Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories About Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories About Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories over 100

years ago. From the first novel, A Study in Scarlet (Beetons Christmas

Annual 1887) to The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes published in 1927,

Doyle's Holmes and Watson were entertaining readers for over forty

years, with their stories of Victorian crimes, and carry on doing so

to this day.

The serialized novels and the many short stories were published in the

most popular magazine of the time, The Strand. Keeping weekly

audiences hooked in the mythical and absorbing world of Victorian

society, much of which was as alien to the middle class readers as it

is to the modern readers of today. Places like the Opium dens in The

Man With The Twisted Lip were places that were ill frequented by the

readers, and the exotic way that Conan Doyle described them,

intertwined with a plot full of suspense keeps the reader on the edge

of their proverbial seats.

The way that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle give the clues to the reader,

means that the reader can really identify with Sherlock Holmes, and

begin to see themselves are the leading man. He does this by giving

us, as the reader, all the clues that Sherlock Holmes gets, at the

same time, and the only thing the reader has to do is work out what is

happening in Holmes' mind, following where the clues are taking him,

at the same time as working out what the clues mean for themselves.

All of this is geared up to make the reader get inside the mind of

Sherlock Holmes, and want to solve the crime with the same

determination and eagerness that has helped shape Holmes as a key

figure i...

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...ccuracy. It also shows

of his sensitive side at the end of the story, when he asks Watson

"What is the meaning of it … What object is served by the visions

circle of misery and violence and fear?" this shows a new side to

Sherlock Holmes from the intelligent, hardnosed fighter for Justice

that is usually portrayed.

In conclusion, I will say that using all these devices, Doyle

successfully builds up curiosity and hence mystery and intrigue. Using

little but heavy description, he is able to build up a powerful image

that has the ability to shock the reader into submission. It is, for

the most part, instantly believable and this serves the purpose of

lulling the reader into a false sense of security. When the whole

truth is finally revealed it is ever more vivid and much more

successful in entertaining the reader.