Overview: The Adventure Of The Speckled Band by Arthur Conan Doyle

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Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure Of The Speckled Band” is a traditional Sherlock Holmes adventure but with a twist. Sherlock Holmes known by “his skills in deductive reasoning”(Moore 1) help him resolve the mystery behind the dead of Helen Stoner’s twin sister Julia. The story begins with the introduction of the female heroine, Helen Stoner, whom after frightening events regarding her sister’s death, and unusual sounds, she seeks for the help of Sherlock Holmes. However, Helen was not cautious enough that her stepfather, Dr. Roylott, in this case the villain, discovered her visit she did to see Sherlock’s which put Helen in danger. Since Dr. Roylott is a dangerous man whom every one feared him. After Helen’s tell her detailed descriptions of the events, John Watson and Sherlock Holmes analyze the mystery and begin creating possible theories about the cause of the terrifying events that caused her sister’s death. In this Sherlock scrupulous and abnormal adventure, we see how good versus evil, karma, and chivalry plays an important role, that Doyle takes a traditional moral stance against immorality, and use the murderer to end his own life and solve the mystery as he does exactly this in the conclusion of his story.
The first theme of this adventure is good versus evil, where once Miss Stoner left Sherlock’s place, Dr. Roylott gave Sherlock a visit, where he confronted and threatened Sherlock. Early that day Dr. Roylott noticed that Helen was visiting Sherlock and he decided to spy on her. Dr. Roylott introduced himself in a harsh manner that Sherlock asked him to leave which Dr. Roylott replied, “I will not go when I have said my say, Don’t you dare to meddle with my affairs”/” I am a dangerous man to fall foul of!” (Doley 2) ...

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Hosu, Ramona. "Sherlock Holmes And Philosophy. The Footprints Of A Gigantic Mind." Journal For The Study Of Religions & Ideologies 10.30 (2011): 373-382. ContentSelect Research Navigator. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
KEOGH, TOM. "LONG LIVE Sherlock Holmes." Humanities 34.1 (2013): 6. ContentSelect Research Navigator. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Moore, Wendy. "The Real Sherlock Holmes." History Today 59.11 (2009): 67. ContentSelect Research Navigator. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Scheick, William J. "Sherlock Holmes's Scientific Solutions." English Literature In Transition, 1880-1920 57.1 (2014): 134-135. ContentSelect Research Navigator. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Shpayer-Makov, Haia. "Revisiting The Detective Figure In Late Victorian And Edwardian Fiction: A View From The Perspective Of Police History." Law, Crime & History 1.2 (2011): 165-193. ContentSelect Research Navigator. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.

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