The Adventure of the Speckled Band

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"The Adventure of the Speckled Band"
Short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Spec-04.jpg
Dr. Roylott (left) confronts Holmes and Watson. 1892 illustration by Sidney Paget
Wikiversity-Mooc-Icon-Further-readings.svg Text available at Wikisource
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Detective fiction short stories
Publication
Published in The Strand Magazine
Published in EnglishFebruary 1892
Chronology
Series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
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The Blue Carbuncle
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The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" is one of 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the eighth story of twelve in the collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . It was originally published in Strand Magazine in February 1892.

Contents

"The Speckled Band" is a classic locked-room mystery that deals with the themes of parental greed, inheritance and freedom. Tinged with Gothic elements, it is considered by many to be one of Doyle's finest works, with the author himself calling it his best story. [1] The story, alongside the rest of the Sherlock Holmes canon, has become a defining part of detective fiction. It has been adapted for television, film, theatre, radio and a video game. It is part of the exhibit at the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The theatrical adaptation was written and produced by Doyle himself, directed by and starring Lyn Harding as Grimesby Roylott. The role of Holmes was played by H. A. Saintsbury. Doyle famously clashed with Harding over several details of the script, but later reconciled with him after the universal success of the play. [2]

Plot summary

The death of Julia Stoner. Spec-03.jpg
The death of Julia Stoner.
Holmes strikes at the speckled band. Spec-08.jpg
Holmes strikes at the speckled band.
The death of Dr. Roylott. Spec-09.jpg
The death of Dr. Roylott.

In April 1883, Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson rise early one morning to meet a young woman named Helen Stoner, who is in great fear of her life. She explains that her mother married her stepfather, Dr. Grimesby Roylott, in India when Helen and her twin sister Julia were two years old. Dr. Roylott is the impoverished sole survivor of a formerly wealthy but ill-tempered violent and amoral aristocratic Anglo-Saxon family in Surrey. He had served time in an Indian prison for killing his Indian butler in a rage. Afterwards, Roylott had moved to England, and retired after Helen's mother was killed in a railway accident eight years prior.

The sisters did not live happily, but when Julia got engaged two years prior, things promised to improve. Shortly before her wedding day, Julia confided in Helen that she had heard a low whistle in the night. That same night, Helen was startled out of bed by her sister's scream. Helen found Julia at her door, warning of "the speckled band" shortly before dying. The official inquest was unable to determine the cause of death: the room was securely locked both inside and outside, and the doctors could find no poison.

Two years on, Helen had got engaged, and looked forward to her new life. However, when Roylott started repairs outside the house, she had to move into her sister's old room. One night, she heard the whistle which heralded her sister's death; terrified, she approached Holmes the next day.

After Holmes agrees to take the case, he is visited by Roylott, who threatens to harm him if he interferes. Undaunted, Holmes leaves for the courthouse to examine Helen's mother's will, concluding that if both daughters married, Roylott would not have much to live on. He and Watson then travel to Stoke Moran, where he scrutinizes the premises. Within Helen's room, he discovers her bed is anchored to the floor, an unconnected bell cord has been installed, and a ventilator hole connects her room to Roylott's. In Roylott's room, they notice a large safe and a saucer of milk.

Holmes warns Helen to move to her old room that night, while he and Watson stay in Helen's room. After a tense wait, they hear a slight metallic noise and see a dim light through the ventilator, followed by a hissing sound. Holmes lights a candle and strikes at the bell cord, and they hear a terrifying scream. Holmes and Watson go to Roylott's room, where they see the "speckled band" – a venomous snake which Holmes identifies as the most poisonous snake in India. Angered by Holmes' blows, the snake had attacked Roylott, killing him. Though Holmes also admits to indirectly killing Roylott, he does not foresee it troubling him and chooses not to tell the police Roylott's full motive to spare Helen any further grief. Holmes reveals to Watson Roylott motive for killed his stepdaugthers: His late wife will provided for an annual income, handled by Roylott, which both daughters could claim a share 1/3 upon marriage.

Inspirations

Richard Lancelyn Green, the editor of the 2000 Oxford paperback edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, surmises that Doyle's source for the story appears to have been the article named "Called on by a Boa Constrictor. A West African Adventure" in Cassell's Saturday Journal, published in February 1891. [1] In the article, a captain tells how he was dispatched to a remote camp in West Africa to stay in a tumbledown cabin that belonged to a Portuguese trader. On the first night in the cabin, he is awoken by a creaking sound, and sees "a dark queer-looking thing hanging down through the ventilator above it". It turns out to be the largest Boa constrictor he has seen (more likely a python because there are no boas in Africa). He is paralysed with fear as the serpent comes down into the room. Unable to cry out for help, the captain spots an old bell that hung from a projecting beam above one of the windows. The bell cord had rotted away, but by means of a stick, he manages to ring it and raise the alarm.

Identity of 'the speckled band'

"It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten."

The key characteristics to be considered in identification of the snake are:

There is no real-life snake that matches all of these characteristics. The snake that comes closest is the Indian Cobra. [4]

Publication history

"The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was first published in the UK in The Strand Magazine in February 1892, and in the United States in the US edition of the Strand in March 1892. [5] The story was published with nine illustrations by Sidney Paget in The Strand Magazine. [6] It was included in the short story collection The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes , [6] which was published in October 1892. [7]

Adaptations

First play publication TheSpeckledBand.jpg
First play publication

Theatre

Film

Radio and audio dramas

Television

Video games

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References

Notes
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  4. "Facts in The Adventure of the Speckled Band". Owl Eyes.
  5. Smith (2014), p. 56.
  6. 1 2 Cawthorne (2011), p. 66.
  7. Cawthorne (2011), p. 54.
  8. Boström, Mattias (2018). From Holmes to Sherlock . Mysterious Press. pp. 147–148. ISBN   978-0-8021-2789-1.
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  15. Boström, Mattias (2018). From Holmes to Sherlock . Mysterious Press. pp. 196–199. ISBN   978-0-8021-2789-1.
  16. Dickerson (2019), pp. 31, 39.
  17. Dickerson (2019), p. 50.
  18. Dickerson (2019), p. 72.
  19. Dickerson (2019), p. 87.
  20. Dickerson (2019), p. 97.
  21. Dickerson (2019), p. 131.
  22. Dickerson (2019), p. 183.
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  28. 1 2 De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes . Bramhall House. p.  382. ISBN   0-517-217597.
  29. Dickerson (2019), p. 286.
  30. De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes . Bramhall House. p.  388. ISBN   0-517-217597.
  31. De Waal, Ronald Burt (1974). The World Bibliography of Sherlock Holmes . Bramhall House. p.  411–412. ISBN   0-517-217597.
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  38. Alan Barnes (2002). Sherlock Holmes on Screen. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. pp. 138–143. ISBN   1-903111-04-8.
  39. Eyles, Allen (1986). Sherlock Holmes: A Centenary Celebration . Harper & Row. p.  140. ISBN   9780060156206.
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Sources