Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a celebrated consulting detective, a profession he invented himself. He sometimes collaborates with the police but is not employed by them and is insulted when Dr. Roylott suggests that he is by calling him a “Scotland Yard jack-in-office.” Holmes is famous for his keen intellect and deductive powers. Although his deductions are usually brilliant, he occasionally goes astray, as he himself notes, when he attempts to theorize based on insufficient data. Holmes can often be icily logical and apparently devoid of emotion, but in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” he demonstrates sympathy for Helen Stoner’s plight and moral revulsion at the evil actions of Dr. Roylott. Holmes also takes pleasure in goading Dr. Roylott by his display of unconcern at the doctor’s threats of violence, his good humor and pleasant demeanor masking the depth of his contempt. He is deeply attached to Watson and hesitates to involve him in the dangerous business of waiting for the snake in Helen’s room. However, he displays great physical courage himself, since he knows the danger he is facing and does not hesitate.

Dr. John Watson

Dr. John Watson is the narrator of the story, a loyal friend of Holmes, whose cases he often records. Watson is intelligent but lacks the deductive ability of the great detective, and in this he serves as a proxy for the reader. He clearly admires Holmes, saying that he has “no keener pleasure” than in following his cases. However, he is not overawed by the intellect of his friend and argues with Holmes when he believes that he is in the wrong. When Holmes thinks that “the speckled band” must refer to the “gipsies,” Watson responds that he sees “many objections to any such a theory,” and he is, in fact, correct to think that Holmes is on the wrong track. Watson is, in many ways, the ideal of the Victorian gentleman. He is brave, courteous, chivalrous, and loyal, and he has a strong sense of morality. These qualities make him a trustworthy narrator, as well as an excellent companion for Holmes.

Helen Stoner

Helen Stoner is a young woman from an upper-class military family. Her father was a major-general in the Bengal Artillery and left her mother with plenty of money when he died. Helen was a twin and was very close to her sister, Julia, who died in mysterious circumstances two years before the story begins. She has endured a difficult and solitary life, since her stepfather, Dr. Roylott, is a violent, unreasonable man, and Holmes observes that he abuses Helen physically, noting the marks his fingers have left on her wrist. It is also clear that Helen is marrying largely to escape from her lonely and miserable situation at Stoke Moran. She describes the man she is to marry as “a dear friend” who has honored her with his proposal but says nothing about loving him. Helen is clearly terrified of her stepfather, but she is courageous and decisive in her response to his attempts at coercion, seeking advice from Holmes as soon as she sees the events which led up to her sister’s death being repeated.

Dr. Grimesby Roylott

Dr. Grimesby Roylott is physically huge and very strong, with a wrinkled, yellow face, bloodshot eyes, and a thin nose, like the beak of a bird of prey. His family is an ancient and distinguished one, but he has not inherited any money and had to work for a living as a physician in Calcutta before returning to England and living on his wife’s money. He has a forceful, arrogant manner and is prone to violent outbursts of fury, which once led him to beat one of his Indian servants to death. However, Dr. Roylott is also highly intelligent and able to control his anger when it suits him to do so. When Julia and Helen tell him of their marriage plans, he raises no objection in either case, preferring to murder them in a cunning and untraceable fashion rather than showing his displeasure. Dr. Roylott’s habits are eccentric and solitary. He is on bad terms with all his neighbors and keeps wild animals, a baboon and a cheetah, on his estate, partly to discourage visitors. The only people with whom he is on friendly terms are the “gipsies,” perhaps because they are social outcasts, as he is. Although he is avaricious, committing his crimes for money, he lives in a simple, austere manner, and his ancient house, Stoke Moran, is in a state of disrepair.