The Hound of the Baskervilles (Annotated): Sherlock Holmes Series

By Arthur Conan Doyle and Lucy McKennie

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's timeless Sherlock Holmes series has inspired countless lives since it was first published in Beeton's Christmas Annual on December 1st, 1887.

This unique edition from BayMar Publishing contains a biography of this accomplished author that provides insight into the life of the man behind the pen and what events insp

• Language: English
• Publisher: BayMar Publishing
• Release date: Jun 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9781998753208

Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle was a British writer and physician. He is the creator of the Sherlock Holmes character, writing his debut appearance in A Study in Scarlet. Doyle wrote notable books in the fantasy and science fiction genres, as well as plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction, and historical novels.

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INTRODUCTION

About the Author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Author and doctor from Scotland, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is most well-known for creating the fictional investigator Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle, the second of ten children, was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was an artist, and his mother was a housekeeper.

Before earning his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh, Conan Doyle attended Stonyhurst College, a Jesuit institution in Lancashire. After finishing medical school, he served as a ship’s surgeon and eventually opened his clinic in Plymouth. Around this time, he started penning short stories and essays that would eventually become his first book, 1883’s The Narrative of John Smith.

Most people know Conan Doyle for his invention Sherlock Holmes, who made his debut in A Study in Scarlet. In due course, the detective became a hit, and Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-six short stories centred on him. In addition to the Sherlock Holmes tales, Conan Doyle wrote various other works (Wilson, 2019). Books on topics as diverse as the Boer War and spiritualism sit alongside works of fiction and theatre. Writing about topics like the rights of the accused and the treatment of prisoners, he was also a vocal supporter of fairness in society.

Despite his literary brilliance, Conan Doyle experienced financial hardships throughout his life. For a pitiful price, he was compelled to sell the rights to the Sherlock Holmes tales, and it was not until after his passing that the character’s actual worth was appreciated. On July 7, 1930, at 71, Conan Doyle left this world. His books continue to be widely read and adapted for film and television, cementing his legacy as one of history’s most essential and revered authors.

Literary Critique of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’

In The Hound of the Baskervilles novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author illustrates four significant elements in his portion of work, and they comprise the author’s technique of giving clues, characterization, setting, and the central conflict.

The book The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is among the top mysteries I have ever read again and again because it is remarkable. The superhuman detective, Holmes, is requested to investigate Charles Baskerville’s death, which is thought to be ferocious Hound’s work, a curse brought by Hugo Baskerville’s misdeeds. Sir Henry inherits the estate, and Holmes is to solve the mystery before another Baskerville encounters their end.

The novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, entails one of the most complex plots of any mystery; it also comprises various unexpected twists that keep an individual reading until its engrossing, suspenseful climax. Predominantly illuminating and pleasing is the light The Hound of the Baskervilles novel sheds on late Victorian susceptibilities, mainly in areas that are highly charged, to put it carefully, that is now deemed to be. The setting is well organized, and the danger of the foggy moor adds only to the drama. The action of Holmes further adds to the novel’s atmosphere and suspense.

Upon meeting Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Mortimer says, (22) I had hardly expected so dolichocephalic a skull or such well-marked supra-orbital development. Would you object to my running my finger along your parental fissure? I confess that I covet your skull. I had never anticipated such an early anthropological exemplary example practice in Doyle because, during this time, anthropologists had not studied the native people’s culture; instead, they needed their skulls. Similarly, the evolution ladder is applied to classes and races (the poor, blacks, and the offenders are assumed to be closer to animals, and ‘empirical’ evidence verifies this assumption.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is an individual who is not indeed a devoted follower of such theories; despite the cost incurred to ethnic inferiors, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels provide delightful and wonderful sensibilities slices of the late 19th century. Archaeologically minded individuals need to find the novel The Hound of the Baskervilles and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle particularly of extreme interest. In the novel, a person can observe racial science ‘rationally’ applied and to effect by the practice’s practitioners.

As the reader follows the novel’s plot, the central conflict in the story is between the curse and the Baskervilles that seems to haunt them. Sir Henry’s danger from conspiratorial Stapleton is real enough. Watson and Holmes, of course, Sir Henry; thus, they are on the positive side against the evil epitomized by Stapleton. Stapleton does not admit to being shocked at the dead man’s identity, and Watson and Holmes do not guarantee they know if Stapleton is guilty of murder.

Stapleton’s hounding initially of Sir Charles Baskerville and then stemming of Sir Henry from a family conflict finally. Since Stapleton is Sir Henry’s distant cousin, he has an eye on securing the Baskerville estate personally. The conflict in the novel takes a fascinating extra dimension: the opposition between superstition and rationalism. The Hound, therefore, motivates all the fear since it is thought to be a demon (as explained by the lurid legend associated with Dr. Mortimer’s initial in the novel). Thus, Holmes must expose all the fear surrounding the forbidding Grimpen Mire, the gloomy, lonely moor, and the Hound. In the end, Holmes’s scientific rationalism triumphs, and finally, he confidently remarks, saying, (212) ‘I do not know that this place contains any secret which we have not already fathomed.’

As the reader follows the novel’s plot, person vs. person is another central conflict in the setting, and Holmes attempts to solve the dog owner’s killer. A wealthy family-owning Baskerville mansion named the Baskervilles is vanishing by a killer dog. Holmes and his counterpart Watson indulge themselves in a case to investigate the individual who trained the dog to carry out such a malicious act and why the owner would do so. In the story, Dr. Mortimer remembers visiting Baskerville’s murder site, stating, Mr. Holmes, (36) they were the footprints of a gigantic hound! Dr. Mortimer is speaking on how Baskerville’s murder was, illustrating that the murder was done by a hound and not a human being. Holmes sends out Watson to watch the Baskerville mansion and find clues. Watson remembers in the text in the book he heard (133), It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it died away. Again and again, it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild, and menacing. The baronet caught my sleeve, and his face glimmered white through the darkness. (Interpretation) the legend narrates that the Hound is the family’s curse, which the dog will kill for old crime vengeance. Stapleton is the main antagonist employing this narrative to cause the death of Charles Baskerville, the heirs, therefore introducing the chain of events. However, character conflict vs. central character was initiated by the rogue’s attempts to kill Henry Baskerville to clear the path to receive the family’s wealth.

The second central element is the setting of the novel. The novel closes with Holmes stating to Watson (227), Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini’s for a little dinner on the way? following the novel’s plot, there is no moment in the setting where an individual does not know the novels setting. The novel opens with Watson and Holmes in Holmes’s office, with 1884 as the date, in London. Because the novel was written in 1884, it provides a good structure for evidence and events throughout the book. (81) Rolling pasture lands curved upward on either side of us, and old gabled houses peeped out from amid the thick green foliage, but behind the peaceful and sunlit countryside, there rose ever, dark against the evening sky, the long, gloomy curve of the moor, broken by the jagged and sinister hills. Since the countryside offsets the moor and is peaceful, it gives the moor a creepier mysterious feature than when the whole country is mysterious. (214) It was the end of November, and Holmes and I sat, upon a raw and foggy night, on either side of a blazing fire in our sitting room in Baker Street. (Interpretation) The Hound of the Baskervilles is set in Devonshire County, England, and London, where the Moor and Baskerville Hall are situated. London is illustrated as crowded and confined, representing modernity and familiarity.

The third central element is Characterization; Dr. Watson, who is incapacitated by fear, observes ahead (204), I sprang to my feet, my inert hand grasping my pistol, my mind paralyzed by the horrible shape which had sprung out upon [him] from the shadows of the fog. A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Can the feared Hound exist? Holmes Sherlock doubts this, but Dr. Mortimer trusts that the dreaded Hound exists in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles; the contrast between supernatural and natural avails itself as the novel’s central theme. The family physician, Dr. Mortimer, approaches Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes with a case where the two detectives must determine if the Baskerville family’s curse is real. The two that continuously face the difference between fantasy and truth accept the case. The theme of supernatural versus natural emerges through characterization and propels readers to read the novel further.

Characterization strengthens the theme by showing what every character feels about whether or not Baskervilles’ Hound exists. Dr. Mortimer, Holmes’s friend, visits him, and the two discuss Hound’s existence. Since Mortimer believes in the supernatural beast, he states, (40) there is a realm in which the most acute and experienced detectives is helpless. Mortimer doubts Sherlock Holmes’s abilities in this case since the supernatural Hound might exist. Nevertheless, Holmes does not fully believe this beast is supernatural and warns Sir Henry Baskerville to be cautious. Holmes watched him and said this to him (79)‘‘ bear in mind, Sir Henry, one of the phrases in that queer old legend which Dr. Mortimer has read to us and avoid the moor in those hours of darkness when the powers of evil are exalted. Later, Holmes says this to Watson, (78)‘‘ keep your revolver near you night and day, and never relax your precautions. Holmes doubts the fear exhibited by all the others and remains firmly, not believing fully that the beast is a supernatural being. (Interpretation) Holmes, the 221b Baker Street famed investigator, has the trademark pipe and hat, hawked nose, and keen eyes. He is personified by intuition and observation, and though Holmes takes a back seat to Watson, in the novel, we constantly feel Holmes’ presence as a reader.

In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes applies deductive methods in solving the mystery; the storyline is convenient as it adds further suspense and mystery. Holmes reveals one clue at a time, keeping the reader on the edge of their seats, wanting to read more through the next novel’s page. According to Sherlock Holmes quote, There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you. Holmes articulated this quote after all the clues he had became nothing to him again. The book is about the Hound of the Baskervilles legend, who was the devil-beast haunting the solitary moors around Baskervilles’ home return. It was dictated that the Hound of the Baskervilles would kill any Baskervilles’ offspring if they continually endeavored on the moor. In the story, some clues are most significant to Holmes in solving the case of Baskervilles. The letter received by Sir Charles on his death day, the letter received by Sir Henry Baskerville directing him to stay away from the moor, and Sherlock Homes portrait deliberates that it Mr. Stapleton look-like.

Initially, Sir Henry Baskerville received the letter advising him to stay away from the moor. The letter that Sir Henry received stated, As you value your life, or your reason, keep away from the moor. All words in the letter were trimmed from yesterday’s Times, excluding only a single word written out, and the word was a moor since that was the single word that could not be found on the print with the author. The letter was anonymously waiting for Sir Henry Baskerville as soon as he entered the hotel. Sir Henry’s letter was one of many received in solving the Baskervilles case.

Secondly, Sir Charles received a letter from an individual with L.L. initials on his death day. The letter asks Sir Charles to avail himself at the gate at his death’s time. Mortimer illustrates to Watson that the initials could mean Lyons Laura. Dr. Watson then proceeds to meet Ms. Lyons Laura and blackmails her for her to elaborate for him about the agreement she made before.

In Summary, the legend describes that the family curse is the Hound, which the dog will kill to revenge the old crime. The main antagonist is Stapleton; he employs this narrative to cause Charles Baskerville’s death, the heir, thus introducing the chain of events. Moreover, the rogues initiate character conflict vs. the central character in an attempt to kill Henry Baskerville to clear the path to receive the family’s wealth. On the other hand, the setting of Hound of the Baskervilles is in Devonshire County, England, and London, where the Moor and Baskerville Hall are situated. London is pre-empted to be a crowded, confined place representing modernity and familiarity. Holmes, the 221b Baker Street famed detective, has the trademark pipe and hat, hawked nose, and keen eyes. Holmes is personified by intuition and observation, and though he takes a back seat to Watson, in the novel, an individual (a reader) can continually feel Holmes’ presence.

The Hound of the Baskervilles novel exhibits Doyle’s xenophobia characteristic, with Moriarty as a possible exception; he is an international criminal after all, rather than an English criminal; the rogue Holmes struggles with foreigners regularly, illustrating that the crimes he deals with have their originality from distant events or foreigners. The story’s sufferers are rogues who mistreat a young girl and an old man, that are the most individuals who deserve their deaths and protection; instead, the rogue is a punisher saved by the higher judge from the scaffolds and dies with a smile as if watching back a well-done deed.

Critical assessment of the work: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not only create a captivating and passionately general character but instead had a significant influence over the way offenders’ cases are solved. Sherlock Holmes is the first individual to apply forensics in solving cases. In the duration when hearsay created the fundamentals for the guiltiest judgments, Holmes examined fingerprints, bullet trajectory, and blood splatters. Holmes was the first to stress the significance of a sterilized crime scene during law keepers’ investigation. After the stories were narrated approximately thirty-eight years, the first forensic laboratory was established by Frenchman Edmond Locard, who initiated principle exchange, which literates that when two or more things get in contact, they leave a trace on each other.

Thus, Sherlock Holmes is a good illustration of how fiction/literature can, at times, have a long-lasting impact on society, leading to the new expansion in critical fields. Following the novel’s play is exciting and led to Michael Atkinson, a professor of comparative literature and English at U.C., getting an Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1997 for The Hound of the Baskervilles the novel.

Sherlock Holmes is among the favorite literary characters as he represented the shift in how police investigations are handled; he was brilliant, dedicated, and passionate. For one hundred years before forensic science became common, Sherlock Holmes already used microscopes to help him differentiate various dirt stains. Also, he was developing methods to use in recognizing poisons. Sherlock Holmes appealed to all backgrounds, nationalities, and age groups; indeed, he was a fictional hero.

Chapter 1

Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a Penang lawyer. Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H., was engraved upon it, with the date 1884. It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry--dignified, solid, and reassuring.

Well, Watson, what do you make of it?

Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him no sign of my occupation.

How did you know what I was doing? I believe you have eyes in the back of your head.

I have, at least, a well-polished, silver-plated coffee-pot in front of me, said he. But, tell me, Watson, what do you make of our visitor’s stick? Since we have been so unfortunate as to miss him and have no notion of his errand, this accidental souvenir becomes of importance. Let me hear you reconstruct the man by an examination of it.

I think, said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who know him give him this mark of their appreciation.

Good! said Holmes. Excellent!

I think also that the probability is in favour of his being a country practitioner who does a great deal of his visiting on foot.

Why so?

Because this stick, though originally a very handsome one has been so knocked about that I can hardly imagine a town practitioner carrying it. The thick-iron ferrule is worn down, so it is evident that he has done a great amount of walking with it.

Perfectly sound! said Holmes.

And then again, there is the ‘friends of the C.C.H.’ I should guess that to be the Something Hunt, the local hunt to whose members he has possibly given some surgical assistance, and which has made him a small presentation in return.

Really, Watson, you excel yourself, said Holmes, pushing back his chair and lighting a cigarette. "I am bound to say that in all the accounts which you have been so good as to give of my own small achievements you have habitually underrated your own abilities. It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.