The Symbolic Hound

“There is nothing more stimulating than a case where everything goes against you.” This was stated by Sherlock Holmes, in Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous murder-mystery novel, “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” And in a sense this statement is true. For everything went against the characters in “The Hound of Baskervilles.” In this story, which takes place in Devonshire, England, symbolism is very apparent. In fact, there are four major symbols in this particular edition of Holmes’ adventures. Those four symbols consist of the Moor of Devonshire, The Hall of Baskervilles, the family portrait of Hugo Baskerville, and even the notorious hound itself. Thus symbolism is clearly apparent in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles.

In July 12 1963, five murders were reported to have been seen in the Moors of England. These murders were neither the first of last to happen in the moor. In fact, it is common knowledge in Europe, that moors are where many murders happen. Conan Doyle stated in his novel “Over the green squares of the fields and the low curve of a wood there rose in the distance a grey, melancholy hill, with a strange jagged summit, dim and vague in the distance, like some fantastic landscape in a dream”(page 39 from “The Hound of the Baskervilles”). When Conan Doyle stated this, he was setting the gloomy mood of the moor. Not only does the moor set the mood, but it is essential to the plot as well. For example Watson, a major protagonist from “The Hound of the Baskervilles” states in his second report, “I hurried along the road at the top of my speed without seeing anything of Sir Henry, until I came to the point where the moor path branches off” (from Conan Doyle’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” page 62) The moor...

... middle of paper ...

... was “I don’t believe in such nonsense.” However they were eventually convinced and became frightened as a result. The hound symbolizes the fear that the characters felt throughout the story, and it haunted the Baskerville family for generations. However, it was shot down in the end. Holmes states in page 112 “We’ve laid the family ghost once and forever.” This creates a moment of relief within the characters as well as within the reader due to the fact that the hound was exterminated, and the “Curse of the Baskervilles” was no more.

Symbolism was consistently used throughout Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” The symbols used in this novel were the moor, Hall, portrait, and even the Hound itself. These are consistent throughout the story, and affect it in many ways. Conan Doyle applied these symbols in his novel, and they help to shape it.