‘The Speckled Band’ is widely regarded as one of the best Sherlock Holmes stories, and this detailed plot summary reveals exactly why it is so admired. Holmes acknowledges that it was his blows with the cane which roused the animal’s ‘snakish temper’, so he was indirectly responsible for the doctor’s death, but he won’t lose too much sleep over that. But if Roylott tried enough times, eventually, one night, the snake would end up biting her and he would be able to keep his full allowance from his deceased wife. The whistling sound Helen had heard the night before was the doctor recalling the snake to him, after unsuccessfully goading it to enter Helen’s room and deliver the deadly bite. (Holmes guesses that the saucer of milk had been used to train the snake to return to the doctor when summoned by the whistle.) The whistling sound was the doctor using a tin whistle to coax the snake back after it had carried out its deadly task. When he inspected the room in which one sister had been killed and the other now slept, he deduced that the dummy bell-rope was there to act as a bridge for some sort of creature – such as a venomous snake – to enter the room and climb down onto the bed.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |