdered, and that Sir Henry is next. He has a document that talks of the Hound of Baskervilles, which is supposed to the be the thing behind the murders, because it doesn’t want anyone living on the Baskerville Hall.
Sherlock Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville, being the main characters and protagonists, are “round” or well developed. Sherlock Holmes is trying to solve the mystery of the “Hound of Baskervilles,” and keep Sir Henry safe. Sir Henry doesn’t believe he is in any danger, but that will change. “The Hound of Baskervilles,” the antagonist, is the mystery behind the murder of Sir Charles and causes many difficulties for Sherlock and Watson, in solving the murder. The stock or supporting characters are Dr. Mortimer and Cecil. Dr. Mortimer is the most important stock character, because he helps Watson and Sherlock Holmes in solving the mystery. Selden is the “flat” character because he is an escaped convict, who is thought to be the one behind the murders, but then ends up being murdered by the “Hound.”
These characters are revealed through the plot. Set in Devonshire, London Sherlock Holmes and Watson are working hard to solve the mystery of “the Hound of Baskervilles.” The main plot is the fact that they don’t know the real identity of the hound and solving the mystery. The main episode of the plot is when the hound kills Selden the escaped convict, which leaves Sherlock and Watson without a suspect anymore. The main conflict of the plot is when Sherlock Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville find out that Sir Henry has more family in Devonshire, Stapleton and Cecil, at first they do not know that they are family, but he finds that out toward the end of the story. The climax of the plot is when Holmes, Mortimer, and Stapleton go into a mine to find evidence, but a cave-in almost trapped Holmes, which was probably planned. The outcome of the plot is when Holmes kills the hound just before it tries to kill Sir Henry and they find out that it is just a regular dog wearing a mask. The ending of the story is surprised because Sir Henry is beginning to fall in love with Cecil, but he then finds out that she hates him and is a decedent of Sir Hugo Baskerville, and they are related. He also finds out that Cecil and Stapleton want control of the Baskerville Hall, so they used the legend of the hound kill of the family, so they could inherit the estate.
The tone of the book is very suspenseful, because you never know what is going to happen next, and it keeps you interested throughout the book. The foreshadowing is tragic because people keep getting murdered, and they are having a hard time finding out why. I believe that this really could happen, because when people don’t get what they want they will do just about anything to get it.
The tone of this book changes throughout the story, in the beginning of the book Sherlock Holmes and Watson are confused about the cane and the mystery of the hound, they things start to come together and they begin to solve the mystery. The foreshadowing is tragic because they have been trying to solve a murder without getting anyone else killed at the same time. This story really could happen because people will do just about anything to get what they want and in this case Cecil and Stapleton are willing to kill their own family member to gain control of Baskerville Hall. The tone of the book is dramatic because there is a murderer on the loose and they are working hard to find that person before that person kills again. An ironic thing that happens in the story is that Cecil and Stapleton make friends with Sir Henry, Sherlock Holmes, and Watson, and they are the ones behind all the murders, and Sir Henry is next on their list.
The point of view of the book is first person, by Watson. His basic point of view is unbiased, and the narrators’ views agree with the author and the protagonist. The controlling idea, image, or symbol of the book is finding out who the murder is and finding out what the hound really is. The overall theme of the book is that you shouldn’t come to any conclusions about anything until you take a good look at the situation and know all the facts. The theme of the book is more realism than anything else, because all this could actually happen. I personally agree with the theme of this book because I wouldn’t want people to judge me based on false information, so I think that all crimes should be investigated to their full extent.
The title does give some clue to the meaning of the book because it gives you an idea that it is something about a hound, but it doesn’t give away the whole story. The setting doesn’t give much clue to the meaning of the book because this could happen anywhere not just in Devonshire. The characters also give clue to the meaning of the book because Sherlock Holmes and Watson solve mysteries for a living and that is what they are doing in the story, and all the other characters are mysterious in their own ways. The plot also gives a clue to the meaning of the book, because Sherlock and Watson are spending most of their time gathering facts to solve the mystery of the hound, and find the murderer. The tone also gives a clue to the meaning of the book, because the tone keeps changing throughout the story and it keeps the readers’ attention. The meaning of the book is very significant, because Sherlock Holmes and Watson make sure they have enough evidence to convict someone of the crime and they work very hard on their case to be sure they have the right person. I thought this book was very interesting, it kept my interest, and there was always some new development, it didn’t drag on about one thing for very long. I would recommend it for anyone to read.