Social Concerns

The late Victorian society of The Hound of the Baskervilles is an orderly one. In it, each person has a role to fulfill, and when he does, society prospers. For many years, the region around the Baskerville estate had been poor and backward, but when Sir Charles Baskerville returned to claim his estate, the region began to prosper.

By returning and devoting his vast fortune — earned in business — to the betterment of the community, Sir Charles fills the long-empty role of leadership that is the duty of the Baskervilles. Into the happy and orderly society comes disorder in the forms of two utterly evil men. One, a convicted s murderer escaped from prison, frightens local citizens and warps the normal social order. Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore, descendants of a long line of servants faithful to the Baskervilles, have their priorities twisted by the criminal...