Student Question
What literary devices are used in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?
Quick answer:
"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" employs several literary devices, including character vs. character conflict, as seen between Dr. Roylott and Helen Stoner, and between Roylott and Sherlock Holmes. The story also features poetic justice, with Roylott's death resulting from his own evil actions. Rising action builds tension up to the climax, marked by Holmes's decisive action against the bell-rope, leading to the resolution where Holmes explains the murder and Roylott's demise.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle constructs a villainous antagonist in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" in the character of Dr. Grimseby Roylott. The antagonist of the story opposes the protagonist, and this particular antagonist is especially hateful. He is abusive and murderous, and the reader rejoices when his own villainous plot turns on him and results in his own demise. His death, which occurs as a result of his own evil machinations, seems like a kind of poetic justice: when evil characters are punished by an ironic twist of fate.
Certainly, Doyle employs a number of character vs. character conflicts in the story: there is a conflict between Helen Stoner and her step-father, Dr. Roylott. A similar conflict existed between Helen's sister, Julia, and Dr. Roylott before Julia was murdered. A similar conflict develops between Dr. Roylott and Sherlock Holmes, as Roylott comes to Holmes's office to threaten him.
Doyle also uses rising action that leads to the story's climax—when "a quiet hissing sound" is heard, Holmes strikes a match, and then he beats at the bell-rope with his cane. In the story's falling action and resolution, Holmes reveals how Dr. Roylott murdered Julia and how the doctor himself has been killed.
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