Tension and Atmosphere in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in 1859. His mother Mary Doyle regularly read to him which is where he began his own love of books. Some years after graduating from college in 1876 he began writing. His first Sherlock Holmes book was “A Study in Scarlet”, written in 1887. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” was written in 1902. The plot of this story focuses on a hound, supposedly trying to kill off the Baskerville family. Holmes himself is a very clever and interesting character.
He manages to identify the tiny details that most people would not be able to spot. Although in the rest of the series Sherlock Holmes is the main character, Dr. Watson, Holmes’s assistant, is the main focus in this book. “The Hound of the Baskervilles” consists of a series of dramatic events. Each one of these events is exciting and some are quite scary. This leads you into the story, continuously making you want to know what is going to happen next. Early in the book, it is possible to spot the ways in which Conan Doyle creates tension and atmosphere.
The opening of the story presents Holmes and Watson, discussing a walking stick that has been left behind by a visitor. They have not met this visitor as he visited when they were out. We, as readers, do not know anything about him at this point. Conan Doyle is withholding information from us in order to create tension. This works because it makes us think that there is something mysterious going on, and we want to read on further, in order to find out what it is. The walking stick has a name engraved on it, but we do not know who “James Mortimer” is or why he was there in the first place.
Conan Doyle uses unanswered questions as a technique to make us want to read on to find out the answer. In chapter two, Holmes finds out about the legend of the hound from a manuscript that Dr. James Mortimer shows to him. This creates tension because we immediately think of the hound; is it real? Mortimer convinces Holmes and Watson that the last of Baskervilles, Sir Henry, is in grave danger after the last heir to Baskerville Hall died in suspicious circumstances on the moor. Before Sir Henry arrives at Baskerville Hall, Holmes and Doctor Watson decide to investigate the scene first.
Holmes finds what looks like a hound’s footprint on the moor. At this point, we are undecided about whether the hound is only a myth or a reality, although we are beginning to believe in it a bit more than we did before, as there seems to be some proof of its existence. Later, Conan Doyle introduces a mysterious new character, which creates further tension. When Dr. Mortimer waits for Sir Henry outside Waterloo station, Holmes and Dr. Watson watch them from a hotel window and see a taxi driver looking suspicious.
Holmes then sees the taxi driver look in the general direction of Sir Henry and appears to be watching them. Holmes and Dr. Watson unsuccessfully try to catch the taxi driver. There is a brief chase, but the taxi driver manages to get away. This character is introduced without revealing too much information. This is a great example of how Doyle always leaves the reader with questions that they hope to find the answers to later. Further into the story, in chapters six and seven, the tension continues to build, with another series of events. Soon after they arrive in Devonshire, Dr.
Mortimer and Dr. Watson find out about an escaped convict who is loose on the moor. However, “It isn’t like any ordinary convict”. They are told that this murderer “would stick at nothing”. This builds up tension by telling the reader that he is not like any ordinary criminal. He is being presented as more dangerous than most other convicts are. “Stick at nothing,” suggests he could also be more violent. At this point, Conan Doyle creates a ‘red herring’ by falsely leading the readers to believe that this convict could be the murderer of Sir Charles Baskerville.
Sir Henry mentions to Holmes and Dr. Watson not to go onto the moor because there is a criminal called Selden who is living there. This creates huge tension as the readers can feel the emotions and fear of the characters living in Baskerville Hall. In addition to tension, Conan Doyle also uses atmosphere to draw the reader further into the story. For example, when Watson and Holmes arrive at Baskerville hall’s “avenue”, the author describes what it looks like. He describes the approach to the house as a “sombre tunnel”, through which Baskerville Hall “glimmered like a ghost” in the distance.
The words “sombre tunnel” create a feeling of darkness and claustrophobia. Unlike most stately homes, Baskerville Hall makes us feel unsafe; as if there is danger lurking around every corner. Conan Doyle introduces supernatural images, such as when he tells us the hall “glimmered like a ghost”. This creates atmosphere but is also an example of foreshadowing, as this is exactly the effect that phosphorous gives the hound later in the book. When they arrive at the house, it is covered in a “dark veil” of ivy. Mortimer describes it as “enough to scare any man”. He also describes what the air is like.
He says that it is “cold” and “murky” with a “sense of suspicion”. All of this dark, dangerous imagery adds to the tension and atmosphere. Further atmosphere is created when Watson and Holmes sleep at Baskerville hall for the night. Dr. Watson goes for a walk around the house and thinks he can hear “strange noises” and a woman’s voice crying. This adds to the daunting atmosphere because it creates a sense of confusion, as we do not know who this person is, or why she is crying. The house is a huge old stately home, which is intimidating for both the reader and the characters.
The woman crying adds to the effect that something supernatural is happening, as this feeling has already struck the reader with the legend of the hound. Conan Doyle provides the reader with little bits of information at a time, which begin to reveal more of the plot. Dr. Watson and Holmes go to Baskerville Hall and meet the butler and his wife for further investigation. After talking to them for a while, Holmes then sneakily calls her “Mrs Selden” when asking her a question, and she replies to him, giving him an answer. This shows that Selden is related to the butler’s wife, which she eventually admits.
This is a very revealing fact and explains why she was crying the night before, but we still do not know the entire story because further information is still being withheld from us. As we progress through the story, further tension is created when an anonymous letter arrives containing a warning. This letter is peculiar because it has been made by “pasting printed words” on a “half-sheet of foolscap paper”. This creates a problem in tracing the writer, which in turn adds tension. How did the sender know that Watson was staying at the hall?
This builds a sense of intrigue and leaves us wondering whether Dr. Watson and Holmes are being watched. Conan Doyle is still keeping vital information from us and this makes sure that the mysterious atmosphere is constant throughout the book. One evening, Sir Henry leaves his new “never been varnished” boots outside of his bedroom to be cleaned, to find that in the morning “there was only one” remaining there. This makes us wonder who would want just one shoe. Neither Dr. Watson nor Sir Henry can understand why someone would want to steal one without the other.
At this point, we do not know what the burglar wants with this shoe, or how they got into the house. This gives us the impression that the thief might be living at the house, but we cannot be certain. Conan Doyle adds further atmosphere by complicating the mystery. Sir Henry returns to “The Northumberland Hotel” to see if he can find his boot but finds that not only have they taken one of his brown boots, but now “they have sneaked one of the black”. This unusual occurrence keeps the reader puzzled as it twists and turns in the plot, and ensures that we are continuously unsure as to who the suspects could be.
At one point, the author leads us into false hope of finding out who is responsible, when the main characters meet up for an exchange of information. At this point, we are getting the feeling that we are going to find out who the criminal mastermind is. However, instead of finding out this information, we are left with even more unanswered questions. This puts the reader into a maze-like position where they begin to take one path, hoping to get an answer, only to find that it leads to a dead end, before Conan Doyle takes them on another path.
Conan Doyle uses literary devices to create fear and anxiety in the reader, but he also appeals to our more caring emotions to create even more atmosphere. When Dr. Watson and Sir Henry approach Baskerville hall, Watson’s narration guides the reader into admiring Sir Henry. He speaks of the “the valour and strength in his thick brows” and describes him as a “comrade” who, if they do face difficulty and danger on the moor, would be the best person to face it with. This is because he felt “the certainty that he would bravely share” in the dangers they face together.
This shows that Watson admires him and knows that he is brave. This in turn makes us as readers feel the same way. Throughout the book Conan Doyle uses literary devices to build up tension and atmosphere. Early in the story, Conan Doyle introduces the tension by giving us the mystery of the walking stick. However, the tension is diluted at this point with a bit of comedy. We have Watson making very confident assumptions about the history and ownership of this stick only to be proven wrong in every detail by Holmes.
As the novel progresses, the tension then begins to build as Conan Doyle withholds information while at the same time giving us vital clues about the unfolding plot line. In addition to these clues Conan Doyle adds “red herrings” to lead the readers to incorrect deductions and this builds up the tension further. The end result is that the reader is constantly curious to find out what happens but never quite knows what is coming. To create atmosphere, he uses suggestions of the supernatural, complications in the plot such as strange mysterious noises and foreshadowing to reinforce the spooky and fearful atmosphere.
This is enhanced further by Conan Doyle’s use of descriptive language such as the words “sombre tunnel” describing the approach to Baskerville Hall and the “dark veil” of ivy which hung on its outer walls. The tension and atmosphere builds to a climax in the last chapter when the hound leaps at Sir Henry’s throat and Holmes has to shoot it. Up to this point the tension has been meticulously built up using numerous literary processes, but now Conan Doyle allows readers to finally relax while Holmes unravels the mystery for us and the characters.