Estudiante

August 18, 2011
Literature and Composition

“The Hound of Baskervilles” Literary Analysis
In “The Hound of Baskervilles”, one of Conan Doyle’s most famous Sherlock Holmes novels, the narrative isfilled with literary terms to give depth and structure to the story. Among these are Imagery given by Doyle to Holmes, the atmosphere he sets on the moor, and the epiphany Holmes has at BaskervillesHall.
Throughout the narrative, the author creates an image of Sherlock Holmes as a hound “we must cast round for another scent” (pg. 98). It is interesting how the author intentionally employs thisimagery to create irony, a hound searching for a hound. Besides that, this kind of imagery is used to sustain Sherlock’s ability to trace down the murderer, which he eventually does. Holmes’s talentis put to the limit in the story, but his attention to detail and his capacity to untie the mystery make him unique.
In the 1800’s, the moor and Baskerville hall were a very depressing place asConan Doyle describes it:
“Our wagonette had topped a rise and in front of us rose the huge expanse of the moor, mottled with gnarled and craggy cairns and tors. A cold swept down from it and set usshivering. Somewhere there, on that desolate plain, was lurking this fiendish man, hiding in a burrow like a wild beast, his heart full of malignancy against the whole race which had cast him out. Itneeded but this to complete the grim suggestiveness of the barren waste, the chilling wind, and the darkling sky. Even Baskerville fell silent and pulled his overcoat more closely around him” (pg. 106)It is clear that the moor had very dangerous inhabitants, so dangerous that the whole place felt cold and miserable. The author sets this atmosphere to give the book more suspense; the story wouldnot be the same if it took place in a sunny beach in the south of France. The coldness and vastness of the moor made it unpleasant for its visitors, especially with all the possibilities were the...