The Character of Sherlock Holmes in 'Sir Arthur' by Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the renowned author who gave birth to the
extraordinary crime detective tales of Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle
was born on May 22, 1859, in Edinburgh and educated at Stonyhurst
College and the University of Edinburgh. From 1882 to 1890 he
practiced medicine in Southsea, England. A Study in Scarlet, the first
of 60 stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, appeared in 1887. The
characterization of Holmes, his ability of ingenious deductive
reasoning, was based on one of the author's own university professors.
Equally brilliant creations are those of Holmes's foils: his friend
Dr. Watson, the good-natured if not exhilarating narrator of the
stories, and the master criminal Professor Moriarty. Conan Doyle was
so immediately successful in his literary career that approximately
five years later he abandoned his medical practice to devote his
entire time to writing.
Some of the best known of the Holmes stories are The Sign of the Four
(1890) (one of which that I have analyzed and will be talking about in
depth further into my essay), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
(1892), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902), and His Last Bow (1917).
These tales made Conan Doyle internationally famous and served to
popularize the detective-story genre (Detective Story; Mystery Story).
A Holmes cult arose and still flourishes, notably through clubs of
devotees such as the Baker Street Irregulars. Conan Doyle's literary
versatility brought him almost equal fame for his historical romances
such as Micah Clarke (1888), The White Company (1890), Rodney Stone
(1896), and Sir ...
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...’m right.
Whilst I am judgemental it’s not to say that the ones I have read
aren’t interesting, as I would most definitely recommend ‘The Sign of
Four’ as I thought it was exceptionally outstanding, and I can see why
readers still find pleasure in reading Sherlock Holmes in this day and
age. Even though the times have changed and not to say that Sherlock
Holmes isn’t as appreciated as it used to be when it first hit the
shelves, it is still the admired at the top of detective crime. The
books were definitely ahead of there time when written which makes
them still so popular in this century, and the popularity is well met
by Sherlock Holmes being in theatre, television serials and even films
keeping us in touch with the Doyle’s overrun imaginative character of
Sherlock Holmes when we think of the best detective in town.