The Speckled Band Essay Example for Free

The Speckled Band Essay The social and historical settings in the stories mean that although both stories are about crime and detectives, they are almost seperate genres as far as detective stories go. However, they have a very similar structure. Both stories start with a desperate young woman asking for help in solving a crime. In the middle of both stories, the detectives investigate the crimes and find evidence. Holmes does this mostly at the scene of the crime whereas the Op goes to the police station and peoples apartments to interview people involved. Both storied have similar endings in that the detectives solve the crimes very cleverly and then explain to the other characters how they did it. This is a way to explain to the reader how they did it, so the plot makes sense. However, Death on Pine Street ends with a display of the roughness of the Op, as he knocks the tennant down the steps. Holmes did not act in this manner. The differences also lie in the characters other than the detectives. The Speckled Band has far fewer characters, as it is focused on a far smaller location. The victims of the stories are different. In The Speckled Band we feel sorry for Miss Stoner and her sister, they are innocent young girls being cruelly mistreated by a vicious stepfather. We cant really feel very sorry for Gilmore as he is a crook and a serial adulterer. His death may have been an accident, but he probably did deserve it. Dr. Roylott is obviously made out to be the evil, vicious villian of The Speckled Band, but Death on Pine Street is set in an environment where just about everyone is unpleasant and involved in some sort of shady activity; this is again due to the socio-historic setting of the story. The Speckled Band takes on a typically Victorian view of woman, innocently in need of rescue by a heroic character like Holmes. In Death on Pine Street it is just the opposite; the women are tough, they can do things for themselves, and like Cara Kenbrook, are far from innocent. There is also a lot more violence in Death on Pine Street than in The Speckled Band, this again, shows us the difference between 1890s England and 1930s America. The language difference is also clearly seen, Holmes story being spoken in standard english, and Death on Pine Street full of slang terms and americanisms. Both stories give us a good representation of what it was actually like in those periods of time. Because Sherlock Holmes was the first fictional detective it is easy to see how later detective stories like Death on Pine Street were influenced by him. But the whole atmosphere and morality of the two stories is different. The different historical and social circumstances are easily noticable.The language spoken, the attitude of the characters and the overall morals are different. The Speckled Band is a classic, simple Good Versus Evil story, with Good prevailing as usual. However Death on Pine Street has a general feeling of corruption, distrust and seems full of double crossings. The more modern story is influenced by classic features of Holmes such as his strength of character, brilliant mind and use of a complex mystery, however the modern American setting has meant changes to the classic English style. Death on Pine Street blurs the borders between good and evil, which I find interesting. The classic Holmes approach, whilst enjoyable, can seem unrealistic, considering present day life. Both stories are very enjoyable in their own way, as I stated before they could almost be in seperate genres. The element of mystery is used well in both stories, and both stories have interesting characters. I think the fact that they are both so ingenious is what compells us to read on; we want to know how they managed to solve such a complex puzzle. Although from differing times and places, they are both prime examples of what a detective story should be.