After much research about the Phantom Dogs of Britian of which one serves as the seeming main villian and inspiration of 'The Hound of the Baskervilles', I have decided that to further increase the tension and 'give in' to the paranormal atmosphere that Dartmoor (The setting of the tale) that at least one of the three cases be strongly linked to the Dog
As I discussed before, the mysterious Dog is not the only case that Sherlock Holmes and Watson are called to stamp out in the story but they also need to find an escaped killer and try to find out what is the histoy of the seeming rivalry between the Stapelton Family and the Baskerville Family.
For those who have read the book, it is recalled that at the end, the Dog is/was not a Pet of the Devil but rather the mistreated and savage Pet of the Stapelton Family, trained to look (And act) like a Phantom Beast.
Therefore, I feel that the Dog in the story should be confirmed in identity as 'Black Shuck' one of the common names for these Phantom Dogs sighted today
The Stapelton Family should be shown with a more sinister background, that they too perform dark deeds (Like the corrupt 15th Century Squire Capbell whose both life and death experiences involved Phantom Dogs, being another inspiration for the Book) and therefore with them being Devil worshippers would be granted permission to own a Phantom Dog by the Devil himself.
The only situation to be thought of now is whether or not to make the Dog an actual Beast and one of Satan's Pets or make the Stapelton Family's Dog possessed by the Devil when they call him for his assistance. Any suggestions regarding these two options would be good
It sounds like you're working through all the ideas well here.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it exactly that you are 'subverting' from the original here?
We've spoken about 'giving voice' to the dog as the mistreated pet - which to me would suggest painting the dog in a more sympathetic/ positive light, as I would imagine you could then explain / justify his actions from his own point of view