The Hound Of The Baskervilles Essay

The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of Arther Conan Doyle's more well-known mysteries, depicting the famous Watson and Holmes, as they are enlisted to help prevent the murder of Henry Baskerville and determine the cause of his predecessor's death. Watson travels to Baskerville Hall to investigate the strange circumstances, which include the legend of a vengeful hound after the Baskerville line. Throughout a series of red herrings and mild plot twists, the murderer is revealed to be a man named Stapleton who ultimately disappears into the bog while Sir Henry gets to live to see another day. Despite The Hound of the Baskervilles being a somewhat boring and predictable novel, its more redeeming qualities such as the writing style, point of view, and setting make the story worthwhile.

First published in London in 1902, the novel features characteristic late 19th century English syntax. While the plot itself is at times dull and slow,

Combined with the supernatural element of the legend of the demon hound, the moor sets quite the eerie scene for the majority of the story. When Stapleton first introduces Watson to the moor, his first impression is not one of good nature. (“A long, low moan, indescribably sad, swept over the moor. It filled the whole air, and yet it was impossible to say whence it came. From a dull murmur it swelled into a deep roar, and then sank back into a melancholy, throbbing murmur once again.”) Doyle builds upon this description to provide foreshadowing as to Stapleton's fate much later on, when Watson observes a horse getting caught in the bog and struggling as it sinks below the sedges. Despite some bit of irrelevance to the plot, the author also describes several long abandoned Neolithic huts along a slope, which catch the attention of Watson in various places throughout his adventure. If anything, they build upon the impression of an area that is "stuck in the