Society in The Speckled Band by Conan Doyle
I feel that 'The Speckled Band' reflects much about Victorian society.
The Victorians had a real sense of work and duty in their lives. This
is shown in the attitude of Sherlock Holmes and his friend Watson. In
their devotion to their task of solving this crime Watson says about
Holmes "He did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement
of wealth."
Sherlock Holmes underlines his sense of duty to his profession and
intellectual challenge when he says "As to reward, my profession is
its reward."
Upper middle class Victorians would feel that was the right thing to
do and Sherlock Holmes would have been a hero to many of them.
The sense of work and duty is further seen in the dedication of
servants to their masters in the Victorian society.
Holmes remarks "I am glad to see that Mrs Hudson has the good sense to
light the fire."
Victorians are also keen in progressing in all aspects of life, as
they saw Englandas the most advanced country technically in the world.
As a result they would have enjoyed Holmes attitude to his profession
when Watson speaks about "admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as
intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis."
Evidence of progress which made the Victorians proud is the references
to travel mainly by train which seemed to be efficient. There are
several mentions in the story of different modes of transport used
successfully by Holmes and Watson.
Watson refers to their travel out of Londonto Surreywhen he says that
at "Waterloowe were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead,
where we hired a trap at the station inn."
Further the Victorians admired people who were thoughtful and planned
carefully. We see from the opening of this case that Holmes is
thoughtful and intelligent in his observations he says to Helen Stoner
"I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left
glove, you must have started early.
Many people everyday worry how they’ll be seen in the world. You will either be loved for being the ideal person, or live a life of shame and sorrow because you chose or have to be different than others. I believe that the theme of the story is best represented as, Don’t conform to society, allow society to conform to you. In the tragedy genre short story “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst we receive a first hand account of how cruel a society can be. Doodle died only because someone tried too hard to change someone who didn’t want as much to be changed. The opinions of society can completely alter how one’s life will play out.
In the penultimate chapter of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance, Coverdale offers a “moral” at the end of the narrative that specifically addresses Hollingsworth’s philanthropic and personal failures:
One of the most engrossing aspects of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is the unambiguous fact that all the characters in the book are subject to false accusations from the self righteous society depicted throughout the novel. Hawthorne persistently displays his negative opinion of the Puritan society through multiple characters’ experiences. In fact, it is believed that Hawthorne added the “w” to his name in order to distance himself from his Puritan ancestors (Sampson). The people in Hester Prynne 's life are consistently misconceived by the townspeople while Hawthorne makes their actual personalities clear, invalidating the society’s harsh and cruel assumptions.
Sally, and if somebody don’t go, I’ll go. I’ve knowed him all his life, and so has Tom there. Old Miss Watson died two months ago, and she was ashamed she ever was going to sell him down the river, and said so; and she set him free in her will.” (p.289)
Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories and Their Undying Appeal When the Sherlock Holmes books were written, London was rife with croime. The slums, especially, were victims to prostitution, murder and drug abuse. Jack the Ripper was free on the streets, making many people scared. The police couldn't catch him so the public resented the police force as they weren't seen to be protecting them. I think that this is one of the reasons why the Sherlock Holmes stories were so successful.
Poe has written a several different stories relating to being buried alive, “The Premature Burial” and “The Cask of Amontillado” being the most popular. Edgar Allan Poe “was one of the seminal American poets and short story writers of the nineteenth century” he was an influencer for writers like Charles Baudelaire and Jules Verne. Poe lost both of his parents as a child and was raised with a foster family and lost his foster mom early, too. He lost many of his loved ones throughout his life including his wife shortly after he was married. All of these losses had a significant effect on him and influenced his stories ("Edgar Allan Poe - Biography"). “The Cask of Amontillado is a well-known piece of literature by Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s many losses were said to be somewhat of an influencer for many of his short stories. Dramatic irony in Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a strong feature of his poem reflecting the poets personal feeling about isolation in death. We the readers are exposed to the dramatic irony when we are shown Montresors plans for Fortunato.
A comparison between Roald Dahl's Lamb to the slaughter and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Speckled Band
The concept of what is "individuality" and what is not has plagued and delighted man since the dawn of time. “All the Pretty Horses” by Cormac McCarthy adds 302 more pages to the pile of all the works that have been on the quest to define individualism. In this novel, McCarthy takes us through four faces of the key character’s life, John Grady, to portray the idea of illusory individualism. He contends that John Grady is simply a product of a society in contrast to his (Grady) notion of free will. Simply put: Grady has no alternatives but an obligation to conform to society. McCarthy uses him to create the platform in which to comment on oppression of individuality, expectation of conformity to the values of the society and the fact that the concept of individualism is a myth.
Examining the roles of Sherlock Holmes in two short stories. ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘The Cardboard Box.’ I am going to compare both ‘The Speckled Band’ and ‘ The Cardboard Box’ which are Sherlock Holmes stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. ‘A Study in Scarlet’ was Arthur Conan Doyle’s first novel, introducing both characters Holmes and Watson and including how they met. ‘A study in Scarlet’ was written in three weeks in 1886 and published in 1887.
The birth of classic detective fiction was originated just in the mid nineteenth century, and was producing its own genre. Classical detective fiction follows a set of rules called the ‘Ten commandments of detective fiction’. The genre is so popular it can bee seen by the number of sales in any good book stores. Many of these books have been created a long time ago and there is still a demand for these types of books. The popularity is still ongoing because it provides constant entertainment, and also the reader can also have a role of detective trying to solve the crime/case committed. Classical detective fiction has a formula, the detective story starts with a seemingly irresolvable mystery, typically a murder, features the astute, often unconventional detective, a wrongly accused suspect to whom the circumstantial evidence points, and concludes with a startling or unexpected solution to the mystery, during which the detective explains how he or she solved the mystery. Formula that includes certain elements such as, a closed location to keep the number of suspects down, red hearings spread around the stories to keep the reader entertained yet interacted.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia, demonstrates how a specific character can be used to expand upon the complexity of the story’s main character. Specifically in the case of Irene Adler, Conan Doyle does not go into much detail about her, as much as he uses her as a contrast to Holmes. Adler’s presence in the story is the antagonist, but seems much more than that to Holmes’. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s use of Adler seems to be very unique and creative compared to some of his other works, though after her appearance, Conan Doyle’s works with Sherlock all come to a similar structure, that Sherlock seems to come to adore the villains, more so the villains intellect, and put up with the people that hire him.
Elizabeth: 'I shall be very fit to see Jane - which is all I want' ...
Miss Temple can be described as the nondiscriminatory woman superintendent of Lowood. During their very first meeting Jane claims how she is "impressed by her voice, look and air" (180). Helen, another student that Jane befriends at Lowood, describes Miss Temple as being "above the rest, because she knows far more than they do" and "overall good and very clever"(221). Having Helen describe Miss Temple this way speaks volumes because she herself is very fair-minded and admirable towards Jane. Miss Temple's strongest quality is her ability to be a role model from the girls, this quality is depicted by Jane as "considerable organ of veneration, for I yet retain the sense of admiring awe with which my eyes traced her steps" (216).
Now, let us look at “The Speckled Band” there is no doubt that it is a
The book that got everything started for Conan Doyle, and brought him fame world wide