The Hound Of The Baskervilles Research Paper

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Recommended: The supernatural in the hound of the baskervilles

Supernatural occurrences in The Hound of the Baskervilles are deeply rooted throughout the narrative as Doyle presents Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as characters who uncover the truths and mysteries behind the myth of Hugo Baskerville along with the curses that follow him in a demeanor of both natural and supernatural occurrences. The characters amidst these issues were quite conflicted when it came to accepting these events. In this essay I will argue that Holmes fights through his struggle with the supernatural events along with the Gothic culture presented in The Hound of the Baskervilles in order to solve a case that had been the curse of a family lineage for over one hundred years.
Sherlock Holmes, a character who has shown up in many …show more content…

While Holmes attempts to gain as much scientific reasoning to back up such a devilish spirit, he designs a plan to end this supernatural beast. “The hound is a manifestation of all the fears at work throughout the novel. It is an animal seeming to cross the boundaries between myth and reality, conjured from the days before science had explained that no such creature could possibly exist” (Taylor-Ide 65). In chapter fourteen the beast is finally trapped by Holmes and Watson. “Fire burst from its open mouth, its eyes glowed with a smoldering glare, its muzzle and hackles and dewlap were outlined in flickering flame. Never in the delirious dream of a disordered brain could anything more savage, more appalling, more hellish be conceived than that dark form and savage face which broke upon us out of the wall of fog” (Doyle 66). Holmes and Watson open fire in an attempt to kill the beastly hound. Soon, after shooting at the beast, it becomes very apparent to Holmes and Watson that they could end this terrible curse. “But that cry of pain from the hound had blown all our fears to the winds. If he was vulnerable he was mortal, and if we could wound him we could kill him” (Doyle 66). Here, at this point, Holmes realizes that the hound is not only supernatural, but has natural attributes as well. Because he was able to hear a cry from the beast, Holmes knew that the beast was mortal which is an attribute of the reality behind the beast. “With a last howl of agony and a vicious snap in the air, it rolled upon its back, four feet pawing furiously, and then fell limp upon its side. I stooped, panting, and pressed my pistol to the dreadful, shimmering head, but it was useless to press the trigger. The giant hound was dead” (Doyle 67). Due to the circumstances the case involved, Holmes enters into a darkness of the supernatural in order to close the case. When

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