John H Watson Character Traits

While Sherlock Homes matched Dr. Joseph Bell’s physical characteristics; Watson’s characteristics closely resemble Doyle himself. “That tall, keen, aquiline-nosed young man in no way resembles the Watson-like Doyle” (Leibow 9). The author of this work clearly believes and hypothesizes the idea that Doyle cast himself into the Sherlock Holmes stories as the character Watson. “Dr. John H. Watson is the fictional character in Sherlock Holmes that helps assist the detective with deduction, reasoning, and plotting. Watson is not only Holmes’ friend and assistant; he is also a frequent and independent character who is a medical physician. The character Watson is given a background story that helps set up an understanding of who he is. We learn that

John Watson is a very intelligent and capable friend of Holmes who at times risks his life for the pursuit of solving the mystery. Doyle is not just a sidekick though he is an independent character with an independent life despite his attraction to helping Holmes. Watson is a strong character that is very capable of achieving many things and he is rather gifted when it comes to medicine and solving crime. Watson is loyal though and spends much of his time helping Sherlock Holmes who I he looks up to and admires. “Once Conan Doyle established his own medical practice at South Sea, Portsmouth in 1882 and while waiting for patients to arrive, he went on writing stories and dividing himself among his medical practice and literature” (Leibow 26). Although Doyle had already met Dr. Bell before establishing his medical practice, I believe it to be an important similarity that both Doyle and Watson opened up medical practices in England. Just like Watson, Doyle was a surgeon; “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle lived an interesting life by any standard. As a young ship’s surgeon he sailed the artic in a whaling ship” (Freedman xiii). One author points out close connections between the two men. “Conan Doyle had a resemblance to his fictional character Dr. Watson, Holmes’ faithful friend, both in nature and in looks. He was a solid extrovert patriot, with strong views on things such as the importance of the British Empire, and the absurdity of some modern arts” (Longman 1). These