Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles is the continuation of the adventures of the genius detective Sherlock Holmes, who, in this case, faces the conflict with the main villain, Mr. Jack Stapleton. The title suggests to an unfamiliar reader that the story revolves around a mysterious and possibly gigantic dog related to the Baskervilles. The legend tells that the hound is the curse of this family, which the dog will kill as revenge for an old crime (Conan Doyle 37). The main antagonist is Stapleton, who employs this story to cause the death of one of the heirs, Charles Baskerville, initiating the chain of events. However, the central character vs. character conflict was created by the villain’s attempts to murder Henry Baskerville to clear his way to receive the family’s wealth.
There were three instances in the story when the conflict developed. The first circumstance was when Henry arrived and almost immediately received a warning letter, generated from words excised from a newspaper. As the author later reveals, it was sent by Mr. Stapleton to eliminate an unexpected successor. Indeed, the conflict would not develop if he returned to Canada, but Henry went to the Baskerville Hall with Dr. Watson and Dr. Mortimer. The second event that further expanded the conflict was when Dr. Watson and Henry heard strange sounds during their first-night stay in the house: “I am sure that it was really the sob of a woman” (Conan Doyle 167). It appears that the matters were dark and complex in this place. The third occasion before the climax was when Holmes disclosed his presence in Devonshire, becoming an open opponent of the antagonist.
The story’s climax was the hound’s attack, while the resolution was attained when Stapleton drowned in moors. In fact, the pinnacle of the story was the point of clash of good and evil forces, Stapleton’s diabolical dog and Sherlock’s gun, which he uses to kill the hound and save Henry’s life. The villain’s plan failed because this event was set by the protagonist, who calculated the potential consequences. The case was considered closed when Holmes and Watson traced the murderer but found that “the huge morass had sucked him in” and “this cold and cruel-hearted man is forever buried” (Conan Doyle 419). The story ended when two friends returned to Baker Street, where Holmes finally revealed to Dr. Watson all the details of the conflict.
Works Cited
Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. Wisehouse Classics, 2018.