Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure Of The Speckled Band

Mysteries tingle the senses. They cause one’s brain to constantly be on-edge, in case a certain detail might bring an element of the truth into light. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, the mystery of a young lady’s death draws the attention of the most-curious Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is very observant and from the smallest details does he solve the murder case. By the end of the short story, Holmes comes to the conclusion that “doctors make the greatest criminals” . This statement is conclusive due to the problem-solving minds of physicians that allow them to remove any “disease” that they do not wish to be in their lives and also the adept knowledge physicians have regarding the inner workings of the human body, …show more content…
As is the case in the short story, Dr. Grimesby Roylott has a problem, which is that “The total income, which at the time of [his] wife’s death was little short of L1000 is now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than L750. Each daughter can claim an income of L250, in case of marriage. It is evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to a very serious extent” (Doyle). Dr. Roylott thus wished to remove the “disease” that is his daughters because he would have been financially crushed if both girls married. Dr. Roylott’s solution to his problem was to kill his daughters and to do so without getting caught. He did this by “train[ing] [a poisonous snake], probably by the use of the milk…to return to him when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner or later she must fall a victim” (Doyle). The fact that Dr. Roylott trained the wild snake clearly depicts the inventiveness of doctors in their efforts to remove a “disease”. Doctors’ brains intuitively think outside of the box, which is a …show more content…
Dr. Roylott, also having “a passion also for Indian animals”, had an advantage as to the knowledge of a poisonous snake venom, but a doctor in general would have knowledge of what types of poisons coroners would search for upon examining a dead body. Dr. Roylott had the “…idea of using a form of poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be an advantage” (Doyle). A doctor would know whether a poison was traceable or not and thus Dr. Roylott used his knowledge to his full advantage so that he would not get caught for poisoning his daughter. Moreover, Doctor Roylott knew a quick inquiry would happen and the fast attack of the venom to the body would only aid him in not giving anyone the time to investigate the dying body of his victim. There is usually some trace of evidence left however and as a Doctor would know, “It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work” (Doyle). Although there was no way to leave no evidence, Dr. Roylott purposefully left as little evidence as possible to make it very difficult for a coroner to perceive the