Symbolism is when authors use objects to indicate certain ideas by giving them a meaning other than what they literally represent. Most authors use this literary device in their books because it adds depth to the book. Symbolism allows the author to give a deeper meaning to a concept. In the classic mystery, The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, symbolism is used. The three objects to which Doyle applied symbolism were the moor, the hound, and Stapleton's nets. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The moor is described as darkness and foreboding. The moor is not a place that many people visit and explore, in fact most people are actually afraid of it and tend to avoid it. Watson describes the moor when he says, “Above the green squares…like a fantastic landscape in a dream” (39). Here Doyle reveals that the moor is a place that gives people shivers when they see it. He does this through the character Watson, because in this quote, words with negative connotations such as “strange, gray and melancholy” are used to show what the moor looks like. Doyle uses another dark and unpleasant word when he writes, “If upon that forbidding moor… he would bravely share it” (39). This shows that the moor looks threatening. This also shows that nothing good is ever thought to be associated with the moor. This is proven to be true because the moor is actually the home of the terrible hound. Doyle uses the hound to symbolize death. The beast is suspected of killing many characters in the book, and seems to always be around when someone is killed. Dr. Mortimer informed Holmes of the evidence he had found near the body of Sir Charles Baskerville which according to him “were the tracks of a gigantic hound” (13). Dr. Mortimer clearly states that he saw the tracks of a hound next to a body in this quote. This wasn't the only crime the cold-blooded brute was linked to. Sherlock says that "Uncle and nephew were murdered, the one scared to death by the very sight of the beast" (95-96). This tells readers that the monster has once again been linked to a death. Sherlock also says that the creature scared someone to death, so just its appearance can kill a man. Although the animal is always associated with deaths in this story, it is certainly not the only killer. Every dog has an owner. The hound always took orders from a man named Stapleton. Stapleton, the antagonist, had a hobby of catching butterflies and the net he used was a symbol representing the feeling of being trapped or trapping someone else like a butterfly. Both Sherlock and Watson use networks metaphorically to show how they have been fooled or how they will fool someone else. When Watson has an epiphany, he states, “There's always been this feeling… trapped in his meshes” (89). Watson manages to portray his feeling of being deceived. He is trying to explain that he always had the feeling that something was happening around him and that in fact someone was always following him. Doyle wants the reader to imagine Watson as a butterfly caught in a net. Sherlock also used the net, but he used it to explain the feeling of having captured Stapleton. Holmes says: "The nets are all fine... he managed to get through the meshes." (103) Sherlock is telling Watson that they have indeed obtained enough evidence to blame Stapleton for the murders, but they will have to wait to find out if he will be caught or if he will escape)
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