What is Roylott's motive for the crimes and why does his plan backfire?
Dr. Roylett's motive was money. His wife's will stated that the total income they would get from her estate would be 100 pounds. Due to the fact that agriculture prices had fallen, the estate was now worth about 750 pounds. Upon marriage, according to the will, each girl would get 250 pounds. That decrease in his worth would "cripple him to a serious extent".
The reason Roylett's plan backfired was because of the genius of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes found the bell pull that was connected to the ventilator. The ventilator had no purpose, opening only to the bedroom next store instead of to the outside air. He noticed that the bed had been fastened to the ground so that it could not be moved. He figured something had to crawl down that rope. When the snake crawled down the rope, Holmes attacked it with its cane, sending it back to through the ventilator. ...
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It was so angry that it attacked the first person it saw, which was Dr. Roylett. The snake he had chosen was the deadliest snake in India and killed within ten minutes of being the victim being bitten.
What was Dr. Roylott's motive for his crimes and how did his plan backfire?
Dr. Roylott's plan backfires because he is unsuccessful in killing Helen in the same way that he killed her twin sister, Julia, by allowing a deadly snake to crawl into a vent, enter her room and bite her during the night. Julia was bitten as she slept in her bed which was nailed to the floor so that the snake would easily land on the bed as it crawled down the fake bell cord.
Julia's murder was only the first part of Dr. Roylott's plan, he killed her so that he did not have to give her the inheritance that her mother put aside for both her daughters which they were to receive when they each married. Julia was engaged to be married when she "died suddenly" of unknown causes.
Helen becomes very suspicious, after she becomes engaged, and her stepfather, Dr. Roylott asks that she begin sleeping in Julia's old bedroom.
"Their client, Miss Stoner, is in "a pitiable state of agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with restless, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal." In spite of her miserable appearance Holmes sees in her the courage to fulfill a daring plan to trap the villainous Roylott."
Once Helen begins sleeping in her dead sister's room, she starts to have strange experiences in this room.
"Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from-perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you whether you had heard it." (Conan Doyle)
Dr. Roylott does not get the opportunity to go through with his plan because Helen seeks out the help of Sherlock Holmes because she is afraid for her life. She wants Holmes help in solving the mystery of the death of her sister. Once Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the case, he wisely determines that there is a motive of money involved regarding Dr. Roylott and the twins, Julia, the dead sister and Helen. Holmes ends up figuring out exactly how Julia Stoner was killed because he and Dr. Watson spend the night in Julia's old room, sitting in the dark listening. Holmes uncovers the truth, and Dr. Roylott is actually killed by his own snake. Had Sherlock Holmes not gotten involved with the case, Helen Stoner would have died under mysterious circumstances just like Julia did two years earlier.