Chen 1 Elysia Chen Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37 2 February 2014

Mystery Genre Convention

As a detective, Sherlock Holmes is sometimes trapped in the cage of a case with only one perspective. The more he looks into the case and observes about the details, the more threads he breaks and the less he sees. This is when Holmes changes his path and goes undercover. By doing so, Sherlock sees the case in a different point of view and secretly protects the victim. In The Hound of the Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Holmes instructs Watson to accompany Sir Henry Baskerville back to the Baskerville mansion as his eyes and ears because he cannot leave England due to other cases. Later on, we find out that Sherlock Holmes was doing investigation on his own undercover. After tying together all the information gathered, Holmes and Watson figure out that Mr. Stapleton is the culprit. The mystery genre convention of Sherlock Holmes that he goes undercover is being developed through The Hound of the Baskerville when Watson finds out the mystery man that has been hiding in the moor is Sherlock Holmes himself.

Sherlock Holmes is aware of the importance of Watson when he goes undercover. Although he observes everything from the moor, he could not have gotten the details inside the house and with Mr. Stapleton without Watson. Yet, in order to

Chen 2 advance further into the case, Holmes understands it is something he cannot avoid. Holmes trusts Watson to give him sufficient information from the inside by saying he is confident that his "point of view would be the same as (Watson's)" (Doyle 219). Instead of arguing back to Watson, Holmes first states how "invaluable" (Doyle 219) Watson is to him. Through out the the novels written by Conan Doyle, Watson seems like the one that praises Holmes, but once in awhile, Holmes would say something that praises Watson. Even though he had to go lie to Watson, he acknowledges the importance of Watson's help and is very appreciative. Holmes also apologizes for breaking the trust from Watson. He uses the phrase "beg that you will forgive me" to show sincerity in his apology (Doyle 219). He asks for forgiveness or this inevitable lie he pulled on Watson.

In this particular novel, the moor is a very dangerous place where the legendary hound occupies. Sending Watson alone to investigate the case seems too dangerous to Holmes. He says "it was my appreciation of the danger which you ran which led me to come down and examine the matter for myself." Holmes explains the first reason he came to the moor and hid it from Watson was because of the danger Watson is in. Sir Henry's life is in danger according to the letter he received back in London and therefore, Watson has a great chance of being in danger as well. Holmes hides his identity in order to protect those two. An outsider often sees or notices things that insiders don't. Observing the Stapletons and Barrymores along with the letters he receives from Watson gives him a 360 degrees view of this case. This is one of the reasons why Holmes decides to go undercover.

Chen 3 The other reason Holmes came down to the moor unannounced was to get evidence. He explains that if he came along with Watson and Sir Henry, he would've been in the same shoes and seen the same things as them. For a difficult and unnatural case like this one, Holmes took a different approach. Instead of going to the directed place as always, Sherlock hides in the moor. He explains that it is because "(his) presence would have warned (their) very formidable opponents to be on their guard". Holmes is almost certain that the opponent is near Sir Henry, yet he doesn't have enough evidence to prove so. He stayed hidden to gather more information, and when he finally has enough evidence, he will catch the culprit.

This mystery genre convention is also shown in other Sherlock Holmes stories as well. Such as the short story "The man with the twisted lip", Holmes disguised as an elderly opium addict in the opium den in the beginning of the story. Also, in "A Scandal in Bohemia", Holmes disguised as an injured man to find out where the picture was. The name Sherlock Holmes was already famous in the Victorian era. In some cases, it creates a problem for Holmes. Therefore, going undercover is one of the methods that he uses to solve cases.

Chen 4 Work Cited

Doyle, Arthur Conan; Read, Higher (2013-12-09). The Hound of the Baskervilles (Read It and Know It Edition) (p. 29). Higher Read, LLC. Kindle Edition.