illustration of Sherlock Holmes in profile looking across a cityscape with a magnifying glass in the distance and a speckled band visible through the glass

The Adventure of the Speckled Band

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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Discussion Topic

Setting and Atmosphere in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"

Summary:

In "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," the setting shifts between London and Surrey, England. The story begins in Sherlock Holmes's quarters on Baker Street, where Helen Stoner consults Holmes. The main action occurs at Stoke Moran, a decaying manor in Surrey, where Helen lives with her stepfather, Dr. Roylott. This foreboding, Gothic setting, enhanced by Doyle's detailed descriptions, establishes a suspenseful atmosphere. The story concludes back at Holmes's Baker Street residence, where the mystery is resolved.

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What is the setting of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" begins in the familiar setting of 221B Baker Street in London, where so many of the Sherlock Holmes stories begin and end. It is still a time when Watson is sharing a set of rooms with Holmes, but they both get fully dressed and go downstairs to the parlor when the desperate and terrified Helen Stoner calls on Holmes in the early morning. In those Victorian times it would have been improper for a young woman to visit Holmes in his flat. After Helen tells her background story and leaves, Dr. Roylott bursts into Holmes and Watson's rooms and threatens them with bodily harm if they interfere in his affairs.

The story moves to the main setting, which is the ancient, rambling house called Stoke Moran, in the country a short distance from London. It is a spooky, Gothic-type of place which...

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is so badly decayed and neglected that only part of the house is still habitable. The few acres around it are overgrown, and two wild animals prowl the grounds at night--a cheetah and a baboon. Watson describes the place in some detail when he and Holmes go there to investigate Helen Stoner's problems and perhaps protect her from the same fate that befell her sister Julia.

The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stonework had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. 

Most of the important action takes place in two of the three adjacent bedrooms: the room currently occupied by Miss Stoner and the bedroom of the half-mad and violent Dr. Roylott, her stepfather. His room interests Holmes because of the safe, the saucer of milk, and the dog leash with a loop at the end. His stepdaughter's room interests Holmes because of the ventilator, the dummy bell-rope, and the fact that the bed has been bolted to the floor so that it cannot be moved. Helen is staying in the room where her sister was murdered because Roylott has ordered some unnecessary repairs on Helen's own bedroom in order to force her to move into the one next to his, where he plans to cause her death by having his deadly swamp adder ("the speckled band") crawl through the ventilator, slither down the bell-rope, and drop onto her bed.

The story concludes back at Holmes and Watson's room at 221B Baker Street, where Holmes explains all his observations, theories and deductions to his friend. They have one big sitting room and two separate adjoining bedrooms on the second floor. Mrs. Hudson, their landlady, serves their meals on a big table in the sitting room.

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What is the setting of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" and does it change?

The setting in this story changes in the middle of the tale. At the beginning, the story is set in Sherlock Holmes's quarters on Baker Street, London, in April of 1883. It is there that Helen Stoner comes from Surrey to consult with Holmes and Dr. Watson. In the middle of the story, Holmes and Watson take a train from Waterloo station to Leatherhead and from there go to Surrey, where Helen Stoner lives with her stepfather, Dr. Roylott. The second part of the story takes place in their house, Stoke Moran, in the western part of Surrey. Holmes has to journey to Helen Stoner's house to prevent her murder and to uncover how Dr. Roylott murdered Helen's sister by sending a venomous snake (the "speckled band") though the ventilator shaft to her room.

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Where does "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" take place?

The story begins in early April, 1883 at the home of Sherlock Holmes, which is located on Baker Street in London, England. Watson recalls Sherlock waking him up at 7:15 a.m. to listen to a woman in distress ask him for protection. The woman is Helen Stoner, who lives with her stepfather, Dr. Roylott, at Stoke Manor on the western border of Surrey, which is located in southeast England.

Stoke Manor is a dilapidated estate on a few acres of land, where Helen and the doctor live in a two-hundred-year-old house that is under construction. The house is a grey building with a high central portion and two curving wings on both sides. The left wing is described as being a "picture of ruin" with boarded up windows and a caved in roof. The central portion of the home is in better condition, while the right wing is completely modern and is where the family resides. Dr. Roylott had spent a considerable time in India and brought back several exotic animals, which roam the premises of the estate.

Most of the action takes place in Helen's bedroom, which is adjacent to her stepfather's room. Dr. Roylott attempts to murder Helen by training a poisonous snake to travel through the ventilator from his room into his stepdaughter's room to bite her. The setting is a rather ominous, foreboding location in the middle of the country, which enhances the sense of mystery and isolation throughout the story.

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How does Arthur Conan Doyle establish setting and atmosphere in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is a master of setting and atmosphere. In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” he creates an atmosphere of foreboding and suspense around the Roylott estate. He often uses detailed physical descriptions, characters’ actions, and careful diction (word choice) to build a sense of danger.

He starts this process at the beginning of the story, when Helen Stoner arrives extremely early at 221B Baker St. to consult Holmes on an urgent matter. As Holmes puts it, “Now, when young ladies wander about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is something very pressing which they have to communicate.”

As readers, we instantly sense that something serious is about to happen. When Holmes notices Helen Stoner is shivering, she admits that she is shaking from terror. This confession increases the sense of foreboding.

When she describes her stepfather and his violent temper, the reader realizes how dangerous this man is to Helen and may be to Holmes. Conan Doyle has Helen share numerous details of his behavior: shutting himself in his house and ‘engaging in ferocious quarrels’ with the neighbors and villagers; ‘violence of temper approaching mania…intensified by his time in the tropics’; ‘a man of immense strength, uncontrollable in his anger…who hurled a blacksmith over a parapet,’

The bulk of the rising action and the climax of the story take place at the Roylott’s decrepit ancestral home, which is surrounded by a broken down wall and overgrown gardens. In addition, a cheetah and a baboon roam around freely and may attack at any time. The depressing and dangerous setting increases the overall dark tone of the narrative.

Conan Doyle also uses adjectives that reflect a menacing atmosphere. As Holmes and Watson approach the Roylott estate, Watson says, “A moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand.” Notice the words like ‘dark,’ ‘chill,’ ‘gloom,’ and ‘sombre.’  

By using characters’ actions, detailed descriptions, and careful word choice, Conan Doyle establishes a deeply suspenseful, ominous atmosphere throughout “The Adventure of the Speckled Band.”

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What is the setting of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" by Arthur Conan Doyle?

The story begins at the house on Baker Street in London at a time when Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are still sharing a flat. They meet with Helen Stoner on the ground floor because it would be improper for a young woman to come to their rooms upstairs. Helen tells them a long story about the death of her sister Julia. Shortly after Helen leaves, her stepfather barges into their flat and threatens Holmes with violence if he doesn't stay out of his affairs.

The setting then changes to a decaying manor called Stoke Moran. It is located only a short distance from London. Dr. Roylott, who has a terrible reputation for hostility and violence in the neighborhood, lives there with his stepdaughter Helen. His other stepdaughter Julia died under mysterious circumstances two years earlier. The building is in a state of decay and only a small part of it is occupied. The doctor, who spent many years in India, collects exotic animals and allows a cheetah and a baboon to run free on the estate. He also allows a band of gypsies to camp on the few acres that remain of the once large estate.

Holmes and Watson rent a room at a nearby inn where they can see Stoke Moran. That night, after receiving a signal from Helen Stoner, they cross over to the manor and climb through Helen's bedroom window. She goes off to sleep in a different room while they wait in the dark to see what will happen.

Most of the important action takes place in the room being temporarily occupied by Helen and in the adjacent room occupied by her stepfather. These are both described in detail. Of importance is the fact that Helen's bed is fastened to the floor so that it cannot be moved, that there is a ventilator between her room and her stepfather's, and that there is a dummy bell rope leading from the ventilator down to the bed. In Dr. Roylott's room Holmes and Watson see a steel safe, a saucer containing some milk, and a dog leash with a noose tied at the end. 

Stoke Moran is a cold, sinister place. Dr. Roylott is half-insane. The atmosphere is oppressive in a gothic way. The building and the grounds are neglected, mainly because Roylott is having serious financial problems and cannot afford to make all the necessary repairs.

The story ends back at 221B Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes explains to Watson how he deduced that the doctor had murdered Julia Stoner with a poisonous snake and was trying to murder Helen Stoner in the same way and for the same motive. Julia had planned to be married, and Roylott would have had to give up her one-third share of the capital he was controlling under the terms of his deceased wife's will. When Helen Stoner became engaged two years later, she began hearing the strange whistling sounds that Julia had told her about just before she died in agony, talking incomprehensibly about a "speckled band." The ventilator was an important clue, as was the useless bell rope. Holmes deduced that the snake was kept in the steel safe and the doctor used the whistle to call it back through the ventilator if it hadn't yet bitten his intended victim.

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The setting initially is in London.  Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson live on Baker Street in London.  Helen Stoner traveled into London to see them.  The actual crime was in Surry, England.  The county of Surry is southeast of London.  She says that,

"I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo." (pg 3)

The town of Leatherhead is about twenty miles from Baker Street, which is the famous address of Sherlock Holmes.  She says that she lives with her stepfather who is

"....the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surry." (pg 3)

There is no place in England named Stock Moran, but there is a place called Stoke D'Abernon which is a few miles from Leatherhead.

The page numbers I have given you are from my internet copy of "The Adventures of the Speckled Band".  However, you should find these quotes in the first fifteen paragraphs of the story.

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What is the setting of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

The story begins in London, where Sherlock and Watson live, as Miss Helen Stoner has traveled there to tell the story of her sister's strange death and enlist the assistance of the detective. Sherlock goes to Watson's bedroom to awaken him (just as Sherlock himself was awakened by Mrs. Hudson, who was awakened by the knocking of Miss Stoner). They descend to the sitting-room to meet her. After listening to Miss Stoner's story, Sherlock and Watson determine to go to Stoke Moran Manor House—the ancestral home of the family of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, located in Surrey, England (about thirty-one miles from London)—in order to investigate the scene of the death of Miss Stoner's sister. They make a stop in a place called Leatherhead to catch the dog cart onward to the great estate and eventually do arrive at Stoke Moran in Surrey, where they investigate and eventually solve the murder of the other Miss Stoner. Dr. Watson references the time of year precisely as "early in April in the year [18]83."

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In a mystery story, details of setting are very important.  Remember that setting is not just the time and place, but all the details of what is there.

The story takes place in London and Surrey England.  At the beginning of the story, Watson notes that “the events in question occurred in the early days of my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors in Baker Street” (enotes etext p. 4).  This was where they lived in London.  He also tells us that the story takes place in “early in April in the year '83” (p. 4).  By this he means 1883.  This is significant because it was an exciting point in history, at the height of the industrial revolution, when new inventions and ideas were everywhere.

A large portion of the story takes place at the “ancestral house” of the family, known as Stoke Moran “on the western border of Surrey” (p. 4).  The home has been in the family for generations.  It is very spooky.  Although the grounds used to be extensive, now “nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage” (p. 5).  The inhabitant of the house is Dr. Roylott, and he is an eccentric recluse.

Dr. Roylott has spent time in India, and that makes for one of the most interesting aspects of the setting.  In addition to the general state of disrepair of the house “he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the villagers almost as much as their master” (p. 6).  Because of Roylott’s temper and the scary animals, no servants will stay in the house.  The house is old, and only one wing is used.  There are also strange whistles at night.

The House is described like this:

The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the stonework had been broken into, but there were no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the outsides of the windows. (p. 13)

Watson and Holmes go to the house to solve the mystery.

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