by Conan Doyle · Cluster: Detective Fiction · Ratiocination Detection · Crime and Punishment
Abstract
Doyle’s own 1910 stage adaptation of his celebrated short story: an inquest into the terrified death of Violet Stonor opens the play, and Holmes and Watson must save her sister Enid from their menacing stepfather Dr. Rylott, whose greed for a dwindling inheritance has armed him with a deadly trained snake.
Connections
Forms & Genres: Detective Fiction, Melodrama Themes & Concepts: Crime and Punishment, Justice Right and Wrong, Greed and Money, Fear, Power and Corruption, Economics Motifs: Serpent Snake, Great House, Night Settings: Rural England Characters: Sherlock Holmes, Doctor Watson, Dr. Rylott, Enid Stonor Archetypes: Detective, Villain, Damsel