Arthur Conan Doyle Essay

Examine the ways in which the reference, creates suspense and tensity in The Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the Body Snatcher by Robert Louis St regular(a)son Speckled Band The Speckled Band is slightly an evil stepfather named Dr Roy dish give awayt who has the tendency of murdering his stepdaughter Helen to gain her property, having al score murdered her older sister Julia, in a mysterious way. When his younger stepdaughter gets suspicious, as the mysterious circumstances repeated themselves, she contacts Mr Holmes.Mr Holmes tries to supporter shed Stoner find out who killed her older sister and what with. In the opening paragraph we argon given unanswered questions, which makes the referee happen uncertain of the situation. We are told Holmes solely investigates contradictory cases this makes the lecturer wonder what they are dismission to be learning of. Sher put away Holmes awoke from his sleep earlier than usual, eve though he is set forth as a late riser. This interests the commentator because of the sense of urgency, which Homes shows. Miss Stoner is descri prat as wearing a black dress and veil.This makes the contributor curious as to wherefore is she wearing black as black usually symbolises demise or that a tragedy has happened. Watson and Holmes mention that she is shivering, a sudden offer occurs when the woman replies It is not the cold which makes me shiver it is fear it is terror. This retort creates tension and apprehension, we are presented with many unanswered questions, Why is she panicky universe the main one. This creates suspense and tension because the unanswered questions give us lightheaded details roughly the whole situation.Miss Stoner had prematu swan gray hair this detail was mentioned because sometimes people who bemuse a lot of stress get grey hair prematurely, so the author is hard to emphasise that she is extremely worried about the situation. Also she is descri tooshie as a hunted anima l, this emphasises her vulnerability and causes the reader to be uncomfortable. We only k direct that she is troubled and fatigued but what caused it is unknown to the reader even though we are told all of these descriptions of Miss Stoner.We are told about Dr Roylott and of how he murdered his native butler. This increases the awareness of the reader about Dr Roylotts aggressive and violent behaviour. He keeps exotic Indian animals such as the baboon and cheetah, which makes Dr Roylott baffling since he doesnt act in a normal way so the reader chamberpotnot fully understand his character. Dr Roylott followed Miss Stoner to Mr Holmes house. This makes Dr Roylott come along a desperate person visiting as he is leave aloneing to spy on his stepdaughter and it because delayms that he has something to hide.Dr Roylott is described as a man with immense strength and with a in truth short-tempered anger. This is reinforced when Dr Roylott bent the poker and warned Mr Holmes that he is a actually dangerous man. This striking first appearance of Dr Roylott makes the reader understand why he is such a dangerous man. Dr Roylott has the ability to intimidate well-nigh people but not Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is now seen as the gymnastic horse in shining armour who is going to save Helen. Dr Roylott lets gypsies to stay on his land he becomes friends with them.This makes him seem much mysterious because people in that time of age wouldnt usually allow gypsies to stay on their grounds and then associate themselves with them, this is a very abnormal fount of behaviour. Miss Stoner told Sherlock Holmes that Julia said in the beginning she passed away that it was the speckled slew and then pointed towards Dr Roylotts dwell. This leads the reader to think that the death had something to do with the gypsies, the reason universe that gypsies were usually stereotyped as wearing bandanas. The reader assumes that the gypsies may have killed Julia.We learn about Helens problems when she explains them to Holmes, we are now answered some of the questions the reader had before. We are told that Helens sister was murdered which raises tension in the conversation. The fact that Julia died just before the day of her wedding raises the awareness of the reader. Since Dr Roylott wanted to keep the money, hed have to get rid of Julia before she was unify, this raises suspicion about him. The reader asks why did he go to bed early? We have more unanswered a question such as How did she die? that bewilders the reader.Helen ascertains us in great detail about the night Julia died next-door to Dr Roylotts room. Julia earlier that night heard a whimsical low whistle and a loud sound of metal world struck. These strange noises give a sense of unease to the reader. The two sisters would lock themselves in their room, which tells us they outweart feel safe on their own, we had no feeling of security unless our doors were locked. Julia is alone and isolated from her sister and the strange sound creates tremendous stress within the reader because the reader is scared for her.A cheetah and a baboon are loose in the garden. Helen is intermeshed when Julia was just about to get married she was killed. The reader already knows that if they got married Dr Roylott would lose a lot of money. These two factors are put unitedly and now the reader fears for Helens life. Mr Holmes inspects the room that Julia died in. He notices that the house is beingness repaired even though it doesnt seem to need repair. Helen told Holmes I regard that it was an excuse to move me from my room, now that she is in the room in which her sister died in, she is now very vulnerable.The fact that the house has scaffolding gives the reader the impression that a person may have entered the house from the outside, this misleads the reader slightly from what really happened. The room door had been locked and shutters with iron bars bar the windows. The room had very unusual features such as dummy gong ropes and ventilators that did not ventilate. The ventilator goes into Dr Roylotts room, we are now wide-awake of Dr Roylott that he used these features to kill Julia. In Dr Roylotts room was a saucer of milk, which is quite strange since if it were for a cheetah it would have drank it in one lick.Also a lash that was tied in a loop of whipcord was found in Dr Roylotts room, this produces an image that he may have strangled Julia because it was designed to get tighter when pulled and could have been fixed through the ventilator to strangle her. The whole situation holds the reader in suspense and there is a sense of unpredictability as to what is going to happen. Mr Holmes is capable of noticing small points and then reaching a conclusion, he show his ability as a detective at the beginning of the stage when he knew how Miss Stoner got to his house by glancing at her just the ticket and coat.He notices these small points and puts them togethe r, after that incident the reader is able to rely on Mr Holmes for answers. After he examined both of the rooms he counsel Helen to listen to what he said because her life may depend upon it. Holmes had sure spotted something very significant but he does not tell us which adds to the anxious and tense atmosphere. Mr Holmes and Watson discuss the situation, Mr Holmes clearly informs Watson that the bed being clamped to the floor, the ventilator and dummy bell rope played a have-to doe with of the death of Helen. The scene is dark that gives a chilling scene.Mr Holmes and Watson encounter a distorted boor whilst walking on the grounds it was described as having writhing limbs. This is a grim picture that adds to the dark and chilling atmosphere. The child is described as running swiftly across the lawn into darkness, which makes everything seem mysterious and strange. We later find out it was the baboon. When Holmes is in Helens room they agree to sit without light, since there is no light unanticipated things happen such as the noises they hear. The reader is now fearful for Holmes and Watson because they cant clearly see whats happening.Holmes tells Watson to have the pistol ready which gives the impression that they are waiting for something terrible to happen which creates a colossal amount of anxiety and apprehension. Holmes for the first time in the story is offensive this makes the reader think that a big event is about to take away place. The cheetah is at liberty that increases the sense of insecurity. We as readers are shy of what is going to happen and so is Watson, they waited silently for whatever might befall. They sit in the room waiting for what is going to happen for hours.Holmes sprang from the bed and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell pull the reader and as well Holmes are very anxious and edgy. Mr Holmes shouted to ask Watson if he could see it? but he couldnt, this creates tension and the fact that Watson cant see it he is at a higher risk of being harmed so therefore the reader worries for Watson. Then the low whistle occurred followed by a horrible cry which swelled up louder and louder, Watson and the reader are disorientated about what could of that scream have meant. The doctor was being choked but we dont understand what is going on.Watson and Holmes feel insecure, take your pistol and we will enter Dr Roylotts room. Holmes and Watson find a swamp adder wrapped around Dr Roylotts neck. The reader now understands that the speckled band was the patterns on the snake, the suspense and the tense feeling gradually fades away from the reader. At the end of the story an unpredictable twist happens, that of the speckled band. The author used a very palmy red herring the reader now knows the red herring was the gypsies, because the reader when told of the speckled band in the beginning assumes that it was the gypsies.As the story progresses there are more and more possibilities of the cause of Julia s death, the gypsies being one of many. Holmes solved that the saucer of milk was there to lure the snake, the reader couldnt link these clues together and therefore tension is built up very well. The baboon and cheetah acted as a slight red herring since they made them feel insecure and change magnitude the tension in situations even though they were not involved. The author is successful in keeping suspense and tension all through out the story keeping the reader intrigued and interested.