“Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul” – Little RichardGreed is the one thing that everyone in the world has in common. Greed can cause a person or the people around them to get hurt. In the story of The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle develops the theme of greed is a powerful motivator, in a plethora of ways. In The Hound of the Baskervilles, a mystery story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Doyle displays the effects of the greed by causing Hugo to be selfish, letting Mr. Stapleton have everything that he wants, and causing Mr. Stapleton to be jealous of Sir Henry.
First, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle displays the effect of the greed by causing Hugo to be selfish. Hugo Baskerville caused the curse of the Baskerville family because he kidnapped a girl and locked her up in his house. For example, “When they had brought her to the Hall the maiden was placed in an upper chamber, while Hugo and his friends sat down to a long carouse, as was their nightly custom,”(7).
This emphasizes shows that Hugo is evil, cruel, and selfish because he locks her up in a room. It also shows that Hugo is greedy because Hugo loves the lady and he just can’t kidnap the girl because she doesn’t like him because of “his evil name,” (7). For instance, “Whereat Hugo ran from the house, crying to his grooms that they should saddle his mare and unkennel the pack, and giving the hounds a kerchief of the maid’s, he swung them to the line, and so off full cry in the moonlight over the moor,” (8). In addition, this proves that Hugo is greedy when the girl managed to escape and run across the moor, and he was so mad that he tracked her down. This delineates that Hugo is greedy because he wanted her to stay in his house forever.
In conclusion, this displays the effects of greed on Hugo of being selfish. Then, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle displays the effect of the greed by letting Stapleton have everything that he wants. Mr. Stapleton is a naturalist who lives on the moor. He is a Baskerville, who wants to inherit Baskerville Hall and his motive is money.
Stapleton intended to murder all of the family, so he could inherit the property and take advantage of the legend of the hound to achieve his goal, which was to get the Baskerville money. For instance, “He might claim the property from South America, established his identity before the British authorities there, and so obtain the fortune without ever coming to England at all,” (124). This proves that Stapleton is greedy because he planned to cover his identity as being a Baskerville, that way he would murder everyone in the family so he can have the money all to himself. For example, “He meant in the end to have the estate, and he was ready to use any tool or run any risk for that end,” (118). In addition, this proves that Stapleton had learned that he was 3rd in line to the Baskerville fortune, so he decided he would inherit it. So Stapleton started planning and he would use his wife to that end. The termination that greed is a powerful motivator, it causes by Stapleton having everything that he wants.
Last but not least, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle displays the effect of the greed by Stapleton being jealous of Sir Henry. Watson believes that Stapleton doesn’t want his sister and Sir Henry to get married because he seems jealous and possessive of his sister, angry about it. For example, “He was very sorry for all that had passed and recognized how foolish and how selfish it was that he should imagine that he could hold a beautiful woman like his sister to himself for her whole life,”(65). This emphasizes that Stapleton was jealous and greedy. This text evidence also demonstrates that Stapleton is explaining to Sir Henry that he would be lonely without his sister. He was shocked when he discovered that Sir Henry was in love with his sister and might take her away from him. His first reaction was one of anger, then he realized how selfish, jealous, and greedy he had been and decided to apologize.
For instance, “With that I offered in as many words to marry her, but before she could answer, down came this brother of hers, running at us with a face on him like a madman,” (64). Furthermore, this means that Stapleton was very insulting towards Sir Henry, who told him that he wanted to marry his sister. Also, this shows that Stapleton was jealous the day he saw the two talking. Additionally, this delineates that Stapleton was jealous because Sir Henry and Beryl Stapleton were in love with each other. In other words, greed can cause people to be selfish, let’s people have everything that they want, and causing people to be jealous of other people.
Sir Hugo’s kidnapping an innocent lady and being selfish of locking the lady in his room because he loves her, Mr. Stapleton getting everything that he wants of inheriting the Baskerville Hall and money, and Mr. Stapleton being jealous because he doesn’t want his sister and Sir Henry to get married. Although the novel reveals the wickedness of the evil spirit of Mr.
Stapleton and Hugo. Finally, greed has to do with wanting lots of money or material wealth, but it doesn’t necessarily only relates to money. Greed can be for anything but is most likely for food, money, possessive, power, fame, or status.
Never be greedy because it can mess up your whole life like Mr. Stapleton and Hugo. The quote that Little Richard said “Greed has taken the whole universe, and nobody is worried about their soul” is similar about Mr. Stapleton’s and Hugo’s life. Mr. Stapleton didn’t worried about his soul because all he wanted was to kill SIr Henry and get money to rule the Baskerville, but instead, he dies at the Grimpen Mire. And Hugo wasn’t worried about his soul because all he wanted was to lock the innocent lady in his room and to fall in love with her, but the lady escaped and Hugo started to track her down, but it was too late because the hound kill Hugo.
Finally, greed has to do with wanting lots of money or material wealth, but it doesn’t necessarily relates to money. Greed can be for anything but is most likely for food, money, possessive, power, fame, or status. Never be greedy because it can mess people’s lives such as Mr. Stapleton and Hugo.
