The Hound of the Baskervilles - Story outline & Characters

The Hound of the Baskervilles

Arthur Conan Doyle

(Story outline & Characters)

👉 The Hound of the Baskervilles - Story outline

👉 Introduction

1 Sherlock Holmes and Watson learn about the predators of the Baskervilles.

👉 Rising action

2 Sir Henry received a letter warning him of danger.

3 Sherlock Holmes and Watson realize someone is surely there, following Sir Henry.

4 Beryl Stapleton warns Watson to leave when they meet each other.

5 Barrymore signals the offender when there is food for him.

6 Watson sees Holmes hiding in a stone hut.

7 Holmes detects a close resemblance between Stapleton and Sir Hugo.

8 Holmes and Watson go to Laura Lyons.

👉 Climax

9 Holmes and Watson save Sir Henry from Hound.

Falling action

10 Stapleton realizes his plan has failed and flees.

11 Clue indicates that Stapleton has sunk into the mud.

👉 Resolution

12 Holmes rolled up the loose edge of the case.

👉 The Hound of the Baskervilles - Characters

👉 Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is a personal investigator who is world renowned. He rejects all superstitions and enthusiastically believes in the power of observation and speculative reasoning. He will not stop at anything, not even cheating, to solve a mystery. Holmes is usually irresistible and reserved yet shows his sense of humor and sarcasm while chatting with his friend and sidekick, Dr. John Watson. Although physically absent for most of this story, its impact is far greater, and in the end it is his contribution to the investigation that cracks the case.

👉 Dr. Watson

Dr John Watson is a London physician who has assisted and assisted Sherlock Holmes in many areas. Always sympathetic and full of wonder for his crime-solving friend and mentor, he often makes the mistake of taking his formula to the right where Holmes is. Watson led the case, going to Devonshire without Holmes to examine the evidence and investigate the cast of suspects. Stumbling as he tried to apply Holmes' analytical method, he acted as a stand-in for the reader.

👉 Cartwright

Cartwright is a messenger boy who works for Sherlock Holmes.

👉 Dr. Mortimer

Dr. Mortimer is a country physician and friend of Baskervilles, who has been appointed executor of Sir Charles's estate. He shares it with Sherlock Holmes, the legend of Baskerville, and asks for the help of detectives to save Sir Henry from apparent danger.

👉 Sir Henry Baskerville

Sir Henry Baskerville returned from Canada, where he spent most of his life, to continue his uncle's work in the recovery of Baskerville Hall. At first he goes to the legend of Baskerville Hound with a light heart of youth, yet the mysterious events of Baskerville Hall disappoint him. Injured with Beryl Stapleton, he is annoyed that neither he nor his brother appreciates his progress. Although not immoral or belligerent, he shares a sense of entitlement with his ugly and violent ancestor, Sir Hugo, whose wicked behavior brings the curse of Baskerville.

👉 Sir Hugo Baskerville

Sir Hugo Baskerville is an ugly, hard-drinking and violent ancestor who chased and killed an innocent virgin a few generations ago. According to legend, his perverted behavior was punished by a spectrum hellhound who hit and killed him. So is the Hound legend that plagues the Baskervilles.

👉 Jack Stapleton

Jack Stapleton is a naturalist who is more adept at catching butterflies than demonstrating social skills. She shows her dangerous temper over Sir Henry's progress towards his sister Beryl, who became his wife. He debunks the Baskerville legend, yet he actually uses the story to terrorize Sir Charles and Sir Henry as he tries to kill the heirs of Baskerville’s fate so he can claim it for himself. Fearing his wife, he bears a striking resemblance to Sir Hugo, his violent and benevolent ancestor.

👉 Beryl Stapleton

Beryl Stapleton loves and fears her husband, yet she turns against him when she learns of a plot to assassinate Sir Henry. His warning to Sir Henry was ultimately successful because they caught the attention of Sherlock Holmes. Both her husband and Sir Henry claim on her without her full consent, which suggests that her misery is a modern version of the girl's fate in the Baskerville legend.

👉 John Barrymore

John Barrymore is a mysterious but loyal servant of his late master, Sir Charles Baskerville. He and his wife are shrouded in mystery because they are fugitive defendants, who are also secretly employed to take care of Mrs. Barrymore's brother. While potentially suspicious, Barrymore also has a wealth of important information that helps solve cases. He also represents a new class of entrepreneurial servants who aim to liberate themselves.

👉 Mrs. Barrymore

Mrs. Eliza Barimore is a housekeeper at Baskerville Hall and wife of Butler. She is heard crying at night because, apparently, she is worried about her brother that the fugitive accused is hiding in Moore.

👉 Selden

Selden is a fugitive. Murray's presence seems like a threat to Sir Henry and Devonshire County, yet he proves to be Mrs. Barrymore's younger brother and a victim himself.

👉 Sir Charles Baskerville

Sir Charles mysteriously died of an apparent heart attack. He is the late successor of Baskerville Hall. He is a superstitious man. He was always anxious for the curse of Baskerville. The country of Devonshire greatly benefited from his generous philanthropic work.

👉 Laura Lyons

Benefiting from Sir Charles' generosity, she owns a typewriting business in a nearby town. She wrote the letter that tempted Sir Charles on the unfortunate night of his death.

👉 John Clayton

John Clayton is the cabbie who drove the mysterious bearded man around London. When Holmes was asked, he said his hire used the name Sherlock Holmes.

👉 Mr. Frankland

Mr. Frankland is an elderly resident of Devonshire County who enjoys trivial cases. To find the fugitive, he scans Moore with his telescope and inadvertently discovers the mysterious man in the tor.

👉 Anthony

Stapleton's servant at Anthony Meripit House

👉 Leicester

A visitor to Leicester Scotland Yard

*****

👉 The Hound of the Baskervilles - Story outlines & Characters

👉 The Hound of Baskervilles: A Mysterious Conflict between Fiction, Reality and Legend