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English - Speaking Skills Baskerville

The document discusses Barrymore, a servant at Baskerville Hall, as a suspect in the deaths of Sir Charles and Sir Henry. Barrymore seems suspicious due to his large beard, plans to quit his job, and strange nighttime activities of looking out a window. However, it is later revealed that Barrymore was helping his escaped convict brother-in-law and his suspicious behavior was out of loyalty to his family, not involvement in the deaths. Barrymore provides an early red herring suspect to distract the reader from the real plot involving Stapleton.

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102 views1 page

English - Speaking Skills Baskerville

The document discusses Barrymore, a servant at Baskerville Hall, as a suspect in the deaths of Sir Charles and Sir Henry. Barrymore seems suspicious due to his large beard, plans to quit his job, and strange nighttime activities of looking out a window. However, it is later revealed that Barrymore was helping his escaped convict brother-in-law and his suspicious behavior was out of loyalty to his family, not involvement in the deaths. Barrymore provides an early red herring suspect to distract the reader from the real plot involving Stapleton.

Uploaded by

nihal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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NIHAL SINGH LUTHRA 

English Speaking Skills - The Hound of Baskervilles 


Barrymores - The unusual suspects 
 
➔ Mr  Barrymore  does  ​seem  suspicious:  first  of  all,  he  has  a  giant  beard  like  the  one 

worn  by  the  man  Homes  sees  trailing  Sir  Henry  in London. As the only large-bearded 
man in the neighborhood of Baskerville Hall, Barrymore's instantly suspected.  
➔ Barrymore  is  planning  on  quitting  his  job  as  a  servant—even  though  his  family  has 
worked  at  Baskerville  Hall  for,  like,  forever—because  he  was  attached  to  Sir  Charles 
and  doesn't  want  to  serve  Sir  Henry.  Motive  enough  to  kill  him?  And  Watson notices 
that Barrymore's wife has been crying a lot.  
➔ And  check  out  Barrymore's  nighttime  activities.  In  Chapter  8,  Watson  spots 
Barrymore  in  the  middle  of  the  night  carrying  a  candle  to  an  empty  room  with  a 
window  facing  the  moors.  There,  he  holds  the  candle  and looks out into the dark. He 
sees  something,  groans,  and  then  goes  back  the  way  he  came.  This  isn't exactly the 
behavior of a man with no secrets. 
➔ In  ​The  Hound  of  the  Baskervilles  ​Barrymore  is  our  first  suspect,  which  makes  it even 
less likely that he'll be the one who did it in the end.  
➔ And  sure  enough,  it  turns  out  that  Barrymore's  reason  for  signaling  the  moors  has 
more  to  do  with  his  loyalty  to  his  wife  and her family than any disloyalty to Sir Henry. 
He's  staying  in  touch  with  his  unfortunate  brother-in-law  (and  escaped  convicted 
murderer)  Selden,  rather  than  somehow  sending  signals  to  the  Hound  of  the 
Baskervilles.  
➔ Once Sir Henry and Watson clear up this mystery, they immediately forgive Barrymore 
his  troubles.  In  fact,  it  brings  everyone  closer  together:  once  Barrymore  realizes  that 
Sir  Henry  is  on  his  side,  he  finally  tells  Sir  Henry  that  all-important  detail  about  Sir 
Charles receiving a note from "L.L." (Laura Lyons) on the day he died.  
➔ Thus,  the  whole  Barrymore  storyline  turns  out  to  be  an  obvious  clue  that  has  been 
stuck  into  the  storyline  to  distract  you  from  the  real  plot  (in  this  case,  Stapleton's 
scheming behind the scenes). 

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