How Suspense Is Maintained in The Hound of the Baskervilles - Essay Example

How Suspense is maintained in The Hound of the Baskervilles s Introduction The Houndof the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle starts with a mystery. The Baskerville family is being haunted by ghosts for quite some time. After the death of Sir Charles Baskerville, Sir Henry, who is one of his descendants takes over the ownership of the Baskerville estate. Henry receives a warning letter asking him to stop being involved in the estate. Sir Henry then requests Sherlock Holmes to carry out an investigation of the mystery. In the process, various mysteries are to be solved. From here, Watson and Holmes attempt to investigate the cause of the mysterious events. To that effect, the story combines a strange legend, ghost story, and a Gothic atmosphere. Therefore, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss how Doyle goes about maintaining suspense in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Discussion Suspense is a considerable topic since it both permits us to address our fears in a safe manner and fascinates humans. Cypert writes, “A reader enjoys suspense because of the benefit to the self” (2008, p.12). The greatest strength of the Hound of the Baskerville is the atmosphere that is driven by a suggestive suspense. In the story, Doyle uses plenty of homour and suspense. Sir Henry asks Watson, “Just tell me what it all means...and I’ll owe you more than ever I can hope to pay” (Doyle, 1993, p.231). Typically, it is Sir Henry who wants to be informed on what is going one since his Baskerville bloodline is at risk of being killed. Here, Sir Henry is asking Watson to explain what is has been got by that time since they were detectives. Henry is asking a question that will reveal the whole mystery in the story. This creates situational irony. As a result, the readers keep anticipating of what will happen based on what Watson will answer. The other way in which Doyle maintains suspense is the use of historical setting. The story is set in Devonshire and London. Suspense as well as mystery is maintained by having two major settings. The contrast of the settings demonstrates a city along with an empty countryside. As the story starts we read, “As you value your life....keep away from the moor” (Doyle, 1993, p.13). When Sir Henry visits Baskerville he receives a warning letter. As Holmes tries to solve the case, he is forced to travel to London. Correspondingly, in Devonshire; the Baskerville hall is set in the grim melancholy moor. The spectral hound haunts the Baskerville bloodline. The family is of the belief that the immortal sound is due to a curse within the family as a result of ancestral behaviour. Proceeding further, the author used superstition to develop suspense in the story. Most of the events, such as the neighbours meeting and the interviews with Mrs. Lyson together with Selden’s death all occur at night and the sound of the hound can be heard. This adds suspense to the story and also puts emphasis on the supernatural setting. When Doyle was writing The Hound of the Baskervilles, it was during the era of Queen Victoria. For the setting, he utilised the Victorian England in order to enhance the tension and suspense. The times of the Victorian period were frightening and ghostly. There were sparkling gas lamps that lit the streets resulting in very terrifying shadows. Proceeding further, there was poor security leading to increased crime, prostitution, abuse of drugs, and killings occurred more often. The suspense is further enhanced when Doyles writes that the factories “made the streets dark and scary (1993, p.52). The fog that is used to create tension and suspense was also produced by these smoky factories. Doyle was very successful at developing and maintaining suspense in the novel. To do this, he made use of several and well-crafted techniques, for instance, the use of personification, cliff hangers, and red herrings. As the story starts, Watson discovers that a walking stick forgotten at the office by Dr. Mortimer. From the walking stick’s appearance, Watson attempts to find out some evidence. It had some engravings on the top of its head (Doyle, 1993, p.11). Holmes makes use of deductive reasoning to establish the meaning of every detail on the walking stick, thus building the atmosphere of suspense. In the entire book, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses numerous examples of red herrings to create and maintain an atmosphere of suspense and mystery. In the novel, the largest red herrings is Selden who is an escape convict (Doyle, 1993, p.86). The readers attempt to link the ideas together believing that he is the one responsible for the killings. On the contrary, it happens that Selden was not involved in the murders (Cox, 1985, p.90). He was only in the wrong place at the wrong. The red herrings are also used as the false connection between the London stalker and Barrymore. Barry is seen signalling a convict late at night (Doyle, 1992, p.112). The readers are made to believe he is helping the convict escape. However, it turns out that he is innocent. This makes the story more intense since more suspense is created. The author uses cliff hangers at the end of every chapter to maintain suspense. In the Hound of the Baskervilles, like his other magazine stories; Arthur Doyle finishes every chapter with a cliff hunger. It makes the reader want to read what happens in the next chapter. This makes the book interesting to read on. Even though this book is not serialised, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle makes use of the cliff hunger technique to further create suspense. Considering that every chapter ends in a cliff hunger, the reader has to wait to know what will happen next. As a result, the mood of anticipation is carried into the next chapter. As chapter 1 ends, the reader is left in suspense creating anticipation of what will happen at the Watson and Holmes, Baker street apartment. In chapter 2 of the Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Doyle creates and maintains suspense by use of language and narrative style. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses the typical English mystery style to create and maintain suspense. He uses various predictable elements, including a corpse, a small group of people, and an isolated house, as well as a detective. All these elements give the reader clues in order for them to come up with their own conclusions. For example, “Well, Watson what do you make of it?” (Doyle, 1993, p.32). Watson, who is a loyal companion to Holmes, is being asked what he thinks, but the narrator also allows the reader to make his or her own decision. With regard to an isolated house, the Baskerville hall is described as having strange ghostly happenings. The author says that the house is refurbished, but still bears the marks of the “evil days gone by” (Doyle, 1992, p.26). Conan Doyle inspires the feelings of dread and suspense by using these predictive elements. The reader is left in suspense on what actually causes the ghostly occurrences. Chapter 3 prepares one for something that will happen almost immediately. The chapter is titled “The Problem,” (Doyle, 1993, p.35), which makes the reader anticipate that something vital is going to happen soon. Holmes declares to Watson, “The world is full of obvious things which nobody... ever observes” (Doyle, 1993, p. 37). The readers are left to wonder which these things that are supposed to be observed are. This adds to the atmosphere of suspense as the reader wonders what will happen. Sir Conan-Doyle manages is able to create and maintain suspense in the first three chapters and successfully keep it going for the rest of the manuscript. For example in chapter 5, Holmes laments, “Snap goes our third thread.... we end where we began” (Doyle, 1993, p. 63). The readers are kept in suspense of what the results of the investigations are. In chapter 9, Doyle is able to create and maintains suspense by using form and narrative voice. The chapter has many unknowns that keep the reader interested. In chapter 9, Doyle has written it in epistolary form. As cited by Bower (2014, p. 9), epistolary form is a letter form. The epistolary form creates a direct and an intimate tone in the writing. The author’s feelings as well as thoughts are confided to the reader making the reader to be more involved. The author maintains suspense by giving false information. When Barry more was at the window and provides a light signal to Selden, Mrs. Barrymore’s brother letting him know that food was ready. On the other hand, Watson makes an assumption that Barrymore was having a secret affair based on the signals. Doyle writes, “It was possible that some love...was on foot...that accounted for his stealthy movements” (1993, p.196). In chapter 1, the novelist misleads us into believing that Stapleton is innocent since he is only a naturalist who catches flies. Doyle says, “A small fly fluttered across our path, and Stapleton was rushing....in pursuit of it” (1993, p.16). The readers are made to think Stapleton is blameless, yet in the Hound of the Baskervilles he turns out to be the villain. In both scenarios, when the readers know the truth they are surprised. As cited by Cox (1985, p. 90), Holmes discovers that Stapleton was in fact Rodger Baskerville. The misleading information contributes to the suspense to the story. This creates an atmosphere of suspense because it throws the reader off their original guess. The author is able to both involve the mind of the characters and reader creating more suspense along with mystery. The author uses language and narrative style to create and maintain suspense. The use of the narrative technique in the story was very crucial in developing and maintaining suspense. For a larger part of the story, Holmes was absent. The opinions of Watson were evidenced in the letters, extracts, and written accounts that described the manner in which the investigations were developing. This makes the reader to easily comprehend how the investigations are going on. As a result, the suspense is maintained on who the killer is. Watson is talking about the mysterious man on the moor in chapter 10. The reader is left to guess about whom this person could be adding suspense to the story. In chapter 12, the atmosphere is building quickly as the convict is killed increasing the readers’ speculation. Chapter 14 is the novels climax. In chapter 14, Doyle is able to create and maintain suspense by describing the environment and making use of a different language such as the use personification. The author makes the reader to panic when he introduces the sea of fog that moves smoothly across the Grimpen Mire. Tension is caused due to the fact that if Sir Henry does not get to the sea of fog. Doyle writes, “The phantom hound will get him when the hound leaps out of the fog with blue teeth that are burning” (1993, p.212). The description of the situation makes one to anticipate what will happen. In the same way, the cocking of a gun usually indicates that a shooting is going to occur. This makes the people anticipate what will happen after the cocking. Doyle writes that Hist cried when he heard “the sharp clicking sound of a cocking gun” (1993, p.211). By the writer describing the situation, he is able to maintain suspense of what will really happen if Sir Henry does reach the sea of fog. This demonstrates that they are ready for whatever thing that will come out of the sea of fog. Moreover, the suspense is maintained via personification when the author says, “The fog lied stretched before us” (Doyle, 1993, p.228). The personification of the fog makes the readers anticipate what it would do. As a consequence, the suspense is maintained. The ghostly settings and mysterious events make the atmosphere of suspense to attain its climax. Doyle claims that the “tree moaned.....in a rising wind” (1993, p.31). The quote uses personification to put emphasis on the scary surroundings. The author uses dangerous situations to increase suspense in the story, for example, when Watson and Holmes were waiting for Sir Henry at the deceitful moor (Doyle, 1993, p.178). The situation adds more suspicion to the story. Another situation is when Watson comes across a hut in the middle of the moor. He says, “I shrank back into the corner” (Doyle, 1993, p.141). He uses his five senses to know what is happening. The sense of danger maintains the suspense in The Hound of the Baskervilles. According to Nollen (1996, p. 133), Doyle skilfully weaves subplots together to create and maintain a high level of suspense and mystery usually found only in short stories. He is able to maintain suspense even for those who are familiar with the story. Therefore, James notes that Doyle’s talents neatly corresponded with the social developments of the time. Therefore, he was able to meet the expectations and needs of his age. Through suspense, the saga of Sherlock Holmes and Sir Henry offered the increasingly literate society and the emergence of middle class with the leisure to read (James, 2009, p.36). This evidences Doyle’s prowess in writing. Conclusion In summary, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is able to create and maintain tension by keeping the cards close to his chest and waits for the last few moments before revealing what is happening to the scenes and episodes in the story. The author is also able to maintain suspense by creating a feeling of mystery in the story and describing the environment by means of several languages. Furthermore, the suspense is also created and maintained by the use of cliff hungers at the end of every chapter creating anticipation, the use of form (epistolary form), language and narrative style, personification, and dangerous situations. These techniques enabled Doyle to carry the suspense further. References Bower, Anne. 2014. Epistolary Responses: The Letter in Twentieth-Century American Fiction and Criticism. Alabama: University of Alabama Press. Cox, Don. 1985. Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: F. Unger Publishers. Cypert, Rick. 2008. The Virtue of Suspense: The Life and Works of Charlotte Armstrong. Cranbury: Associated University Press. Doyle. Arthur Conan. 1993. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Oxford: Oxford University Press. James, D. 2009. Talking About Detective Fiction. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Nollen, Scott. 1996. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the cinema . New York: McFarland & Company. Read More