'The Beryl Coronet' and 'Charles Augustus Milverton'

In this essay, I will compare and analyse how Sir Arthur Conan Doyle creates mystery and suspense in three short stories. In retrospect, mystery and suspense go together. If one of the two is present in a story, so is another. Both of these elements are evident in the three short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I intend to go into the intriguing world of this master of mystery and explore the methods used by the writer. I aim to analyze the stories and highlight common traits in the way in which he creates mystery and suspense. In order to fully grasp the essence of the stories, we must first know some background information about the writer and the period in which the characters involved in the stories lived.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle studied medicine in Edinburgh and graduated in 1881. He set up practice soon afterwards but unfortunately his patients were far and few between. He then turned to writing. In the duration of his stay in Edinburgh, he met Joseph Bell who was a professor at the University that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle attended. Bell had an intriguing hobby

Each of the three short stories conforms to the short story genre by having a twist in them. These build up mystery because the reader does not know what the twist is going to be. The twist in "The Engineer's Thumb", is that he gains experience and popularity from the publicity that following the case. The twist in "The Beryl Coronet" is that it was Mary, not Arthur who stole the coronet. The twist in "Charles Augustus Milverton" was that someone shot Charles Augustus Milverton when they were robbing him and they were the suspects.

Another aspect that produces suspense is not only the wealth of the people involved, but also the great value of the coronet.

He chooses to stay due to the fact that he was offered a large amount of money. In choosing wrongly, he brushed extremely close to death yet he supplies an exciting story to the reader. This choice supplies more suspense to the story because there is something much like dramatical irony where the reader knows that something terrible is going to happen to the main character. The character in the story denies this because he is blinded by his goal, which is money.

"Holmes,' said I, as I stood one morning in our bow window looking down the street, 'Here is a madman coming along. It seems rather sad that his relatives should

"For the love of heaven, get away from here before it is too late."

"Ruffian, heart of marble, worst, treacherous and torture."

"I should be surprised if they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one."

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Approximate Word count = 4307
Approximate Pages = 17 (250 words per page double spaced)