Pitting the Enlightenment against Romanticism

Sherlock Holmes is one of the characters that has been immortalized in literature. There is something captivating about his cool logical method of thinking that causes people to watch, fascinated by mental prowess exhibited throughout Sir Conan Doyle's novels. Yet one entry seems to stand out and away from the rest; The Hound of the Baskervilles. This self-contained novel is a dive back into the Holmesian narrative that adds on Victorian Fin de Siecle Gothic elements to the classic detective tale.

In combining Gothic and Detective elements Doyle reflects many of the ideas and movements that were turning within society. One of the largest manifestations of this was in the anthropomorphism of the setting. Removing educated gentlemen from the relative safety of London brought about a profound impact as they were confronted with the primal nature of the Moor. It was something that could not be tamed and controlled - primordial man and animals had walked upon the moor and to that day the moor remained unchanged, untouched by time. This caused even the sensible Watson to doubt, at least at some internal level, as to whether or not there was possibly some dark supernatural force that was after the Baskervilles family. This battle, between the nature and science seems to reflect a contrast between Romanticism and the Enlightenment. On one hand there was the cool calculating man of science, using logic and reason to deduce facts from clues, while on the other there was the supernatural, the inexplicable, and the idea the land itself was almost alive. In the end, Sherlock and logic triumph, but it is from the safety of London and society that the topic is broached and concluded.

This idea of the possibility of the Supernatural would certainly capture audiences of the time, but also many today. There are still many fascinated by the unknown, and the supernatural. There is something magnetic about murder mysteries, especially when there is the possibility of something supernatural about it. Even Sherlock allows for a practical sort of supernatural influence while discussing the case with Watson and says “The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?” Science has its limits at some point we all delve into the realm of the unknown. This can be a frightening experience, but we will often find that, as Holmes points out, that “The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.”
Picutre Credits: Matthew Stewart 12/17/13, The Hound of the Baskervilles