Excerpt taken from: The Speckled Band
“A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and the high thin fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old bird of prey”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140).
Page 140 of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary work titled The Speckled Band gives an elaborate description of Dr. Grimesby Roylott as he enters the door to meet both Holmes and Watson. Roylott is described in such a way that brings a negative connotation to anything that relates to him. Doyle describes Roylott’s face as being “seared with a thousand wrinkles”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140) and furthermore, “burned yellow with the sun”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140). Doyle’s usage of the words “seared”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140) and “burned”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140) allow for Roylott to be compared to the flames of a fire. From any common knowledge, it is apparent that fire always carries a negative connotation whether this originated from the story of Prometheus or simply comes from the known destructive nature of it. Doyle’s diction further into the selected excerpt draws a parallel with the fiery description of Roylott as he describes the man as being “marked with every evil passion”(Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 140). Fire and evil being used to describe Roylott indicates that Roylott is seemingly a being of hell. While some may say that this take is extreme, this idea fits well into the time period. Roylott is a white male who owned land and abused his power. Roylott scared anyone who walked in his way and was constantly avoided by anyone who dared be in a close enough radius of his arm; he was hell on earth. Not only does Roylott’s character speak for the time period but he carries the message of abused power. Doyle’s writing portrays Roylott as being the stereotypical controlling male of the time period. While not all men at this time were like Roylott, there were enough that Roylott’s character is used as a lesson to society that abused power is negative, and when one’s power becomes abused they may go as far to even become the embodiment of hell on Earth.
Sources Cited:
A Conan Doyle. The Speckled Band. Copenhagen, Easy Readers, 2014.
I found your characterization of Dr. Roylott being personified as, “hell on earth”, to be fascinating. I think the description of seared skin also points to his darker complexion from his time in India. If Dr. Roylott is the human example of hell, did he become more hellish because of his time in India, I think that is how Ms. Stoner would understand it. Furthermore, the idea of Dr. Roylott being compared to a bird of prey, in conjunction with the fact that he owned multiple “exotic” animals made me think that Dr. Roylott was one of the animals himself. Like the titular snake, Dr. Roylott was just one of the “hellish” pack that terrified the community.