Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Hound of Baskerville

Some words about the author:

Arthur C. Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He lived from 1859-1930. He graduated at Stonyhurst and Edinburgh University and adopted the profession of medicine. He was made a peer. He will be remembered chiefly for his creaton of the amateur dedective, Sherlock Holmes, embodied in a cycle of stories like "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes" 1891, "The Memories of Sherlock Holmes" 1894, "The Hound of Baskerville"1902 and others. Everybody will also remember his second figure, Dr. Watson.


The main character of the book, "The Hound of Baskerville":

Sherlock Holmes: He is a private dedective who lives in Baker Street together with his best friend and assistant Dr. Watson. He helps people to fight for justice. He solves the most difficult problems with his amazing mental power. He has an excellent memory, courage and a power of deduction. He is really a clever and sympathetic man. The best way for him to think about a problem is in his office, smoking his pipes and cigarettes.

Dr. Watson: He is also an intelligent person, who helps Sherlock Holmes to solve the most mysterious cases. They both share the work. With the most cases Dr. Watson is responsible for the research and Sherlock Holmes normally discovers the truth with these facts. Dr. Watson is a very friendly person. Sometimes he seems a little confused. He doesn’t always understand Holmes.

Dr. Mortimer: He is a very tall and thin man. He is the proud possessor of a brown spaniel. He is confronted with a most serious and extraordinary problem. He was a personal friend and a medical attendant of Sir Charles Baskerville. He is an honest, nice man who helps Mr. Holmes as good as he can.

Sir Henry Baskerville: He is small, alert, dark- eyed man and about 30 years of age. He is the heir of Baskerville Hall. He seems very intelligent, warm- hearted and a well-educated man. At the beginning of the book he is very courageous but at the end he’s afraid. He always trust Sherlock Holmes. He loves a woman named Miss. Stapleton.

Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore: They have been with the Baskerville family for several generations. He is a tall and handsome man with a black beard. He is charge of the hall. His wife is a large heavy-featured woman with a stern expression. She keeps the household. She is also very sensitive and fragile. Both were deeply shocked about Charles Baskerville’s death.

Mr Stapleton: He is between 30 and 40 years old and very small and slim. He is a lover of nature and likes to catch butterflies and insects over the moor. He finds unlimited possibilities of work in these fields and he really likes the botany and zoology. He knows the deep and wide moor better than anyone else. He has a great power over his sister. On the one hand he treats her really nice but on the other hand he suppresses her.

Miss. Stapleton: She is an exotic, beautiful woman, who is loved by Henry Baskerville. She seems nervous, afraid and fragile.

Mr. Frankland: He is an elderly man and choleric. His passion is for the British law stands over all and he has spent a large fortune on litigation. He is also an amateur astronomer and so he has an excellent telescope through which he observes the moor. He has not much contact with his neighbours.

CONTENT:

One day a man, named Dr. Mortimer visits Sherlock Holmes. He is a friend and the doctor of Sir Charles Baskerville who found a sudden and tragic death three months ago. Dr. Mortimer informs Holmes about a dreadful legend that overhangs the Baskerville family. He tells the story of an incredible big and dangerous hound that had followed the family for a long time. This daemon is supernatural. Sometimes the poor peasants can hear the hauling of a hound in the dark of the night. Nobody has the courage to go through the moor in the night.

Sir Charles Baskerville was an old man who lived at Baskerville Hall after he had returned from a long stay in South Africa. He was known and remembered because of his extreme generosity. He was very rich. Every night, before going to bed, he used to walk down the famous Yew Ally of Baskerville Hall. His doctor, Dr. Mortimer, recommended him travelling to London to relax. He suffered because of the families terrible legend. His heart and his nerves were very weak. The night before his journey he did not return from his night walk. His servant Barrymore found the body at the end of the ally. Dr. Mortimer discovered footprints near the body. These footprints were from a gigantic hound. It was obvious that Sir Charles died of shock at the sight of the wild creature. To gain clarity in this mysterious case Dr. Mortimer wanted the help of Holmes. He wanted of this frightening legend to end.

The heir of the one million pound estate is the son of Charles Baskerville’s youngest brother, Sir Henry Baskerville. Dr. Mortimer tells him about his uncle’s tragic fate. Even though everybody warns Sir Henry not to go back to the Baskerville estate, he cannot be persuaded to stay in London. So Holmes sends Dr. Watson with him. He is told to watch him carefully. Before they start their journey some mysterious things happen in London: First a strange bearded man follows Baskerville and Mortimer to the Northumberland Hotel after they had visited Holmes in his office the first time. Second, Baskerville receives a strange letter in the hotel. The letter was not written by hand but put together from pieces of newspaper print. Then one shoe of the new pair he just had bought disappeared mysteriously. Shortly after it got discovered again one of his old pair was nowhere to be found.

Finally they arrive in Devonshire by train. Baskerville Hall is situated somewhere in the middle of the moor. In the big area of the wide moor there are only some inhabitants. The houses next to Baskerville Hall are about 4 miles away. The neighbours are Mr. Frankland of Lafter Hall and Mr. Stapleton and his sister of Merriphit House. Dr. Watson meets the Stapletons the first time during a walk in the moor. Stapleton shows him round the area and tells him a lot about its insects, butterflies and dangers. He is a naturalist and knows the frightening moor better than anybody else. Suddenly he runs after an insect that is seldom to be found there. In the meantime Miss. Stapleton turns to him. In the believe that he is Henry Baskerville and warns him of the moor. She advises him to return to London immediately. His stay can mean his death. Dr. Watson is very confused about what she is speaking but she doesn’t say more. Her brother is really angry as he sees her with Dr. Watson.

Dr. Watson finds out that there is a convict outside the moor, who fled from prison. He is a very dangerous criminal. Because of that a lot of people are scared to death and so there are even some soldiers in the area. One night Dr. Watson and Baskerville hear the sound of a crying in the house. The next day they see Mrs. Barrymore’s red face and her swollen eyes. Another night Dr. Watson, who suffers a very slight sleep since his stay at Baskerville Hall, hears steps. He looks out his chamber and sees Barrymore with a candle in one hand. Barrymore sneaks into a room and presses the light against the window. Dr. Watson informs Sir Henry about this observation. They decide to follow Barrymore the next night. This special night they surprise him while he is holding a candle to the window. Dr. Watson takes the candle, holds it to the window and stares out in the darkness. Suddenly a light comes back out of dark. Out in the moor somebody obviously gives signs. Mrs. Barrymore, paler and more horror-struck than her husband stands at the door. She begins to explain these nightly walks to the window. Her brother, the convict, is starving in the moor. The light is a signal to him, that food is ready for him. Although her brother is a criminal she loves him very much. Henry Bakerville and Dr. Watson want to catch this villain, because he is a danger for the community. They get their revolvers to find the fellow. Out of the vast gloom of the moor they hear a strange cry. It’s the cry of the hound of Baskerville. They loose the convict in the moor. On their way back home Dr. Watson sees a figure of a man upon the moor. The figure seems like a tall thin man who stand with his arms fold and his head bowed. It is not the convict, neither a man from this place.
Barrymore thinks that it was unfair to follow the convict. Sir Henry Baskerville promises not to inform the police. Sir Henry gives Barrymore and his wife some old suits from him for the convict. As they return, Barrymore talks about the night Sir Charles Baskerville’s died. He found a letter, which was from Coomber Tracey, a neighbour village. It was from a lady with the initials "L.L." The letter was burned but Barrymore found a piece which said that Sir Charles should be at the gate by 10 o’clock. Dr. Watson is really excited and immediately writes to his friend Holmes in Baker Street. Dr. Watson always sends the news to his friend. He asks Dr. Mortimer about the initials L.L. He says that the daughter of Mr. Frankland is called Laura Lyons. She married an artist named Lyons, who came sketching on the moor. He proved to be a blackguard and deserted her. Her father refused to have anything to do with her, because she had married without his consent. Some people of Devonshire helped her to come to an honest living. Watson visits Laura to find out more. In the mysterious letter to Sir Charles, Laura wrote that she wanted to meet him at the ally, because he might help her to get divorced. She did not know that he had intended to travel to London. When she found it out she wanted to see him on the last possible moment. But Laura didn’t show up at the appointment.

On his way home from Coomber Tracey, Mr. Frankland invites Dr. Watson for a glass of wine. He tells him about British laws and the fact that he often observes a small boy out in the moor with his telescope. He takes a bundle with food with him. So Dr. Watson gets very curious. After the visit he goes to the moor. Frankland has told him about a hiding place. It is a circle of old stone hunts. He supposes to find the convict there. Instead of the man he finds Sherlock Holmes, who hides in these stone huts. He has never been in Baker Street. He investigates the mysterious case from the moor. The boy, a young man helps him. He also brings all the letters from Dr. Watson. They research on parallel lines. Holmes has found out that Miss. Stapleton is the wife and not the sister of Mr. Stapleton. That was the reason why Mr. Stapleton was against the love from Henry Baskerville. Mr. Sapleton is the enemy. He had followed them in the taxi in London and she wrote this mysterious letter. Mr. Stapleton has really much power over his wife. Suddenly they hear a terrible scream out of the silence of the moor. They start running over the moor to see what had happened. Then they discover the body of Sir. Henry Baskerville. They climb on the top of the rock over which their poor friend has fallen because the hound has chased him. But as they turn the body over they see that it isn’t Sir. Henry. It is the convict, who has worn Sir. Henry’s clothes. It was Mr. Stapleton who has stolen the boot in London. He gave it the hound, so that the hound knows sir. Henry’s smell. after a while a figure approaches them over the moor. It is Mr. Stapleton who is surprised to see the body of the convict and not that of Sir. Henry.

The next day Holmes and Watson tell Mr. Baskerville that they wanted to go to London and would return the next day. But they all have an invitation for dinner by the Sapletons. Holmes ask Henry to excuse them for this dinner. They want Sir. Henry to go to the dinner alone and to walk home alone through the moor. Instead of going to London they stay at Devonshire., however. They want Mr. Stapleton to believe that they aren’t here that night when Sir. Henry walks over the moor shortly afterwards. Holmes and Dr. Watson discover a family picture in the house. Mr. Stapleton is a family member – a Baskerville! He would be the heir to the enormous value of the estate if sir Henry dies. They visit ones more Laura Lyons. They find out that Mr. Stapleton had held Laura back to go to the appointment this special evening. So he could let the hound over poor Sir. Charles.

In the evening Holmes and Dr. Watson hide near Mr. Stapleton’s house in the moor. They watch the dinner. Then Mr. Henry comes out. It is a dark and foggy night. Suddenly a dreadful shape springs out from the shadow of the fog and chases Sir. Henry. Holmes shots it. It’s a big dog, not a supernatural hound. Mr. Stapleton has bought it in London. He flees into the moor and is never seen again.