Gcse Wider Reading A Grade: Sh
...This essay will examine both ‘the Speckled Band’ by Conan Doyle and ‘Visitors’ by Brian Moon and will look at how each one conforms to or diverges from the conventions of the detective story and also how each story is representative of the century it was written in by how it presents the woman, the hero and the villain.
The conventions of the detective story were mostly established in the early twentieth century yet ‘the Speckled Band’ was written in the late nineteenth century. However, it still conforms to most of the detective story conventions, therefore I conclude that it deserves to be called a detective story
One of the conventions of the detective story is that the detective if frequently an amateur. In ‘the Speckled Band’ Holmes does not work for any official body, like the police, for example. He is not, however, an amateur in the sense that he solves crimes for a hobby, he says, “as to my reward, my profession is my reward.” Holmes is an amateur in the root sense of the word “someone who works simply for the love of it” However the way that Holmes uses the word “profession” shows that he does not consider himself to be an amateur.
Another convention of the detective story is that the detective will have a confidant through whom he can explain his reasoning to the reader. Holmes has a confidant, Watson, who is the stereotypical gentle doctor who is plain and uninteresting so as not to draw attention away from Holmes. “I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations” this implies that Watson lead an uninteresting life, without many interesting hobbies or pastimes.
Another convention of the detective story is that the detective is in competition with the police, however, in ‘the Speckled Band’...
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