Skip to main content

What is some verbal irony in Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"?

There is plenty of verbal irony in the encounter between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Grimesby Roylott right after Roylott's stepdaughter Helen Stoner has departed for home. Roylott tries to intimidate Holmes into telling him why Helen came to Baker Street and what she told him. Holmes is characteristically fearless and frigidly polite. His replies to Roylott are ironic because he is saying the opposite of what he is thinking. For example:



“I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.”




“Indeed, Doctor,” said Holmes blandly. “Pray take a seat.”




“I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?”




“It is a little cold for the time of the year,” said Holmes.




“What has she been saying to you?” screamed the old man furiously.




“But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,” continued my companion imperturbably.



The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, probably had a special purpose for having some of Holmes' ironic replies deal with the cold weather. The reader is going to wonder why the poisonous snake would stay on the bed and not try to escape when it found itself free of Dr. Roylott's control. The answer is that the snake comes from a tropical climate. It would be more likely to seek warmth than to try to escape from the room, especially when the weather is so cold. Julia Stoner was killed almost exactly two years earlier, when the weather would have been equally cold.


Holmes' dialogue is frequently ironic. That is one of his characteristics. He is being ironic at the very end of the tale when he tells his friend Watson:



"In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”



He is really glad that Dr. Roylott was killed by his own snake after the detective angered it and drove it back up the bell-rope and through the ventilator. That eliminates him as a threat to Helen and rids the world of a dangerous madman. Roylott's death will not weigh on Holmes' conscience at all. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more