Study Questions
Why did Doyle choose Watson to narrate Hound instead of having Holmes tell the story himself? What are the benefits and drawbacks of doing it this way?
At the same time that Hound was written, Gothic fiction, which used supernatural themes, was extremely popular. Doyle himself was a spiritualist. How does the novel handle the possibility of supernatural occurrences?
How do Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle handle class differences?
Why does Holmes get involved in this case in the first place?
How do images of modernity interact with mystical legends of the past?
Why does Doyle seem so intent on creating men-only spaces (Holmes and Watson, and, in the end, Henry and Mortimer)?
