Why is Holmes, not Watson, the main character of The Hound of the Baskervilles

Why is Holmes, not Watson, the main character of The Hound of the Baskervilles

Watson's role in the story is primarily that of an observer and an assistant to Holmes. It is Holmes on whom the plot hinges; Holmes is the necessary character for solving the mystery at the heart of the story.

Additionally, Arthur Conan Doyle deliberately left Watson's personality vague and vanilla. Watson is essentially an everyman stand-in for the reader. He has no strong, distinctive traits because that would be a distraction for the reader from Holmes's much more colorful character
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