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Throughout the story, the superstitions of the shapeless mass of common folk- everyone

attributes an unbending faith in the curse to the commoners-are denigrated and, often,

dismissed. If Mortimer and Sir Henry have their doubts, it is the gullible common folk who

take the curse seriously. In the end, when Watson's reportage and Holmes' insight have

shed light on the situation, the curse and the commoners who believed it end up looking

silly.

MAIN IDEA

Narrator Dr. Watson

Climax Holmes' secret plan comes to fruition when a guileless Sir Henry heads home

across the moor, only to be attacked by the hound. Hindered by a thick fog and sheer

fright, Holmes and Watson nonetheless shoot the beast and solve the mystery.
Protagonist Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes

Antagonist Jack Stapleton

Setting (Time)1889. Holmes notes that the date 1884, engraved on Dr. Mortimer's

walking stick, is five years old.

Setting (Place) The novel starts and ends in London, in Holmes' office at 221b Baker

Street. Most of the rest of the novel takes place in Devonshire, at the imposing

Baskerville Hall, the lonely moorlands, and the rundown Merripit House where Stapleton

lives.

Point Of View The mystery is told entirely from Watson's point of view, although the

author regularly switches from straight narrative to diary to letters home.

Themes Good and evil; natural and supernatural; truth and fantasy; classism, hierarchy,

and entitlement

Motifs: Superstition and folk tales; disguised identities; the red herring.