Hound of the Baskervilles (Doyle) practice questions and exam guide

The theme of the past haunting the present is dramatized through:

1. The manuscript that re-emerges to shape modern crime
2. Sir Henry's youth
3. Mortimer's research
4. Watson's notes

Answer: A — The manuscript that re-emerges to shape modern crime

B/C/D) Wrong. A) The old document literally drives the new murder plot.

Which trait of Holmes is most emphasized through his examination of Mortimer's stick?

1. Compassion
2. Physical courage
3. Modesty
4. Deductive observation

Answer: D — Deductive observation

A/C/B) Present but not the highlight. D) The opening showcases his trademark inference from objects.

The setting is:

1. Dartmoor in Devon
2. Yorkshire
3. The Lake District
4. Cornwall

Answer: A — Dartmoor in Devon

B/C/D) Wrong. A) Correct — fog + bogs + neolithic ruins make Dartmoor itself a character.

The setting's blend of pre-Roman ruins, ancestral estate, and modern detective work establishes:

1. Time travel
2. Pure fantasy
3. Pure realism
4. A layered landscape where deep past pressures the present

Answer: D — A layered landscape where deep past pressures the present

A/C/B) Wrong. D) Doyle stacks eras within a few square miles for effect.

The novel sidesteps the 'death' problem by being set:

1. Before the Reichenbach events, as a recovered earlier case
2. After Reichenbach
3. In an alternate timeline
4. In a dream

Answer: A — Before the Reichenbach events, as a recovered earlier case

B/C/D) Wrong. A) The frame is a pre-Final Problem case Watson now relates.

The phosphorus paint is thematically important because it argues:

1. Chemistry is dangerous
2. Dogs are sacred
3. Country folk are foolish
4. The marvelous always has a material explanation

Answer: D — The marvelous always has a material explanation

A/C/B) Wrong. D) Doyle's late-Victorian rationalism prefers a recipe to a demon.

The novel is the ___ Sherlock Holmes novel.

1. First
2. Last
3. Fifth
4. Third

Answer: D — Third

A) A Study in Scarlet. D) Correct — after A Study in Scarlet (1887) + The Sign of the Four (1890). C) None. B) The Valley of Fear is later.

Holmes's signature epistemic principle in the novel is:

1. Always trust witnesses
2. Eliminate the impossible — whatever remains is the truth
3. Never use chemistry
4. Trust legend

Answer: B — Eliminate the impossible — whatever remains is the truth

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — Holmes states the rule + applies it to dissolve the curse into a criminal plan.

Edwardian readers approached the novel during:

1. The interwar period
2. The Crimean War
3. The first years of Edward VII's reign
4. The Regency

Answer: C — The first years of Edward VII's reign

A/B/D) Wrong. C) The serial ran 1901-1902, just as the Edwardian era began.

Holmes's attitude toward folklore in the novel is best described as:

1. Believing
2. Open contempt
3. Treating it as data to be tested empirically
4. Indifference

Answer: C — Treating it as data to be tested empirically

A/B/D) Wrong. C) He neither dismisses nor accepts; he interrogates the manuscript like any clue.

In the climax, the hound is stopped by:

1. Police
2. Holmes + Watson shooting it dead in the fog
3. Sir Henry
4. Frankland

Answer: B — Holmes + Watson shooting it dead in the fog

A/C/D) Wrong. B) Correct — the trap is set + the beast is killed in the open. Sir Henry is shaken but alive.

What does Mrs. Barrymore's role show about Doyle's treatment of servants?

1. They are universally suspect
2. They are comic
3. They are background
4. Even servants carry private grief and complex loyalties

Answer: D — Even servants carry private grief and complex loyalties

A/C/B) Reductive. D) Her grief humanizes the household subplot.

Major adaptations?

Multiple films (1939 Basil Rathbone; 1959 Hammer's Peter Cushing; 1988 with Jeremy Brett; 2002 BBC Richard Roxburgh). The 2012 BBC Sherlock 'Hounds of Baskerville' transposes the plot.

Who is Laura Lyons?

Estranged daughter of the eccentric Frankland. Tricked by Stapleton into asking Sir Charles for a private meeting on the night of his death.

Who is Barrymore?

Baskerville Hall's butler. Suspicious behavior turns out to be aiding his brother-in-law Selden, an escaped convict.

Common student misreading?

Treating the curse as the actual answer. Doyle uses the supernatural as misdirection; the entire genre depends on his sleight of hand.

Genre?

Detective novel + gothic mystery + late-Victorian thriller. Doyle blends rational detection with gothic atmosphere.

Why is a new boot stolen, then an old boot?

Stapleton needs an unworn smell-free boot for the hound to track. The thief takes a boot Sir Henry has not yet worn + returns it when it's useless.