Short story Essay Example for Free

Short story Essay The speckled band is a 19th century short story, I know this from the type of transport there is, they have steam trains and dog carts. There are also no lights only lamps that have to be lit with matches. You can see that this story is 19th century, as there is no use of electricity. And lack of modern forensic skills, you can tell this from when the take a long time to try and find out who the killer was, this would be made a lot quicker if they had these modern day skills. The bell rope is old fashioned as they are not around now days. There clothes are definitely Victorian, as in the story Dr Roylotts costume was a peculiar mixture of the professional and agricultural. He was wearing a black top hat, a long frock coat and a pair of high gaiters. He had a hunting crop swinging in his hand. This outfit is very old fashioned as people do not wear this type of clothing anymore. The language is 19th century as well for example said he instead of he said. The language is very formal and uses very old vocabulary like metropolis, encompass. The story uses long complex sentences and lots of adjectives to describe the house Stoke Moran. The speckled band is a murder mystery story; there are many things that you can tell this from. It is set in Stoke Moran The building was of grey, lynched blotched stone, with a high central portion and two curving wings the windows were broken and blocked with wooden boards while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of a ruin from this description it doesnt show any sign of colour and would be a typical murder setting. The fact that the story is using Sherlock Holmes it makes it a mystery, as he is a detective. You dont know whom the killer is this also shows that it is a mystery.  There is tension in the speckled band  Ã‚  My god I whispered, did you see it? Holmes was for the moment as startled as I, his hand closed like a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh and put his lips to my ear this shows tension as Dr Watson doesnt know what he is suppose to be seeing. It is a nice household he murmured that is the baboon  This tells us that they were scared and didnt know what the baboon was this makes the story more tense. There is also more tension when Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp and we were left in darkness  This made the story tense as Dr Watson didnt know what was going to happen in the dark. Shall I forget that dreadful vigil? I could hear no sound not even the drawing of a breath and yet I knew that my companion sat opened eyed, within a few feet of me in the state of nervous tension  This shows that Dr Watson was nervous.  There is more tension when Sherlock Holmes saw something  you see it Watson he yelled you see it  Dr watson didnt see anything apart from Sherlocks face deadly pale and filled with horror.