Transcript Arthur Conan Doyle The Hound of the Baskervilles

An
introduction
to sherlock
holmes
About the Author
Arthur Conan Doyle was born in
May 1859. His family life was
difficult as his father was poorly
paid and became an alcoholic.
Conan Doyle studied medicine
in Edinburgh and here met Dr
Joseph Bell, who had an
amazing ability to make
deductions about the history of
his patients based on the power
of observation.
Bell later became the model for the fictional
Sherlock Holmes and his methods. They
were both then an inspiration for the
creation of Dr Gregory House in the TV
show House by David Shore.
Doyle was not a Doctor for
long, and turned to writing
instead. Short Sherlock
Holmes stories were
published in magazines. He
tried to kill the character off
in 1893, but there was
outrage from his many fans,
and Conan Doyle gave in,
writing The Hound of the
Baskervilles in 1902, set before
his fatal encounter.
After this, more stories were published.
Conan Doyle himself was a great advocate
of justice, personally investigating two
closed cases, resulting in those involved
being exonerated of the crimes. He was a
believer in spiritualism – that the dead can
be contacted.
He died in July 1930.
Context – setting
the scene for
sherlock holmes
• Science was challenging longstanding belief systems.
• Charles Darwin’s The Origin of
the Species in 1859 suggested that
the mysteries of the physical
world could be explained by
science.
• Technological advance –
between 1867 and 1887, the
typewriter, telephone, light bulb
(and more) were invented.
• Crime, prostitution, drug abuse and
murder were commonplace London in
Victorian Britain.
• There was much poverty and ill-health.
• Smog from the factories meant it was a
dark and dreary place.
• Crime was rife, and Jack the Ripper, a
serial killer of women, was loose on the
streets of London. His identity was never
uncovered….
• The public didn’t trust
the police force as they
didn’t feel protected and
there was much corruption
among the officers.
What do you know
about sherlock
holmes
?
Actually, a lot
of our ideas
about Holmes
come from the
magazine
illustrations and
not from the text
itself (he never
says ‘Elementary
my dear Watson’)
Why would he have
been such a
popular character
at the time?
Why is he
Still
popular
now?
OLD VS THE NEW
• What differences or similarities are there
between the new BBC adaptation and the
original idea of the character?