Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has written many books and stories, all of which were successful. His “Sherlock Holmes” series has merited immense success and popularity for over a century, and continues to be seen in popular media today. The phenomenon of Sherlock Holmes redefined mystery novels as a genre for generations to come. However, the written work that I feel has made the most impact on both his literary career and the literary world would be his first Sherlock Holmes story, “A Study in Scarlet”. This story paved the way for mystery writers, and set the standard of what makes a true mystery entertaining, and was the novel that best indicated his talents as a writer out of all his other works. When “A Study in Scarlet” was released in 1886, …show more content…
For example, the way he tells the story is through John Watson’s memories/point of view, which very clearly shows the reader that kind of person Watson is, and gives us his back story in detail. However, it also keeps Holmes’ character in secret, and slowly reveals parts of his personality/backstory throughout the series. The novel also demonstrates Doyle’s intelligence through Holmes’ keen sense of deduction, as it uses Holmes’ ability to figure out a person’s backstory simply by looking at them to tell the reader Watson’s past. He also uses his background of scientific education to add a sense of realism and help better convey Holmes’ methods/intelligence. It also shows his creativity in the way the murder mystery in the book unfolds, with all of these different leads to who the killer may be changing with each murder that occurs. The ending where he finally reveals the killer is unexpected, and also shows how smart the killer himself is, giving Holmes a worthy adversary and ending in a one-on-one-battle of wits and logic. This novel easily exhibits Doyle’s intelligence and his ability to write an engaging
One of the main ways that Doyle creates suspense is by giving that eerie and mysterious effect in his description. Not only does this bewilder the reader, but it also wants the reader to read until the end. The Red-headed League best describes the puzzling experience. Jabez Wilson is basically getting paid a lot of money for doing practically nothing; he also has strict orders which baffle the readers mind with questions. “Well you have to be in the office or at least in the building the whole time”. Already this has brought up questions, but that is how Doyle wants the reader to feel, he wants them to feel this way so they keep on reading to get the correct answers hence it creates suspense.
The Holmes series, and some would argue genre, was created by Conan Doyle at nearly the same point in time that Darwin was assembling his Theory of Evolution for the world to critique. Holmes became the personification of the Victorian era’s obsessions with science and technology and reflects it with the numerous, above mentioned, scientific advances made at the time. He uses his numerous techniques and equipment, similar to that of a scientist, and is a good representation of a real-life scientist. Through this, he is able to make quick deductions in order to solve any problem presented to him, a trait that any great scientist possesses. Sherlock Holmes establishes all of these abilities on more than one occasion in The Hound of the Bas...
Doyle had cut off the main information source, because Watson was now communicating through letters. He was looking back on the events, remembering them, and then writing them down. Some clues important to the story could have been easily looked over, and not added into the letter. Doyle leaves out the extra detail that he puts in the other chapters and leaves the reader with the cold, hard, facts. It is much easier to comprehend and follow along the plot through this format, but the reader is challenged through understanding the clues and inferring their meanings. Doyle then does not give us a full entry from the letter, in Chapter 10, the message is only an extract from the diary of Watson. Limiting the amount of information given even more. But even though Doyle does not give the reader Watson’s first reaction to the events, they get his analyzed reaction through writing. As a result, Doyle gives the reader filtered and focused
Now, before we will be exploring the personage John Watson and his function as a character, narrator and in relationship to Sherlock Holmes, there are a few things that need to be established. For the remainder of this essay I will refer to the li...
Traditional elements are what define literary works. The film and TV adaptations of Sherlock Holmes are effective in modifying these elements through screen. Elements that were kept the same in both adaptations are: Holmes’ ability to disguise and his intellectual ability to deduce. First, Holmes’ ability to disguise is adopted in several scenes and episodes as it is crucial in plots. The visual on the left is WB’s Sherlock Holmes’s opening scene, disguising as a beggar to secretly meet a client. On the right is series one of BBC Sherlock’s last episode “The Great Game” where Holmes is disguised as a security guard to solve a case. Secondly, Holmes’ intellectual ability to deduce is a necessity in any adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. This ability is the biggest element, mentioned in every single episode of BBC’s Sherlock and multiple scenes in WB’s Sherlock Holmes. “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbabl...
Since the first story of Sherlock Holmes and his partner Dr John Watson was published in A Study in Scarlet in 1887, both of them and their stories has been one of the most popular fictional characters. At first, the story did not attract public interest and attention. However, it became a huge success after four years since it was published. This result made Conan Doyle decided to extent the story to a series of sequels(Porter 2012: 5). Actually, Holmes and Watson were featured in fifty-six short stories and published in four novels(Porter 2012: 145). Even though the first story of them is written nearly 130 years, the popularity is not declined. Thanks to modern media, such as television programs and films, and the Internet, the adaptations
Holmes’s is precise when it comes to physical evidence. Some special methods he has may include latent prints seen as footprints and bicycle tracks to piece together actions at crime scenes, those methods are revealed in “A Study in Scarlet”. For example, “The footprints belong to a certain Jefferson Hope, an American pioneer, who kills two of his fellow citizens in London in what looks like acts of revenge for having killed the woman he loved.” (Pichler, Paragraph 1). Holmes uses his skill of latent print to help him solve the case in A Study in Scarlet these unique techniques he uses to solve cases is what sets him apart from other detectives. Also in A Study in Scarlet revealed that Holmes’s is multilingual because he needs no translation of Roman epigrams since he knows Latin. He is presented as an independent student who studies chemistry in 1881. However his variety of side interests all turn out to be tools for his crime solving. Holmes’s expert set of skills continues to shine through and that is why police depend on him. For instance in the short story “The Man with the Twisted Lip” an unsolvable case laid before Holmes and Watson. The investigation is going good, they have a suspect Hugh Boone. Holmes’s soon find out that High Boone is Neville St. Chair who is undercover pretending to be a beggar to make money. The case first falls in Watson’s lap for the disappearance Neville St. Clair but
An examination of Sherlock Holmes' abilities and techniques. allied to his personal characteristics, enable him to solve crimes. There are many reasons to explain why Sherlock Holmes is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. However, the main reason for This is that not only are the stories complex, but the actual character of Sherlock Holmes has extreme depth, with some subtle. elements of his character only becoming apparent when he is in certain situations.
[iv] Arthur Conan Doyle, “Sherlock Holmes: The Major Stories withContemporary Critical Essays,” ‘The Speckled Band,’152.
Any elementary deduction would conclude that Sherlock Holmes has stood the test of time. For over a century Sherlock Holmes has been adapted for the stage, the big screen, and the television, each with a different twist that has allowed the character to withstand the changing morals and values of society. The short stories reflect the Victorians’ acceptance of drugs and the values of propriety and prudery, while the film exemplifies the current infatuation with violence, alcohol, and romance.
In the movie Holmes, in the beginning, was much more prideful and rude to Watson and people in general, but later on, Holmes was a lot nicer and somewhat humble at least compared to the book. This difference made the viewer feel less liking of the character of Holmes and it almost seemed that the director tried to save Holmes’s character by making him nicer at the ending. The difference had a big impact on the feeling of the movie because it felt that he was so stuck up he was rather unapproachable. ...
Attentive, aware, and intelligent are three adjectives to describe the main character and protagonist, Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box. Sherlock Holmes is a mastermind at solving mysteries with the help of his friend, Watson and the clues he sees and witnesses around him. He is very attentive to crime scenes, peoples' gestures, anyone's facial expressions and body language. He has an awareness of what is right and wrong, staged and unstaged, planned and unplanned, and the truth and a lie. In addition, he is intelligent because he can solve murder mysteries using deductive reasoning and back up his findings with facts and is always reading and researching to find answers with evidenciary support.
Sherlock Holmes was, and still is, a consulting detective. He was brilliant, and had a knack for solving difficult cases. In the short story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, he introduces himself. “My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other people don't know.” (Doyle). In the original stories, however, Sherlock was not just a brilliant detective; he was also a musician and boxer. His companion, Dr. John Watson, was an army doctor who served in Afghanistan. The two meet in the novel A Study in Scarlet. They share a flat in London, 221B Baker Street, and solve multiple mysteries together. The public loved the stories for many reasons. First, the stories were shorter than many novels of the time period, and were also published ...
When I first heard the name Sherlock Holmes I honestly thought of a weird plain identity, simply boring. Boy, was I wrong about that. But seriously when you actually hear a name like that wouldn’t that be your first guess especially when you see the cover of some weird British looking guy in the front cover. It’s not until you actually start watching it where you realize it’s pretty freaking awesome. Well at least it was for me (LOL).
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.