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Sherlock holmes character analysis essay
Characteristics of sherlock holmes
Characteristics of sherlock holmes
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Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous detectives of all time His attention to detail gives him this title. Holmes examines every inch of an object for the smallest clues, and can use those clues to paint the entire picture. This is displayed in when Sherlock Holmes is examining the walking stick left in his office by Dr. Mortimer. By observing the condition of the stick, markings upon it, and a few words engraved into it, Holmes is able to piece together every major aspect of Dr. Mortimer’s career. This eye for detail can be the most important tool for cracking the hardest cases, and it is what makes him one of the world’s greatest detectives.
Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.
Racial tension has been part of America ever since the civil war. Today we have a different issue with race which is called racial profiling. Over the years the relationship between the police and community of color has gone bitter do to racial profiling. America’s society today tends to be tainted by racial profiling and stereotypes. These issues can cause great effects on our society. Racial profiling or stereotyping could diminish how a certain race is viewed. Racial discrimination can be a result from having racial profiling and stereotypes in our present culture. Today racial discrimination is used to approach citizens assumed to be criminals. This is called racial profiling. Although some argue that racial profiling is a necessary tool for law enforcement to protect our safety, it puts some people at a disadvantage while it privileges others. Overall racial profiling is bad for the economy, unconstitutional, and sets borderlines for different races.
The palimpsest known as Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1887, is constantly evolving and adapting to the changing standards of society and the world (Wilson, P. K., n.d.). Although Sherlock is evolving and adapting these interpretations do not alter or diminish who Sherlock truly is. Sherlock’s observant behavior and cunning ways have not changed, he has stayed recognizable, yet there are still changes being made to his character. Through the use of discourse communities, “a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals,” individuals may freely voice their opinions as well as their views on Sherlock and things related to him (Wikipedia,
Racial profiling does indeed exist in America. This practice is especially damaging to African Americans, who are frequently shamed by society as criminals, drug addicts, or welfare abusers. This societal flaw is evidenced by recent injustices to both Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. Years of abuse of power have brought this issue blazing to the forefront of hot topics in America.
Sherlock Holmes is a truly interesting and captivating character to examine in the context the world around him. Obviously, his intellect sets him apart from the rest of the world, but the way his superior intellect affects his behavior is also fascinating. Time after time he appears to react in a contradictory way to other characters in the book: He avoids emotion at all costs, he doesn’t search for justice, simply to complete the problem and find truth, he doesn’t believe in anything supernatural, and, perhaps most perplexingly, it is in times of isolation that he is the most brilliant. This contradiction to the rest of the characters in the story is what makes Sherlock Holmes such an interesting subject for a novel and Doyle using Sherlock’s
In the story “A Scandal in Bohemia,” we get a glimpse of Holmes’s character, a natural mastermind, through John Watson's narration. As with any narrated scene, our perception of Holmes develops through the opinion of another. However, Watson, someone who lived with Holmes for an extended period of time, describes him as “precise,” “admirably balanced mind,” “trained reasoner,” and arguably the “most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has ever seen” (Doyle 1). While we receive Watson’s description, the sheer brilliance of Holmes’s character displays through his “extraordinary powers of observation” and analysis (1). In the opening scene of the story, Holmes asks Watson if he has ever observed the steps that he walked on hundreds of times. Although Watson has seen the steps, he has yet to "observe" them as Sherlock naturally does (3). The difference in Sherlock’s observation versus Watson’s separates the genius from the normal observer to highlight the incredible analytical sight he benefits from. With the transition to the television screen, the Baker Street legend's proficiency shines in a visible manner to the audience.
because He felt his muscles burning and his arm snapping, but he kept pushing using all his might and all his strength. He was so determined to get out of the barn, he just kept going and going until he got out. Another trait Sherlock possesses is being observant. One example was when Sherlock was observing the dead man’s footprints. On page 68 the text states, “Sherlock crouched down and examined the ground closely” that displays that sherlock observed on a regular basis. The fact that he closely looked and was able to tell where the man put most pressure on his feet and where he was going, proves that he paid close attention to the details of the footprint, which proves he is observant. Another example of how Sherlock is observant is located on page 8 when Mycroft goes to pick up Sherlock from his school. The text reads, “Mycroft raised an eyebrow “how on earth did you deduce that young man?” Sherlock shrugged “I noticed the parallel creases in your trousers where the upholstery pressed them, and I remember that father’s carriage has a tear in the upholstery that was repaired rather clumsily a few years ago. The impression of that repair is pressed into your trousers, next to the creases.” This shows that
Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rug and picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him the night before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a `Penang lawyer.' Just under the head was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. `To James Mortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.,' was engraved upon it, with the date `1884.' It was just such a stick as the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry - dignified, solid, and reassuring.
Sherlock Holmes, a fictional character that created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is arguably the most famous detective among the history of crime fictions. Appearing in the book Adventure of Sherlock Holmes first, Sherlock had moved to the screen since the 1920s. As the era changes, different actors revealed different Sherlock Holmes in the movies. Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes, 1984 TV Series, remains popular after years. Robert Downey Jr. brings a more entertainment version of Sherlock in Sherlock Holmes, by Guy Ritchie. However, none of them were as popular as Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock by Mark Gatiss. Benedict portrayed a contemporary Sherlock Holmes who lives in the digital world, and he brings many new elements to Sherlock. Benedict’s Holmes is an exaggerated version, either from the perspective of being intelligent, or from the perspective of being indifferent about human emotions. In particular, Benedict’s acting skill successfully illustrated such a difference in the interpretation of Sherlock Holmes.
In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes exhibits many character traits; however, the most momentous are his success, his cunning personality, and his courage. Success is one of Holmes’s most important character traits. After the passing of Sir Charles, Dr. Mortimer begins looking for someone to investigate the tragedy. Dr. Mortimer was Sir Charles’s doctor and knows of Sir Charles’s poor health. Although Dr. Mortimer knows this, he believes there is more regarding the story of Sir Charles’s death. Under these circumstances, he hires Holmes to investigate. Dr. Mortimer believes Holmes’s world renowned practical mind can solve the case. This is conveyed in the book when Dr. Mortimer says “But as a practical man of affairs it is acknowledged that
Sherlock Holmes is the world's best-known crime mystery detective. More of his books, stories, movies and TV series have been published, read and viewed than for any other detective character. Sherlock Holmes is also the world's most successful detective; he always solves the crime and identifies the criminal. Sherlock Holmes's creator
He was one of, if not the first, people to use the idea of fingerprints and footprints to trace a person back to a specific place, area, or thing. (O’Brien, Britannica) “In Conan Doyle’s series, Sherlock Holmes is the author of a monograph called The Typewriter and its Relation to crime.” (O’Brien, Oxford) In his book A Case of Identity which was written in 1891, Sherlock Holmes figures out that all the letters that an anonymous criminal sent were written on a typewritten. The odd thing about it was that even the person’s alias was typewritten. At the time most letters that were typed were still signed by the person with their signature. He used this clue to go around checking letters that people had written to others and find the suspect. When he got to Hosmer Angel’s letters he realized that Angle didn’t sign his letters and that he made many of the same grammatical mistakes as the anonymous criminal that he had been trying to track down. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) started a Document Section soon after its crime lab opened in 1932. Holmes’s work preceded this by forty years.” (O’Brien,
The Character Of Sherlock Holmes In this essay I will explain why the Victorians found Arthur Conan Doyles' Sherlock Holmes character quite so compelling and why the stories are still so popular today. Victorians will have found Sherlock Holmes' very interesting because he was an upper class educate4d gentleman and this was the sort of person who was very well respected in Victorian times, and they would also have loved how he solved all his crimes, because there police force were so unreliable. The stories are still so popular today because we modern readers enjoy the thrill of a mystery and the tension of a case, which Conan Doyle creates.
“My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” What Holmes did with his investigation was not the only thing. Sherlock Holmes change Dr. John Watson who is now Holmes assistant and flatmate who were affected by his community as a previous medical soldier. “Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his singular character, the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and astuteness represented..”.(Watson 156)
John Watson isn't the only person taken aback when Sherlock begins to make his deductions as Sherlock's keen eye for details is enough to make anyone slightly paranoid. The unlikely duo grows closer as the case becomes simpler. It’s not long into A Study In Pink that Watson comes into contact with Sherlock Holmes fo...