Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four novels written about his world famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. However, unlike the other books written about Sherlock Holmes, much of The Hound of the Baskervilles is absent of the detective. Instead, the audience is left to work through the mystery of who murdered Mr. Baskerville with Sherlock Holmes’ assistant and friend, as well as the narrator of the novel, Dr. John Watson. There are multiple reasons Doyle may have decided to make Watson the narrator, and to remove Holmes from a large portion of the novel. First, as Holmes is such a dry and clinical person, by making Watson the narrator, Doyle is able to employ more descriptive and entertaining writing. Second,
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle writes a short story about how innocence gets victimized by a royal subject. When a royal figure clashes with someone who is not equal in social class, he will do anything to hide his mistake. This is when the King hires Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle based Holmes off of a man named Dr. Joseph Bell, who was a friend of his in medical school. When Doyle saw that medical practice was not a success, he began writing Holmes stories for money. The public became infatuated with not only the stories, but mainly Sherlock Holmes. When Doyle wanted to write in more respectable genres (Duncan 3), he made one enormous mistake.
Sherlock Holmes, a name most people would know if they were to hear it, has come to greatly influence the modern world of mysteries. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had no idea a character he started to write about for the first time in 1887 would still be carried alive by other TV and movie producers in 2014. Doyle also never new that Holmes would become such a popular character or result in a name mostly everybody would know. Even if there was a person who did not know who or what Sherlock Holmes was, they are certain to have at least heard his name before. “Doyle turned his principal character into a household word” (Haining 7). Doyle started a legacy that lives on forever. Sherlock Holmes personality and looks may change with every generation he is in, but his main characteristics remain the same. Sherlock Holmes’ style of deduction, great sense of observation and strange personality in Arthur Doyle’s stories influenced how TV and movie producers would portray Holmes in their version of Doyle’s mysteries in shows such as Elementary and Sherlock.
Another convention of the detective story is that the detective will have a confidant through whom he can explain his reasoning to the reader. Holmes has a confidant, Watson, who is the stereotypical gentle doctor who is plain and uninteresting so as not to draw attention away from Holmes. “I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations'; this implies that Watson lead an uninteresting life, without many interesting hobbies or pastimes.
...o a science fiction character. People like Dr. Bell and Preston were each part of an important part of Doyles like, and know because of them we have the series of Sherlock Holmes and his unconditional friend Watson.
So the next book that he published was made up of another twelve short stories and was called “The Memories of Sherlock Holmes”. In a rare occurrence Sherlock is the actual narrator of this story opposed to most of the rest that are narrated by Watson. In this story it would be the first time that another Holmes family member will be shown. It would be Mycroft Holmes Sherlock 's older brother. This group of short stories were not well received because in it a character commits adultery this is not the first controversial topic in one of Doyle 's stories. This is one of the stories that was not allowed in the U.S for many years after its publication. This might be the reason why Doyle took a break from short stories and went back to writing full
...r Conan Doyle loathed writing Sherlock Holmes. He would write the wrong name for major reoccurring characters and not care if the reasoning in his stories was completely illogical, yet he ironically created his own genre of mystery novels that are recognized even to those who have never read them. Doyle unwillingly created the most insane fanbase that is still alive and thriving today. Doyle’s stories are still popular even eighty-four years after his death because they keep readers enthralled with the story. He wrote war stories based on his own exciting experiences, stories that he believed brought him to the height of his writing capabilities, and stories that sent him crashing back down when a frenzy into Spiritualism crumbled his prestige as a writer. His stories manage to capture the reader’s attention, making them timeless classics in the world of literature.
In the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, the author presents juxtaposing duos that serve as perfect accompaniments to one another. Watson provides readers, who may not possess Holmes ' analyst abilities, with a character they can more personally identify with. Patricia Bray argues that the second character is the "gateway" that permits readers to relate to the protagonist in an accessible means (Bray). Watson has the power to make the edgy genius Holmes a bit more sympathetic by exhibiting the allegiance between the detective and
Very much like Iago, Moriarty takes on varying personalities to gain an advantage against his opponent. To Sherlock Holmes, he is Moriarty; the intellectually challenging and dangerous criminal that seeks to eliminate his competition. For Molly Hooper, the trusted pathologist...
A book I read this week was Sherlock Holmes and the Baker Street Irregulars: The Fall of the Amazing Walendas by Tracy Mack and Michael Citrin. This book is about the Baker Street Irregulars, a group orphans, and Sherlock Holmes teaming up to solve the murder of the Amazing Walendas, a group of tightrope walkers. They find out that Vile, a rope seller, is guilty of committing the murder. Vile set up a trick by cutting a hole inside the rope that Amazing Walendas used to walk on. When the combined weight of all of the men was on the rope, it would snap and the Walendas would fall to their death.
The acclaimed authors, Edgar Allan Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle, formulate the characters of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes respectively, to be similar in the way that they analyze, deduce, and connect segments of desperate and often-thought “unsolvable” detective cases. Through their comparable techniques and system of deduction, Dupin and Holmes never fail to trace back their evidence to the scene of the crime. However, due to the vast difference in the writing styles of Poe and Doyle, the audience observes the main characters not as clones, but rather an analogous pair that think alike, but do not act alike. The personalities of Auguste Dupin and Sherlock Holmes, although present are recognizable differences in their actions, continue to
A detective story is a genre of fiction in which a person attempts to solve a crime. The detective may be a professional or an amateur, and generally has nothing to gain from solving the crime. However in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, the main character Oedipus is not only determined to solve a crime, but he is also in pursuit to find his own identity. This is similar to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Sherlock Holmes has been hired to work as a detective in return for monetary compensation. Both situations enable Oedipus and Sherlock to gain from unraveling the mysteries that sweep their towns hence making these stories different from most detective stories.
This paper will explore the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and his companion and friend Dr. John Watson. What is the relationship between Holmes and Watson? Are they compatible or are their differences to great for them to overcome. Looking at how they work together will also be a key factor in how well the relationship works between the two of them. Do their own interests and abilities get in the way? Does the time period in which they live factor into the environment of their communication styles?
For Sherlock Holmes, his partner in crime is Dr. John H. Watson. Not only is he a trusted friend, but also he is Holmes’ associate and the first person narrator of the Sherlock tales. The stories of Sherlock Holmes are a collection of short stories and fictional novels created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These stories are based on a famous and most notorious detective all throughout London, Sherlock Holmes. Along his side, Dr. Watson narrates his and Holmes’ detective cases and reveals Sherlock’s abilities and knowledge of solving cases and fighting deadly crimes. For the duration of the stories, Watson and Holmes share a particular relationship where Holmes verbally dominates Watson, “You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is very clear” (Doyle 241). When he isn’t insulting Dr. Watson he talks about how much he relies on his partner, “I am lost without my Boswell” (Doyle 243).
Watson’s narration encompasses the collective stories of the three main male characters and their characterization of Irene Adler. Therefore, his failure is equally theirs and points to a larger failure of the masculine discourse to properly identify and codify the Woman. With the theory of optics in mind as well as the narrative structural patterns in secrete histories as a guide, we can conclude that Watson, and therefore the masculine discourse, fails as an accurate observer because the information he obtains not only is unreliable, but stems from the misperceptions of the masculine discourse.