The Cast
The Hound of the Baskervilles has a lot of names for a short novel. There are two detectives, two doctors, a butler, a convict, a lawsuit-mad neighbour, a naturalist and his sister, and a dead baronet who is still the center of the book. This video is full spoilers, so one of the people in it is hiding something from the first time he speaks in chapter seven. I read the Project Gutenberg text, and I’ll tell you where each person first appears.
Holmes And Watson
Start with Sherlock Holmes. He appears in chapter one, at breakfast, quizzing Watson about a walking stick. He is at his sharpest in London, and for most of the middle of the book he is missing. He tells everyone he cannot leave town, because a blackmailer is threatening a revered name. In truth he is living on the moor, in a stone hut, with a boy to bring him food. Early on he tells Sir Henry that of five hundred cases of capital importance, he is not sure one cuts as deep as this.
Dr. Watson is the narrator, and the one the moor tests. In chapter one, Holmes tells him he may not be luminous himself, but he is a conductor of light. Watson is then sent to guard Sir Henry, writes long letters back, and keeps a revolver within reach. He follows orders, then breaks one, when he leaves Sir Henry’s side. That choice leads him straight to Holmes, who has been reading his reports all along, and says they are very well thumbed.
Dr. Mortimer
Dr. James Mortimer is the country doctor from the village of Grimpen. He starts the case by leaving his stick behind. The Medical Directory lists him with an essay called Is Disease a Reversion, and he collects skulls. He tells Holmes to his face that he covets his.
Mortimer was Sir Charles’s friend and doctor, and also his trustee. He kept the hound’s footprints from the coroner, because he did not want to feed a superstition. He is sincere, a little absent-minded, and every bit as fooled as the rest of us. His curly-haired spaniel is the sad detail.
The Baskervilles
Sir Charles Baskerville made money in South Africa, and came home to restore the Hall. He was generous to the poor, and he died in his yew alley. He was a widower with no children, and a newspaper says he might have run for office. He is a man everyone liked, and the book keeps him in the middle of every mystery, even after he’s gone.
Sir Henry Baskerville, his nephew, comes from Canada. He is about thirty, dark, blunt, and stubborn. His line, that no devil in hell will keep him from the home of his people, tells you who he is. When he first sees the Hall, he promises to light the drive with electric lamps. He falls for Miss Stapleton, loses a boot, and is nearly killed by the hound. At the end he is shaken, and he leaves on a long voyage with Mortimer.
Behind them is old Hugo Baskerville, who is in the legend, and also in a portrait dated sixteen forty-seven.
The Stapletons
Now the one I warned you about. Jack Stapleton is the naturalist of Merripit House. He is polite, curious, and always carrying a net. He is also a Baskerville, the son of Rodger, the black sheep, and his real aim is the estate.
His supposed sister, Beryl, is actually his wife. She is the only person who tries to warn Sir Henry, and she lisps a little when she speaks. Later we learn she is from Costa Rica. Her husband ties her up on the night of the hound, and her arms are covered in bruises. She is the book’s most tragic person, and she shows Holmes the way into the Mire.
Stapleton himself flees into the Mire that night. Only a boot is ever found, and Holmes believes he drowned.
The Barrymores And Selden
John Barrymore is the butler of Baskerville Hall. He has a square black beard, and he is rather deaf. His family has looked after the Hall for four generations, and Sir Charles left him five hundred pounds. His wife, Eliza, sobs at night, because her younger brother is hiding on the moor.
That brother is Selden, the Notting Hill murderer, who escaped from the prison at Princetown. The Barrymores feed him, and signal to him with a candle. In chapter twelve he is killed, wearing clothes that Barrymore gave him, which belonged to Sir Henry.
Frankland And Mrs. Lyons
Mr. Frankland lives at Lafter Hall. He is red-faced, white-haired, and addicted to lawsuits. Watson says he has about seven going at once. He watches the moor all day through a telescope, and his boast about a boy carrying food is what leads Watson to Holmes.
His daughter, Laura Lyons, lives in Coombe Tracey, and earns a living at a typewriter. Her husband, an artist, left her, and her father has cut her off. She wrote the letter that called Sir Charles to the gate, because Stapleton dictated it. When Holmes shows her proof that Stapleton is married, she changes sides.
The Hound
Yes, the dog counts as a character. In the legend it is a hell-hound. In chapter fourteen, Holmes and Watson see it up close, and it is a combination of bloodhound and mastiff, gaunt, savage, and as large as a small lioness. It is not a ghost. Stapleton bought it from dealers in the Fulham Road in London, and covered its muzzle and coat in a glowing mixture that Watson identifies as phosphorus.
The hound is more victim than villain. It is kept chained in a ruined mine on an island in the Mire, half-starved, and Holmes shoots it dead with five barrels of his revolver. It never says a word, and nobody in the book blames it.
Who Lied To Whom
Here is a list I made. Barrymore lies to Sir Henry about the sobbing. Mrs. Lyons lies to Watson about the letter. Miss Stapleton says her warning was a whim. Stapleton lies to everybody, about everything, in his pleasant way.
And the surprise: Holmes lies too. He lets Watson believe he is in London, and lets Stapleton believe he is leaving for it. In this book, the hero is just as good at it as the villain, and he admits he used Sir Henry as bait.
The Smaller Parts
A few more names. Lestrade is a small, wiry police detective who arrives from London, and Holmes calls him the best of the professionals. Cartwright is the fourteen-year-old messenger boy who checks hotels, and later brings Holmes supplies.
Perkins is the groom who drives the wagonette. Murphy is the drunk gipsy horse-dealer who heard cries on the night Sir Charles died. James Desmond is the next heir after Sir Henry, an elderly clergyman, and Holmes crosses him off at once. And there’s Anthony, the old servant at Merripit House, who vanishes before the end.
By The Numbers
My counts, from the fifteen chapters. The name Holmes appears one hundred and ninety-two times. Watson, who narrates, is named one hundred and seventeen times. Stapleton is named ninety-three times, and Barrymore seventy-three.
So the butler, the red herring, is named almost as often as the killer.
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