The Hound From Hell (The Hound Of The Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	The Hound Of The Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
Date:	05/12/02 (2207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written, Full of tension, Great mystery

Disadvantages: none

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle did not invent what we now consider to be the classic detective novel. That claim can be forcefully made by Wilkie Collins with his novel 'The Moonstone', but Doyle more than anyone else developed the genre and with Sherlock Holmes the original gentleman amateur detective, he created one of the most enduring characters in literature and cinema.

'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' published in 1902 was the third Sherlock Holmes novel and in many ways is the most well written and ambitious of all. It is not only a brilliantly crafted detective story but also crosses over in to the realm of the supernatural and horror, an early example of how these two genres can be effectively merged.

THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES

As with the previous novels the central characters are Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr John Watson. Sherlock Holmes never existed in real life but he was based on a real person, Dr. Joseph Bell. Conan Doyle met Dr. Bell in 1877 at the University of Edinburgh Medical School where Conan Doyle was studying to be a doctor. Dr Bell was one of Doyle lecturers and later became his mentor. After graduating Bell selected Doyle to be his assistant. During those years Doyle was able to observe the methods that Bell applied to his medical work in particular his ability to quickly deduce a great amount of information about his patients just from simple but careful observation.

"We teachers find it useful to show the student how much a trained use of the observation can discover in ordinary matters such as the previous history, nationality and occupation of a patient."


These deductive skills became the main trait of Sherlock Holmes detecting skills and Doyle as the observer and pupil cast himself in the character of Dr. John Watson, Holmes's loyal assistant and friend.

THE PLOT

The idea for writing 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' was largely down to A

rthur Conan Doyle's good friend Fletcher Robinson. While holidaying together Robinson took Doyle to see the foreboding landscape of the English moors complete with their sinister prehistoric ruins and the treacherous boggy terrain surrounding them. Robinson also told Doyle of the many local legend that existed about the place. These legends included those of murderous escaped prisoners stalking the moors for victims and of a 17th-century tale of a cruel aristocrat having his throat torn out by his own dog.

Doyle himself interested in the occult transformed these stories in to the tale of 'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' and set the novel on the bleak and dangerous area of Dartmoor in Devon.

The story begins with Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson being visited by Dr. Mortimer who has come to seek their help in investigating the sudden death of Sir Charles Baskerville. Sir Charles apparently died of natural causes but Mortimer suspects that the 'curse' of the Baskervilles is to blame.

The legend tells of how an ancestor of Sir Charles, the evil Hugo Baskerville, was killed by a huge demonic hound stalking the moonlit moor. Ever since that day the family has been haunted by the presence of the hound and many of the family have suffered unexplained sudden deaths. With the latest death of Charles Baskeville the family title and lands are inherited by the young Henry Baskerville who has been living in Canada but who is now returning to England to claim his fortune. Dr. Mortimer is worried that Henry is in danger and asks Holmes to meet him and to try and solve the mystery of the curse.

Holmes decides to take the case and initially sends Watson on alone to the isolated Baskerville Hall to keep Henry Baskerville out of harms way and to find out more information relating to the unexplained death.

Doyle now begins to weave in to the story a variety of colourful and mysterious characters; the secr
etive
family servant Barrymore, the eccentric Dr. Frankland, Stapleton the butterfly collector and in the background there prowls the 'Notting Hill murderer' Selden recently escaped from Dartmoor prison. Is the death really a result of an evil curse or has Holmes himself states

"The devil's agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?"

In the end the mystery is finally solved as a terrifying confrontation takes place on the deadly mist covered Grimpen Mire an area of the moor covered in deep pools and stretches of quick sand.

WHY IS IT SO GOOD?

Arthur Conan Doyle in contrast to many other detective writers could also write eloquent descriptive prose. In this novel he uses that ability to really bring to life the lonely and foreboding landscape of Dartmoor, a perfect location for a scary supernatural mystery.

"A dull and foggy day with a drizzle of rain. The house is banked in with rolling clouds, which rise now and then to show the dreary curves of the moor, with thin, silver veins upon the sides of the hills, and the distant boulders gleaming where the light strikes upon their wet faces. It is melancholy outside and in."

Throughout the story the nature of the moor is used to create a spine-chilling atmosphere that permeates through all the events that take place. As the story unfolds we begin to think of the Grimpen Mire as being a supernatural demon itself lying in wait to swallow up any unfortunate creature that dares to enter its domain.

The novel is also interesting that it places Watson at centre stage for a large part of the narrative, quite a few of the chapters are in the form of written accounts by Dr Watson to Holmes explaining how his investigations are progressing. This is interesting since Watson represents the everyman figure in the story, he is much more emotional and responsive to the feelings of others, he is not stupid but does not possess the
deductive
abilities of Holmes. In this way we as the reader are given to opportunities to pit our own deductive skills against those of Holmes but it is only later that we find out how inferior Watson's abilities (and our own) are.

"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."


The third element of the story is the supernatural thread that Doyle introduces with the legend of the 'hound from hell'. Again the writer's literary skills are in evidence in some wonderful descriptive passages that if read in a quiet dark room on a cold winter's night by the light of a small table lamp are guaranteed to make the hair on the back of the neck stand to attention.

"A hound it was, an enormous coal-black hound, but not such a hound as mortal eyes have ever seen. Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smouldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog."

As with all the Sherlock Holmes novels and indeed the numerous short stories a key element in 'The Hound Of the Baskervilles' is the relationship between Holmes and Watson. Holmes's great intellect comes at a price, Holmes is a flawed character, to some extent a misogynist and a drug addict. He doesn't suffer fools lightly and is often prone to fits of temper. Just as he is addicted to cocaine he is also addicted to his work, his intellect requires to be tested, the harder the case to solve the more he becomes enthused.

"There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you."

The long suffering Watson is the ultimate friend often abused by Holmes in deed if not in words and yet he always remains
by Holmes side.
There is a strong bond between them and despite Holmes genius he would be lost without Watson. This aspect of the characters doesn't come across very well in the many film adaptations that have been made of this and many other of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries but is much more evident in the books and stories. The vulnerability in Holmes's characters I believe makes him a more rounded and more palatable creation and adds depth to the narrative, which elevated the stories above the mostly formulaic genre of crime fiction. The nature of the Watson and Holmes friendship serves as a blueprint for many other detective double acts that followed from Poirot and Hastings to Morse and Lewis.

Overall I think 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is the best detective story ever written. It has all the elements that are needed for a great crime mystery; a wonderful intriguing central story including a supernatural element, masterful descriptive writing that bring to life the bleak landscape in which the mystery is set, colourful characters doubling up as potential suspects, plenty of red herrings and many twist and turns to keep the readers on the edge of their seats guessing right to the end and above all the inspired literary creation of Holmes and Watson as the ultimate crime fighters.

You could want no more from a detective mystery or indeed from a work of literature in its own right.


'The Hound Of The Baskervilles' (176 pages) is published by Penguin Books, ISBN: 0140621970 as part of their 'Penguin Classics' series priced at £1.25



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© Mauri 2002

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