Literary Devices in The Hound of the Baskervilles
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The Hound of the Baskervilles gives us the impression that the city of London is basically sitting in the palm of Sherlock Holmes' hand. In London, Holmes has Cartwright, the admiring messenger kid...
Narrator Point of View
Watson is our first-person narrator. He reports everything that Holmes does from his point of view, and thank goodness for that. After all, Watson, as we pointed out in his "Character Analysis," is...
Genre
The "mystery" part of the genre of The Hound of the Baskervilles is pretty obvious: who killed Sir Charles Baskerville? Who is trying to kill his heir, Sir Henry? These questions are the plot engin...
Tone
Watson includes a lot of dialogue, so the tone of his narration often shifts whenever he's talking to someone new. However, there's a distinctive feel to Watson's internal monologues and descriptio...
Writing Style
Plot details tend to pile up in mystery novels, and The Hound of the Baskervilles is no exception. There's a lot going on in this book, with new surprises every chapter, so the narrative often feel...
What's Up With the Title?
The Hound of the Baskervilles is one of detective fiction's great titles. It's got rhythm. It has an old-fashioned edge ("Hound" instead of "Dog"), and it invites us into the mystery right off the...
What's Up With the Ending?
The ending of The Hound of the Baskervilles isa little strange. The big finale when Holmes and Watson shoot the Hound, Stapleton disappears into the bog, and they find Beryl Stapleton tied up in a...
Tough-o-Meter
The Hound of the Baskervilles is a great read overall. Oh, there's some flowery, stilted language here and there, but hey—this book was published over a hundred years ago and English writing styl...
Plot Analysis
Here, Doggie! Nice Doggie! (Please Don't Eat the Baskervilles)At the start of The Hound of the Baskervilles, detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal friend Doctor John Watson are sitting happily i...
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
The novel starts with Doctor Mortimer bringing a case to Sherlock Holmes—the case of the Hound of the Baskervilles. And since Doctor Mortimer is so sure that the devil's involved in this murder...
Three-Act Plot Analysis
Doctor Mortimer brings the case of the Hound of the Baskervilles to awesome consulting detective Sherlock Holmes.So, when we start out this novel, it might seem like it's going in the direction of...
Trivia
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have written stories about the world's most rational detective, but he himself had a New Agey, spiritual side. He was a believer in spirits and magic. In fact, he wrote a...
Steaminess Rating
Not only are there no explicit sexytimes in The Hound of the Baskervilles, but everyone who is having hanky-panky offstage—Laura Lyons, Beryl Stapleton, and Stapleton himself—all suffer for it....
Allusions
Monsieur Bertillon (1.64) Lord Clarendon's History of the Grand Rebellion (2.17) Admiral George Rodney, Royal Navy, fought on the British side during the American Revolution (13.46) ...