The Hound of the Baskervilles

1. The Hound of the Baskervilles By Arthur Conan Doyle

2. Contents Synopsis Click on a book to visit a slide. Click on the hound in the bottom right corner on the proceeding slides to come back to this page. Click exit to go back to wiki. Author Information Themes, Symbols Information About the Setting Key Conflicts and Resolutions Main Characters with Descriptions

3. Synopsis The story begins with John Watson and Sherlock Holmes discussing deductions of the owner of a walking stick left behind by a client. Holmes’ deductions are quite accurate of Dr. James Mortimer who is a young , popular, and unambitious country doctor recently retired from the Charing Cross Hospital. Dr. Mortimer came to explain the mysterious death of his close friend Sir Charles Baskerville who “died of fright.” He explains that Sir Charles became overwhelmingly frightened by the curse placed upon his family’s name. The curse came to be after one of the Baskerville ancestors, who was profane and godless, went after a woman and was killed by a hound on the moor. The curse resurfaces when the superstitious Sir Charles dies and there are huge hound footprints. Dr. Mortimer is worried for the new heir who is Sir Henry. They soon discover Sir Henry is being followed, a shoe of his is stolen, and either a friend or a foe is warning him not to go to Baskerville Hall. Holmes is busy with another case, and sends Watson to be with Sir Henry at the estate. Watson sends Holmes detailed accounts of events and descriptions of neighbors. Watson does the detective work and looks for anything suspicious. He discovers that the Barrymore’s are helping a convict, Laura Lyons was supposed to meet Sir Charles the day he died, and Sherlock Holmes is in the land surrounding the Baskerville Hall. Sherlock Holmes looked up Stapleton’s history and saw the resemblance in features with the Baskervilles, which proves him to be a very suspicious character. Holmes sends Sir Henry alone to visit Stapleton, endangering Sir Henry’s life. As he departs, he is chased and attacked by a hound. Holmes, Watson, and Lestrade spring forward to rescue him. They find out that the hound is mortal with phosphorous on it. They discover Miss Stapleton tied up and decide not to pursue Mr. Stapleton due to the ominous weather. In the morning, they look for clues regarding Mr. Stapleton, but he has been lost to the moor. The story is wrapped up with Sherlock explaining the details of the case to Watson.

4. Themes, Symbols Themes: natural vs. supernatural greed people can be unobservant and miss the obvious

5. Author Information Arthur Conan Doyle was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1876 he attended the University of Edinburgh Medical School. There he met Joseph Bell, whose deductive powers and dramatic flair he would later embody in the character of Sherlock Holmes. His medical practice was unsuccessful, leaving him plenty of free time to write. His first story was "The Mystery of Sarassa Valley," published in October 1879 in Chamber's Journal. He had trouble finding a publisher for his first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet, which eventually appeared in Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887. It and its successor, the novel The Sign of Four, published in 1890, were not popular at first. Conan Doyle himself regarded these early Holmes novels as mere entertainments to bring in some money while he concentrated on historical novels. He hoped to become a new Walter Scott, who had earned fame and respect with such novels as Ivanhoe (1820). In 1891 Conan Doyle agreed to supply the new magazine the Strand with a series of Sherlock Holmes short stories. "A Scandal in Bohemia" appeared in the magazine's July 1891 issue and was a popular sensation. For the rest of his life Conan Doyle was pressured by publishers and the general public to write more stories about Sherlock Holmes.He tried to stop writing the stories a number of times. After his initial contract with the Strand was fulfilled, he demanded an outrageously large amount of money for new stories, hoping that the Strand would refuse. Instead, the magazine eagerly met his asking price. Then he tried killing Holmes off in "The Final Problem," the last of his second run of Holmes stories for the Strand. He received hate mail for killing Holmes and was besieged by publishers offering him huge sums of money to write more about Holmes. An American publisher finally offered more money than Conan Doyle could resist, and he agree to write The Hound of the Baskervilles. Writing about Holmes offered Conan Doyle a ready way to earn money for the rest of his life. But it was the character of Professor Challenger rather than Sherlock Holmes that was Conan Doyle's favorite creation. In 1912 he published a science-fiction adventure, The Lost World, featuring the professor. The death of his son during World War I led Conan Doyle to seek out spiritualists and inspired in him a religious dedication to the spiritualist movement. This embarrassed friends and business associates. Spiritualism found its way into nearly all of Conan Doyle's writings of the 1920s, and even the hardheaded Professor Challenger is converted in The Land of Mist. Conan Doyle died on July 7, 1930, at Crowborough, Sussex.

6. Information About the Setting The story is set in Devonshire, England at the Baskerville Hall. The surrounding land is moorland. They are briefly in Coombe Tracey and the story began and ended in the house of Holmes and Watson in London. These pictures are of moors in England. The time it takes place is 1889. The moorland is used to symbolize an ominous mire of evil, and the bleak and deserted wasteland gives an eerie feeling. The setting becomes as much of a clue to the nature of the crime as other physical clues.

7. Key Conflicts and Resolutions Nature vs. Supernatural: There is a “devil hound” on the moor and a curse on the Baskervilles. Resolution: Sherlock Holmes discovers that the hound is mortal and that a greedy man is at the bottom of the whole curse. Jack Stapleton used a hound to scare the Baskerville heirs to become head of the estate. Man vs. Man: Sherlock Holmes is battling Jack Stapleton to discover the truth. They are both intelligent. Jack is trying to keep the truth from arising. Resolution: Sherlock Holmes wins out, and Jack dies on the moor. Holmes uses deduction skills and logic to foil Jack’s plans. Man vs. Himself: Beryl is abused and forced in to a life of deception and greed. She wants to help Sir Henry, but she won’t go against Stapleton. Resolution: She sees she was only being used by Jack. After Jack dies, she doesn’t have to worry about the abuse. Good vs. Evil: Jack is evil and wants the estate, so he uses a hound to murder people. He uses everyone. Resolution: Sherlock Holmes solves the case, and Jack dies trying to flee from being captured.

8. Main Characters with Descriptions Sherlock Holmes: He is one of the best experts in Europe and a well-known detective. He stays relatively in the background, but ultimately solves the mystery with his logic, observation, and deduction skills. He is sneaky and doesn’t even let his close friends or the people he endangers know his plan fully. Dr. Watson: He is Sherlock Holmes’ sidekick and the narrator of the story. He is a retired military doctor. He is a true friend of Holmes and puts a great deal of faith in him. He doesn’t always pick up on everything, but he does help Holmes out. He is the one that investigates while Holmes is busy. Dr. Mortimer: He is a young and popular country doctor that is recently retired from Charing Cross Hospital. He is the person that brings the case to Sherlock Holmes. He and Sir Charles were close friends and lived near each other. He is a kind man that is worried about the new heir. Mr. Jack Stapleton: He is a scheming and abusive man. He abused his wife, who he made everyone believe was his sister for his own purposes, mentally and physically. He also changed his name and got close to the heirs and friends of the Baskervilles after finding out there were two remaining that prevented him from receiving the estate. He is very intelligent; he set up a school, he was a naturalist, he killed Sir Charles by frightening him, he used people, he was able to keep the hound unknown, and he would have gotten away with it all if Sherlock Holmes was not on the case. He was the bad guy and died in the moorland trying to run away. Miss Beryl Stapleton: She is Jack Stapleton's wife, but she poses as his sister. She was used and abused by her husband. She said she could take the abuse as long as he loved her, but she was just a useful tool to him. She isn’t completely the bad guy, though. She doesn’t stop Jack, but she does try warning Sir Henry. NEXT

9. Sir Charles Baskerville: He was a superstitious old man that “died of fright.” He had a bad heart. He was generous to people and too trusting. Sir Henry Baskerville: He is Sir Charles’s nephew and closest living relative, making him the heir to the Baskerville estate. He seems to be more logical than his uncle and not as superstitious. He is determined to go to the estate even though there is the curse. He is kind to the Barrymore's after he finds out their secret. He has faith in Holmes and trusts him. Sir Hugo Baskerville: He is the first Baskerville to fall prey to the curse. He was a drunkard, vile, and godless. He was an ancestor of the Baskervilles and was brutally murdered by a hound out on the moor. Laura Lyons: She was the daughter of Mr. Frankland. She was disowned and abandoned. She looked to Stapleton and Sir Charles for help. She was supposed to meet Sir Charles at the time he died, but she never showed. She was another tool used by Stapleton. Lestrade: She was a police inspector for Scotland Yard. Cartwright: He was the boy who ran the errands for Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Frankland: He was Laura Lyons father. He was nosey and in everyone’s business. The Convict: He was the murderer and brother of Mrs. Barrymore. He is used to getting his way and uses his sister. Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore: They were close friends and the help of Sir Charles. They are kind people.