The Beryl Comparison Of Sherlock Holmes And The Speckled Band

Choose three of the short mystery stories we have studied. In the three you have chosen write about how successful the authors have been in describing the creation of atmosphere, memorable characters and vivid settings.

We have been studying four mystery stories, written before 1900. ‘The Beryl Coronet’ ‘The Adventure of the Engineers Thumb’ ‘The Speckled Band’ All written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. ‘The Monkeys Paw’ written by W.W.Jacob’s. Three of the stories feature Sherlock Holmes, the famous Victorian detective solving the case. I have chosen to write about ‘The Monkeys Paw’ ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘The Adventure of the Engineers Thumb’. All three stories feature memorable uses of atmosphere, characters and setting.

The characters
play an important part in the mystery stories of setting the mood. In ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘The Adventure of the Engineers Thumb’ the villain’s and victims are very obvious. In ‘The Speckled Band’ the villain is Dr Grimesby Roylott who is step father to Helen Stoner and her late twin sister Julia Stoner. When Helen Stoner first went to meet Sherlock Holmes she told Holmes about her stepfather Dr Gimesby Roylott. Since the death of the twins mum Dr Grimesby Roylott had changed from an outgoing man who like to exchange visits with neighbours into a man that locked him self in his house and only came out to argue with people. Dr Grimesby Roylott was a violent and angry man ‘He is a man of immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger’ Holmes can see this by the marks on Helen Stoners wrist where Dr Grimsby Roylott had grabbed hold of her wrist very tightly. When he was practising in India he killed a man ‘In a fit of anger, however, cause by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler to death, and narrowly escaped a capital sentence’ Dr Grimsby Roylott is capable of killing someone and he would do it again if there was a good enough reason, a reason maybe like inheritance. Helen Stoner believes that Dr Grimesby Roylott has been come an angrier man because of all the time he spent in India. ‘Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the family, and in my stepfather’s case it had, I believe, been intensified by his long residence in the tropics’.

Helen Stoner is the daughter of Dr Grimesby Roylotts late wife. Helen is a very timid woman who is about to be married. She is very scared of her stepfather because of his anger. Helen is always bailing out Dr Grimesby Roylott when he has money problems. Helen was extremely close to her late twin sister, Julia Stoner. Julia was murdered by her stepfather, Dr Grimsbey Roylott “she died just two years ago, and it is her death that I wish to speak to you about” Helen was not sure what caused Julia’s death. Helen and her sister Julia didn’t like living with their stepfather, they could not live a normal life he was a very evil man “you can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no great pleasure I our lives” because of their stepfather and his temper.

A very memorable character in two of the stories, “The Speckled Band” and “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” is Sherlock Holmes.
He is memorable in “The Speckled Band” because he’s not afraid or intimidated by anything. When Dr Grimesby Roylott went to 221B Baker Street to tell Sherlock Holmes to back off and leave his stepdaughter alone, he bent the poker and threw it in to the fire and said “I am a dangerous man to fall foul of!” and Sherlock also knew Dr Grimesby Roylott had killed before and was capable of doing it again Sherlock just laughed and said “He seems like a very amiable person”. He didn’t feel threatened of worried about Dr Grimesby Roylott. Sherlock is also a extremely clever man he could tell when Helen got to his rooms how she travelled just by a few spatters of mud on her coat. “There is no mystery, my dear madam,’ ‘the left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven places’”. He also managed to solve the mystery of Julia’s death and the whistling Helen had been hearing with minimum clues.

Sherlock Holmes is a memorable character in “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb”, but he isn’t as memorable is this story as he is in “The Speckled Band” because in “The Speckled Band” he works out all the clues and solves the mystery but in “The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb” He is given all the clues he just has to put them all together to get the
conclusion.

In ‘The Adventure of the Engineers Thumb’ the villain is Colonel Lysander Stark. He is very thin and pale man of middle size. Although he was very thin he was bright eyed and had a brisk step. Colonel Lysander Stark is a sneaky, evil German man. “Mr Hatherly?” said he, with something of a German accent”. Lysander Stark has killed before “Fritz! Fritz! She cried in English remember your promise after the last time. You said it should not be again”. Elsie and Lysander Stark know each other very well so Elsie knows his real name, Fritz.

Victor Hatherly is the victim he is very weary of Colonel Lysander Stark because when they first met Lysander Stark ask a very weird question “I have it from the same source that you are both an orphan and a bachelor, and are residing alone in London”. Lysander Stark asked this because then he knew for certain that if anything happened to him no one would know he was missing or even in fact dead. After Lysander Stark had asked this question Victor became increasingly careful of what he said around and to Lysander Stark. Victor Hatherly ignores Elise when she tells him “I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for you to do”. Victor ignores Elsie because he needs the money that Lysander Stark is paying him. Victor’s brain is telling him that he shouldn’t be there and that he should go but chooses not to listen to his brain because he wanted the money. “But I am of a headstrong nature, and the more ready to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in my way”.

Elise is a very young and weary woman. She is constantly bossed about by Lysander Stark. She is fully aware of what he is capable of and knows what’s going on. She tells Victor to go and get far away from the house because she knows something bad is going to happen. But he doesn’t listen to her so she has to take care of him ‘“Come! Come!’ she cried breathlessly. ‘They will be here in a moment. They will see your not there. Oh, do not waste the precious time, but come”’. She is trying to hide victor because she cares for him and doesn’t want to see him be hurt.

In “The Monkeys Paw” there is no obvious villain but you could say that Sergeant Major Morris is the protagonist because he is the one that introduces ‘The Monkeys Paw’ and delivers various warnings that the Whites do not head. “If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again, like a sensible man” he’s all most guaranteeing that something bad is going to happen because he says that when it does don’t blame him. So he knows ‘The Monkeys Paw’ is not a good thing

Mrs White is the one that wants to keep “The Monkeys Paw” and keep the wishes “I want it,’ she said quietly. ‘You’ve not destroyed it?’” She wanted ‘The Monkeys Paw’ so she could get her son back .She thought that if the first wish was granted that the second one would be to “we had the first wish granted,’ said the old woman, feverishly; ‘why not the second?’”. She wanted the second wish granted because she wanted to bring her son back from the dead.

Mr White just wanted to get rid of “The Monkeys Paw” because he knew it would only cause trouble and more harm than good “ Good God, are you mad!” he exclaimed when Mrs White asked where ‘The Monkeys Paw’ was. He just wanted to get rid of it.

Herbert is very sceptical about ‘The Monkeys Paw’ he doesn’t believe that the wishes are true “how could wishes be granted in these days? And if they could two hundred pounds hurt you, father” he’s saying that wishing for the two hundred pounds could mean that Mr White might have to sacrifice something important to him, which is exactly what happens when Herbert dies and they get the compensation.

There are a lot of memorable settings in the three mystery stories especially in the two Sherlock Holmes stories. In ‘The Speckled Band’ there are five memorable settings, 221 B Baker Street, Surrey House, Helen Stoners Bedroom, Dr Grimesby Roylotts room and the Crown inn