Background and themes
Good and evil: Doyle shows good and evil in permanent
opposition to each other throughout the ages. Evil is
shown to be stronger in the hours of darkness. ‘Dark’ is a
word that is constantly used to describe Baskerville Hall
and Dartmoor. The feeling of menace created through
the descriptions of the hall and the moors contrasts
sharply with the warm cosiness of Baker Street. Conan
Doyle builds the tension in the novel through mysterious
happenings, unexplained noises, menacing weather, and
eccentric characters who clearly have something to hide.
Natural and supernatural: The solutions to the Sherlock
Holmes mysteries are reached through reason and, perhaps
because of Conan Doyle’s interest in the supernatural,
there is often an air of the unexplained and macabre about
them.