Arthur Conan Doyle – The Hound of The Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles – GCSE Coursework Essay
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In this essay I aim to look at how the settings in Arthur ConanDoyle’s novel The Hound of The Baskervilles affect the atmosphere ofthe book. I will discuss a number of areas of the novel among thesehow the main settings of the novel compare and contrast with eachother, The history, description and pre-knowledge of the mainsettings, The characters reactions to their surroundings and whetherthis give us any clues to the mystery and the minor settings thatcontribute to the atmosphere.
Holmes’ London flat is like the essence of a Victorian gentleman’sclub, warm, with a fire and a comfortable reading chair on the hearthrug it seems to be a very well appointed flat. We are not given anydetails of the apartment directly in the novel but we catch glimpsesof it in the descriptions of Holmes or Watson’s actions.
“Through the haze I had a vague vision of Holmes in his dressing gowncoiled up in his armchair”. This kind of speech evokes images of largeleather covered chairs and roaring fires. In general a warm andcomfortable flat conducive to intelligent thought.
In contrast to this when Watson visits Baskerville Hall the style ofarchitecture and decoration described is very old and baronial. Thehall is obviously the place for a sportsman and not a refined personlike Holmes “we gazed around at the high, thin window of old stainedglass, the oak panelling, the stags heads, the coats-of-arms upon thewall”, describes Watson when walking into the hall. It is welcomingand beautiful in its own way but is nothing like the home of reasonand intellectualism that the Baker Street flat is.
The…
… It is especially crucial to the plot as the placewhere Holmes, Watson and Sir Henry ambush Stapleton to finally capturehim and with the fog swirling around it in the night it perfects avery dramatic ending to a suspense-filled novel. Stereotypical
The places this novel is set in complement and complete the writingand I think that, in a different setting, not only would it be acompletely different novel but it would also be a worse one becausethe setting adds crucial background to the story and without a settingof such depth of character the story would certainly be altered to itsdetriment. The moor especially is crucial to the mix of mystery andterror the writer has created. The settings contribute greatly interms of language, mystery and atmospheric details to the novel andwithout them this book would not be the great literary classic it is.
