How was Dr Mortimer known to the late Sir Charles Baskeeville? ​

The The Hound of the Baskervilles quotes below are all either spoken by Dr. James Mortimer or refer to Dr. James Mortimer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: The Power of Reason Theme Icon). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Borzoi edition of The Hound of the Baskervilles published in 2014.

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Sir Henry Baskerville

Dr. James Mortimer

Character Analysis

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Mr. and Mrs. Barrymore

Dr. Mortimer is a house surgeon who left his London practice in order to set up house and a country practice in the Devonshire moors near Baskerville Hall with his wife and dog. Mortimer is a phrenologist and believes that a person’s most intimate characteristics can be understood through careful measurement and examination of his skull. Indeed, he feels the individual predisposed to whatever characteristics his or her skull imbues. As such, he takes great interest in the skull of Sherlock Holmes when they first meet. Since Holmes is such a singular character, Mortimer is sure he must have a singular skull. Mortimer was a friend of Sir Charles Baskerville and is the reason that Holmes and Dr. Watson are first brought into the case. He is observant and scientific, discovering unnoticed footprints left behind by a dog at the scene of Sir Charles’ death. He is also considerate, sharing the information about the footprints only with Holmes and Watson for fear of causing a panic among the moor’s occupants. Mortimer’s familiarity with both dogs and the Baskerville legend make him something of a red herring, at least until his own dog goes missing on the moors.

Explanation:

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