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The Hound of the Baskervilles: study guide
By Arthur Conan Doyle. A spoiler-light guide with themes, characters, vocabulary and questions to discuss.
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle · 1901–1902 · public domain
The story
Sir Henry Baskerville inherits an estate on Dartmoor, where the family has long been haunted by the legend of a spectral hound. Sherlock Holmes sends Dr. Watson ahead to the moor, then works to find out whether the danger is supernatural or entirely human.
This summary avoids the ending, but later sections of a guide can spoil details.
Main themes
- Reason versus superstition
- Observation and deduction
- Atmosphere and the wild moor
- Greed and inheritance
Characters
- Sherlock Holmes
- The consulting detective who reasons from small clues.
- Dr. John Watson
- Holmes’s friend and the narrator of most of the story.
- Sir Henry Baskerville
- The new heir, the target of the legend.
- Dr. Mortimer and Mr. Stapleton
- Two neighbors on the moor, one who raises the alarm and one who is not what he seems.
Words worth knowing
- moor
- open, high, boggy land covered with heather and grass.
- mire
- deep, sticky mud or a bog.
- spectral
- ghostly.
- deduction
- reaching a conclusion by reasoning from known facts.
Questions to discuss
- How does Doyle use the setting to keep the supernatural explanation alive?
- What do Holmes’s methods reveal that Watson’s observations miss?
- Why does Holmes stay away from Dartmoor for much of the story?
- What makes a good clue in a mystery?