En2043 final essay - Grade: B PDF

Preview

Summary

Criminality and its detection are central to the Victorian novel. Making reference to one or more novels studied in this half-module, discuss the importance of crime, policing and punishment in Victorian fiction. ...

Description

(4) Criminality and its detection are central to the Victorian novel. Making reference to one or more novels studied in this half-module, discuss the importance of crime, policing and punishment in Victorian fiction.

There are 3 different forms of the Victorian novel that we covered in this half-module. First of all there is ‘A Sensation Novel of the 1860’s’, an example of this would be the text ‘The Moonstone: A Romance’. Secondly there is ‘An Imperial Romance of the 1880’s’, an example of which would be the text ‘She’. And finally the third form of Victorian novel that we studied was that of ‘a fin-de-siècle detective fiction’. The novel ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is an example of this particular form. This essay will make reference to the novel, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’, which was studied in this half-module and it will also discuss in depth the importance of crime, policing and punishment in Victorian fiction, in the form of this particular piece. The style of writing in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is a perfect example of realist writing at the time. Realist writing was the cultural product of society beginning to gradually move away from religious explanations of the environment to more rational and scientific ones and this was clear from the rational detective work portrayed in this novel. Despite these scientific advances, there is still a presence of overdramatization in the novel. For example, the hound is highly feared throughout the story and he is spoken about in a way that could possibly lea us to believe that he is a far more ferocious creature than just a big, vicious dog. It is very clear that both criminality and its detection are central to the Victorian novel, as the entire plot of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ surrounds the detecting of a crime committed in the dark, mysterious moors of Devonshire. The crime itself highlights the importance of crime, policing and punishment in Victorian fiction and it is clear that detection is central to Victorian fiction in general and not just to the genre of detective fiction itself.

The importance of forensic medicine was beginning to play an important role in the Victorian novel and the forensic power of detection was personified by the character Sherlock Holmes as it developed in the last few decades of the 19th century. The character of Sherlock Holmes was vastly ahead of the forensic times as, according to Britannica, “Holmes was quick to realize the value of fingerprint evidence. The first case in which fingerprints are mentioned is The Sign of the Four (1890); Scotland Yard did not begin to use fingerprints until 1901.” (O’Brien, 2014). This again shows that Holmes really was the personification of the forensic power of detection in the Victorian novel. Holmes is clearly a very intelligent, witty character which can be seen immediately in the novel. He even at one points finishes Dr.Mortimer’s sentence at one point when we heard the doctor explain that “he said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did - some little distance off, but fresh and clear" and then without allowing him to finish, Holmes impatiently replies, "Footprints?" (p. 679).

Crime is of utmost importance in Victorian fiction, as is made clear in the different writings and works produced at the time. One novel which features crime heavily throughout is in fact Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. In this particular novel, crime is linked quite closely with phrenology, a pseudo-science that maintained that because the skull takes its shape from the brain, the surface of the skull can be read as a clear indication or interpretation of the subjects psychology. Holmes therefore reads and interprets the facts of cases like a phrenologist would read a skull. Though there are smaller, maybe less significant crimes littered throughout the novel, the most obvious and central crime in the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ that seems to set the story in motion is the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville.

In the aftermath of his demise, his next of kin is set to take over his new-found post but is quickly intimidated by a note of warning and the fact that a shoe has been taken, presumably stolen. Despite this not being an actual crime, per say, it certainly seems to set the scene for one and he may become the next victim if this puzzling crime is not solved. These types of crimes are very important in Victorian fiction as they show the change from the focusing of the criminal once being a sympathetic hero to now being a feared and dangerous character. According to crime culture, “although fiction dealing with crime and mystery had been published well before the Victorian age, crime literature before 1800 had frequently focused on the criminal as the sympathetic hero,” “changes in such representations were evident as early as 1773” and “although the focus was still on the criminal, the portrayal was far from sympathetic.” (Pittard, 2003). There is also a connection between the sexual politics of ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ and crime. This is conveyed to us through the case of Laura Lyons. Lyons’s desires a divorce in order to marry someone else but, set in 1884-5, the novella postdates the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857. Prior to the 1857 Act, a divorce in England could only be obtained by means of a suit by the husband against another man for ‘criminal conversation’. This meant it was near impossible for a woman to obtain a divorce, unless she could prove adultery aggravated by desertion for two years, or by violent or aggravated cruelty, rape, or sodomy. Another crime that is present in the story is the case of Beryl Garcia, who we know is being physically abused by Stapleton, her fake brother. Unlike Laura Lyons, Beryl succeeds in achieving freedom from her husband, but she is only free because a crime has been committed. She is free because her husband has either disappeared or is dead. Policing is also a very important aspect of Victorian fiction. It is present in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ in the form of Holmes’s and Watson’s detective work. Being sent in Holmes’s place, Watson begins his detective work immediately upon his arrival in

Devonshire. Many, if not all of the characters seem odd to Watson and each have their quirks and habits. For example, Mr. Barrymore the butler, wakes up frequently throughout the night and shines a light out from a seemingly empty room in the house. The action of policing is seen here as Watson decides to follow Mr. Barrymore to try to figure out what he is up to. Policing is again present in Watson’s search for the man on the Moor. While Watson is attempting to discover the culprit or culprits, Holmes takes a completely different approach in his detective work. Wishing to observe from a safe distance, Holmes is revealed to be the mysterious man on the moor. Although their approaches are very different, both Holmes’ and Watson’s detective work are effective in their own ways. By placing himself into the core of the community, Watson managed to detect and uncover lots of information from the locals. Whereas in the case of Holmes, by placing himself away from the people, he was able to maintain an objective point of view and could see a different perspective of the unfolding events. The topic of punishment is also immensely important in Victorian fiction as it gives a sense of closure to the story and a sense of relief and comfort to the reader. In the Victorian period, capital punishment was still very common, with hanging and executions taking place as a means of punishment for various crimes that ranged in severity. According to Anne Schwan, “social inequality and deprivation drove women, men, and children into petty crime and more serious offences, resulting in severe punishment ranging from incarceration via penal transportation to hanging” (Schwan, 2014). The punishment served in ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is far less gruesome. The punishment, per say, comes in the form of Stapleton’s sudden disappearance. This most likely outcome is that he has died. The ending is rather an anti-climax as the reader has been waiting for Stapleton to become the recipient of harsh punishment from the moment his guilt was uncovered. It does in a sense add to the

mystery of the novel, but it also leaves the story without a full conclusion, or again leaves the reader with no closure, only more questions. Criminality and its detection are quite obviously central to the Victorian novel. This is made clear to us in Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. The importance of crime, policing and punishment in Victorian fiction, as discussed above, is also clear to see in the novel. The entire story is structured around these three topics and they give the story and the characters more depth and detail. In this particular novel, for example, the crime shows us the violence and cunningness of the characters. The policing, in the form of detective work, shows us the advances in science, particularly in the forensic sciences and finally the punishment shows us how problems were dealt with in the Victorian period and how people responded to these various kinds of punishments.

Works Cited:

Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. George Newnes, 1902. Novel.

O’Brien, James. Sherlock Holmes: Pioneer in Forensic Science. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2014. Website.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sherlock-Holmes-Pioneer-in-Forensic-

Science-1976713

Pittard,

Christopher.

Victorian

Detective

Fiction.

Crimeculture,

2003.

Website.

2014.

Website.

http://www.crimeculture.com/Contents/VictorianCrime.html

Schwan,

Anne.

Crime

and

Punishment.

Oxford

Index,

http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/obo/9780199799558-0087...