Women in the Victorian Era were secondary citizens in comparison to men.

Even
those of higher classes were still treated as below in status and equality in relation
to men. ‘The Hound of Baskervilles’ contains female characters of both upper and
lower class. Women were expected to always be well-dressed in the Victorian age.
Being a woman of lower class was tough however the book portrays all women to
be specific about their appearances no matter their class. Miss Stapleton shows the
importance of clothes to women of lower class as she states when running after
Watson that ” I had not even time to put on my hat”. This shows that even to a
women of such class going out without a hat is wrong. Laura Lyons is the daughter
of Frankland, she is a middle class citizen whose expectations are of those similar
in appearance to lower class citizens. However when it comes to marriage in her
class, daughter’s fathers chose their husband and then the daughter was given
dowry (money to be taken into marriage).

However in Laura’s case she is the typical “wronged woman” type as she foolishly
gets married to a lower class artist, who leaves her. As this marriage went ahead
without her father’s consent, he followed the belief’s of a typical Victorian middle
class man and disowned her. Her class fell due to Stapleton and Sir Charles and her
actions were looked at as distasteful and wrong. “.. Her father refused to have
anything to do with her, because she married without his consent… ” is proof of
the break down in relationship between father and daughter.

Laura accepts her father’s belief’s and says that “There is nothing between my
father and me . . “, meaning that she accepts her mistakes. Discrimination towards
women and a glimpse of the treatment that women put up with arise when Watson
questions Laura about her arrangement to meet Sir Charles in the garden and she
replies “Do you think a woman could go alone at that hour to a bachelor’s house? ”
The response makes the readers apparent that the Victorian society would
disrespect her if found with Sir Charles, highlighting the moral issues and attitudes
in the late 19th century.

Contemporary morality includes the society’s views on divorce, crime, discipline

and punishment. Divorce was seen as an action that only men could do to women,
however women could not divorce men. When Laura Lyon’s divorce was heard by
the community, she was unable to receive help or money from family. She had to
work her way out of the situation and earn her own living. Her respect had
disappeared from many believers in women being second class to men and her life
was turned upside down. Family is extremely important to the Victorians e.

g. Barrymore’s when Mrs Barrymore’s brother dies. Even when Mrs Barrymore
reveals who the escaped criminal is, his behaviour is explained through a brief
discussion of childhood discipline “… he came to think that the world was made
for his pleasure, and that he could do what he liked in it. ” Discipline, good
behaviour, manners of children and family is important to all classes in the
Victorian Era as Watson comments (with an unmistakable Victorian sterness) that
Seldon was “.. the child who had clung to her hand” and how he was the “…

little wilful boy of her own girlhood.. “. Mrs Barrymore still mourned for her
brother even though he was a criminal “… She wept bitterly into her apron. ”
Punishment for the crime is a strong belief which many Victorian’s follow. The
idea in the novel that the good should be rewarded and the bad punished (the two
criminals Seldon and Stapleton) makes ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ a very
moral book. Even though there are acts of nasty criminal activities there are also
stories concerned with social justice and honour.

Threats are being made not for death nor destruction but towards middle-class
citizens with regard to money, property and inheritances. These actions are those
that then lead to murder and other acts of violence. The story is set in a time of
change and so the Victorian’s everyday life aspects included the use of
telegrams/District messenger offices (where Holmes sends telegraphs to
communicate with friends in Dartmoor) instead of telephones, hansom cabs
(trapdoor located at the top) and carts instead of cars and taxis, and trains.

Lighting in the 19th century was changing, lamps and candles were used however
Sir Henry’s first reaction to the darkness of the Baskerville Hall is to install a
generator and electric lights. The dress codes of the Victorian society was an
example of the strict beliefs in appearances and classes. A “frock-coat” was an
example of a common piece of clothing that an Upper class man would wear. The
polite formalities of those that a typical Victorian man would follow e. g.

Watson “I had raised my hat” towards women when meeting/greeting them was
normal behaviour for those who had excellent manners and were taught from a
young age to behave well. The same rules went for women in relation to the
expectations of them wearing a hat and so when Miss Stapleton apologises and
comes out without a hat, the everyday life of the dress code becomes even more
clear. In conclusion the Victorian Society were very apparent about everyday
details of the communities lives varying from the appearances and clothes to the
hierarchy of servants and the ideas on general life.

People were extremely pressured into acting in one certain way and if this was not
followed then they would be punished or lowered to another class meaning that
their entire life and everyone’s opinions of them would be affected. If a citizen’s
actions was incorrect for their class/status then they would be branded as
disrespectful or immoral. ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ is a detailed novel on
the expectations and general lifestyles for the people living in The Victorian Era
and Arthur Conan Doyle shows a clear insight into the Contemporary morality,
lifestyles and roles of each and every citizen living in this period of time.

Social Class

Holmes observes to Dr. Mortimer that the anonymous letter Sir Henry Baskerville
has received is constructed out of letters cut from the Times, a newspaper of the
upper class in London. To Holmes, this detail indicates that the person behind the
letter is educated. Class plays an important role in the novella, as the characters are
often defined by their assumptions, and assumptions others make about them,
relating to class. Here, Holmes makes a correct assumption about the letter writer
based on class.

When Holmes finds out the man he’s been pursuing has left his own name as an
alias with the cab driver, Holmes seems charmed and expresses as much to
Watson. Holmes believes he has found a worthy adversary, and the notion appears
to excite him. At first, Holmes did not appear interested in the case, as the
circumstances involved pursuing a superstition and the case involved common folk
who live on the moor. However, this turn of events entices Holmes to keep on the
trail of a villain who seems to be of the same level of intellect as him.

It is extraordinary how credulous the peasants are about here! Any number of them
is ready to swear that they have seen such a creature upon the moor.
Mr. Stapleton shares this point with Watson as they discuss the curse of the hound.
Stapleton disparages the “peasants” who live on the moor, saying they’ll believe
anything. The setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles is turn-of-the-century
England, when Victorian rationalism and an espousal of faith in reason thrived. At
this time, people believed that only the uneducated and unenlightened believed in
superstition. In the novella, the divide between Londoners and commoners who
live on the moor exists as both geographical and intellectual.

“Oh, they are ignorant people. Why should you mind what they call it?”

Watson doesn’t want to admit to Sir Henry Baskerville that the cry they both just
heard on the moor sounds like the cry of the hound, based on the reports from
people living on the moor. Here, Watson tries to circumvent Baskerville’s question
by calling the residents of the moor “ignorant,” a statement that reflects the classist
views of Holmes and the entire intellectual class. In the end, Watson and Holmes
prove their beliefs to be correct, a detail reflecting and supporting the time’s
widely held assumptions about class and intellect.

“To do so would be to descend to the level of these poor peasants who are not
content with a mere fiend dog, but must needs describe him with hell-fire shooting
from his mouth and eyes.”

In his diary, Watson brushes off the peasants’ belief in the superstition about the
Baskerville hound as indulgent fancy. Watson believes there must be a rational
explanation for the sounds he hears on the moor. Interestingly, in the end, the
peasants and Watson and Holmes are partly correct: There is a hound terrorizing
people on the moor, but the hound is real, not a ghost. The reality of the hound
ends up challenging the beliefs of all the characters and dividing them across
borders of class and intellect.

Sherlock Holmes is firmly entrenched in Victorian society and is comfortable with

the status quo. He respects those of the professional class, such as medical doctors
like Watson and Mortimer, and is inclined to hold their opinions in high esteem.
As for members of the landed gentry, such as the Baskervilles, he is likewise
inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and take their concerns seriously.
Conversely, servants such as the Barrymores receive cordial but distant regard
from Holmes, as do cab drivers, street urchins, and even Lestrade—a Scotland
Yard detective. Both Beryl Stapleton and Laura Lyons are endangered by
Stapleton's scheme, but Holmes does not go out of his way to express his sympathy
or to aid them. Selden, as a member of the lower class—a murderer and a convict
to boot—is destined to pay for his sins. By assuming Henry Baskerville's clothing
in an attempt to pass himself off as a member of a higher class, he pays the
ultimate price—his life.

Holmes is satisfied when the case is solved and social order is restored to its
previous state; he and Watson can return to London and Henry Baskerville can live
in peace. Those of the lower classes—Beryl Stapleton, Laura Lyons, and the
Barrymores—are regarded as weak. Beryl Stapleton is imprisoned by her husband;
Mrs. Barrymore aids a criminal and cries at night; Laura Lyons pays for marrying
beneath her by being deserted and forced to work for a living. After Holmes solves
the case and order is restored to Baskerville Hall, the fate of these characters is of
no interest to him.

The British Empire

The Hound of the Baskervilles takes place during the height of the British Empire's
power, which spanned so many countries that, literally, the sun never set on it.
Among the British upper class, this position of political superiority fostered great
pride and often arrogance. Criminals, such as Selden, or wayward members of the
ruling class, such as Rodger Baskerville, freely traveled to foreign lands such as
Canada, Australia, or South Africa in order to escape persecution at home or seek
their fortune by plundering resources or establishing exploitive business ventures.
Henry Baskerville was a resident of Canada, which had been part of the British
Commonwealth since 1867. This would have made his immigration back to
England to claim his inheritance from the motherland a natural, expected
occurrence.

In the novel, Charles Baskerville gained his fortune in the gold mines of South
Africa, a fortune that he used benevolently upon returning to Dartmoor. He
supported the less fortunate residents of Coombe Tracey, such as Laura Lyons,
who, abandoned by her husband and forced to work for a meager living, would
have been seen as a charity case.

Victorian society prescribed a strict role for women as “angels of the home”
(indeed, “The Angel in the House” was a popular poem of the Victorian era). To be
an angel of the home was to take care of that home, attend to one’s children, ensure
the comfort of one’s husband…and little else. Doyle’s female characters fit this
mold, but only marginally. When the situation demands it, they find themselves
able to break free of this stereotype and take real, effective action, altering both
their own (fictive) lives and the plot of the story itself. In this way, Doyle argues
that the old Victorian ideal of women as little more than domestic angels is
absurdly limiting, as women—though they are empathetic creatures who may truly
enjoy caring for their families—are capable of so much more.
There are three women who are essential to the plot of The Hound of the
Baskervilles: Mrs. Barrymore, Laura Lyons, and Beryl Stapleton. Each of them is
played for a fool by the men in their lives, who attempt to control and manipulate
them through various means. Selden constantly abuses his sister, Mrs. Barrymore.
The convict knows that Mrs. Barrymore has a soft spot for him and has used it to
mooch off of her all his life. This reaches its peak when Selden escapes from
prison and expects his sister to provide him with food, drink, and clothing while he
hides out in the moor. That is, Selden expects his sister to be an “angel of the
home” despite the fact that sheltering him is a crime for which she could pay
dearly. Jack Stapleton leads on Laura Lyons, using her to lure Sir Charles
Baskerville to his death. Lyons is what was known in the Victorian era as a “fallen
woman” (the unavoidable association with “fallen angel” was intentional),
meaning that she had engaged in prenuptial sexual activity and possibly became
pregnant out of wedlock as a result (this is so scandalous that Mortimer says that
she was disgraced for having married without her father’s consent “and perhaps
one or two other things as well”). Fallen women were essentially untouchable—no
respectable man would want to marry one, and no other women would want to
associate with one for fear of being stigmatized. Thus, Lyons is forced to eke out a
living as a typist, work which barely gets her by. She depends on charity to make
ends meet. Stapleton offers to marry Lyons because it would give her a chance at
being a proper angel of the home, but his offer is only a rouse to gain emotional
control over her. Beryl Stapleton is also abused by Stapleton, who expects her to
remain silent about his murderous plans strictly out of her love for him. This is
despite the fact that Stapleton attempts to pawn her off as his sister, even
allowing Sir Henry Baskerville to court Beryl.
Despite being played as fools, however, each woman finds herself in control of
their situation, with great power over the men who appear to control them. Beryl
Stapleton and Laura Lyons both know enough about Stapleton’s plans to ensure
that the police would arrest him if they were to turn on him. Similarly, Selden is at
the mercy of his sister, who has only to turn him in to the authorities. Both
Stapleton and Selden expect the women to obey them in the traditional way,
however, and never suspect how their reliance on these women has made them
weak. That is, they fail to recognize what the women are capable of, thinking of
them as little more than housewives. This is a failure, because in all three
instances, the women turn on the men in order to better their situation.
By realizing their power and using it, the women enable Holmes to see a case
through prosecution that he might not otherwise have been able to, even though he
knew the murderer and the murderer’s entire plan. The murder of Sir Charles
Baskerville, for instance, could never be proved without the help of Laura Lyons,
who alone knew the truth about the covert meeting Selden sought between her and
Sir Charles Baskerville. Without this information, Selden is at worst guilty of
attempted murder: a far less serious crime. Thus, without the help of women, even
the great Sherlock Holmes would not have truly cracked the Baskerville case.
Doyle’s strong female characters notwithstanding, one should not be too quick to
read a modern feminist sensibility into Doyle’s work. While Jean Doyle, Arthur
Conan Doyle’s daughter, suggested that her father saw women not as men’s
equals, but rather as their superiors, Doyle nevertheless took a measured approach
to creating equality for women. For instance, he felt that they should be able to
divorce more easily but simultaneously felt that giving them the right to vote
would create havoc in marriages. In this way, his more moderate personal views
seemed to reflect those of his society in general: both seeking to overcome the
notion of a severely limited Victorian ideal but neither quite ready for full equality.

Social Sensitivity
The Hound of the Baskervilles depicts the kinds of individual disorientation that
are created by social disorder. For instance, love is perverted by evil in the novel.
Selden, the notorious Notting Hill murderer, uses his sister's love to evade the law.
Stapleton uses his own wife to lure Sir Henry Baskerville to his doom. He pretends
love and offers marriage to Laura Lyons in order to persuade her to entice Sir
Charles into a dark walkway where he meets the Hound itself. All who encounter
these evil lovers are endangered because their relationships are as confused and
misleading as the narrow paths of Grimpen Mire. Sir Henry in particular is tempted
by the allure of another man's wife and is left with a disordered mind at the novel's
end. But the steady, clear light of reason, as embodied by Sherlock Holmes, works
throughout to pierce the chaotic darkness and unmask the sources of evil.