The mystery story about the British detective Sherlock Holmes called The Man with the Twisted Lip is told from the point of view of his assistant, Dr. Watson. Due to this we see Holmes and the mystery he solves primarily from the perspective of a medical man. As such we never get inside Homes’ head, but see the story as Watson sees it.
Watson’s medical training causes him to articulate his experience in careful detail, in the same manner he might articulate his diagnosis of a patient’s condition. For instance, note his description of his entry into a London opium den in 1889:
Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the forecastle of an emigrant ship. (Doyle, 2)
This same meticulous detailing recurs throughout the story, but not only when Watson is describing what he himself observes. It also occurs when he is relating what Sherlock Holmes is telling him for he recalls Holmes’ own observations at the same level of detail in which he recounts his own, as is evidenced when he writes about Holmes’ description of a particular man who begs in the streets of London:
His appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him without observing him. A shoc...
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...liantly to find logic and resolution in his pursuit of the mystery surrounding Stillman, elements in the text itself mitigated against this attempt and finally impacted and shaped Quinn’s life and persona in such a way that he could no longer survive in the narrative as a character or detective. This not only affected Quinn, but altered the entire narrative itself. Which elements in the text caused this destruction and dissolution – Paul Auster or the Narrator – are the mystery the reader is left to resolve in the denouement of City of Glass.
Work Cited Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes: the Major Stories with Contemporary Critical Essays. Ed. John A. Hodgson. Boston: Bedford of St. Martin, 1994. Print.
At the moment, that information was irrelevant. It was Holmes way of showing that he was intelligent, more so than Watson; which was both arrogant and condescending. Another aspect of
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.
While reading Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet and Sign of the Four, I found myself impatiently competing against Mr. Utterson and Sherlock Holmes to find out the solutions to the crimes. Stevenson and Doyle cleverly use the imagination of their protagonists to display through fictional literature the concern late Victorians felt about the rise of a new science. The characters of Utterson and Holmes resemble each other in their roles as objective observers who use imagination to create a picture in the reader's mind about the narrative.
In BBC’s episodes of Sherlock, “The Blind Banker”, “The Great Game”, and “A Scandal in Belgravia”, the writers changed some of the source materials of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Dancing Men”, “The Bruce-Partington Plans”, and “A Scandal in Bohemia”, in order to modernize some of the central themes of the stories. The writers of Sherlock kept the material that would continue to resonate with the modern viewers of the show as passionately as Doyle intended to have his novels resonate with his Victorian audience. The changes that were made bring out other, more pertinent themes to modern society, while still keeping most of Doyle’s original messages intact. Naturally, there are some differences that will be present in these works due to the decision of the writers of the television series to bring Sherlock into the modern era in terms of setting. These differences and the changes made to the existing source material are not meant to take away from Doyle’s work, but add to it and encourage the audience to connect to the characters and adventures of the works.
Sherlock Holmes is a truly interesting and captivating character to examine in the context the world around him. Obviously, his intellect sets him apart from the rest of the world, but the way his superior intellect affects his behavior is also fascinating. Time after time he appears to react in a contradictory way to other characters in the book: He avoids emotion at all costs, he doesn’t search for justice, simply to complete the problem and find truth, he doesn’t believe in anything supernatural, and, perhaps most perplexingly, it is in times of isolation that he is the most brilliant. This contradiction to the rest of the characters in the story is what makes Sherlock Holmes such an interesting subject for a novel and Doyle using Sherlock’s
Watson’s actor angrily expresses Watson’s character of being disapproving of Holmes’ use of drugs. Sherlock Holmes’ actor stares off to somewhere, while sounding calm and delivers his line of drugs being the only thing that makes existence not dull. The tone when delivering the dialogue was rather monologue and stern, which somewhat complements his stoicness. At this point, the movie has strayed from the direction of the book. Holmes then hands Watson a letter to read which has instructions of what to do and the time to do it. Watson listens to Holmes’ deduction of who crafted the letter, all his speculations ranged from penmanship and paper quality, to
From the start Watson is seen as smart but Holmes is seen as a genius.After finding the mysterious walking stick Watson tells Holmes what he observes and Holmes replies with “Really Watson,you excel yourself,”said Holmes(Doyle 2).Sherlock Holmes is seen as the type of man that thinks he is higher than anyone else.Although Holmes blatantly tel...
Holmes was born in New Hampshire, 1861. His mother was cold and heartless, and his father was an alcoholic. Both parents were very abusive towards Holmes. His parents would isolate and starve him for extended periods of time. At an early age, he was fascinated with the human body which quickly led to him being fascinated by death. Holmes’s captivation of the human body led him to study medicine. After graduating, Holmes was accepted into the University of Michigan Medical
Mysteries have always held great fascination for the human mind, not least because of the aura that surrounds them and the realm of the Unknown into which they delve. Coupled with the human propensity of being particularly curious about aspects which elude the average mind, the layer of intrigue that glosses over such puzzles makes for a heady combination of the literary and the popular. In the canon of detective fiction worldwide, no detective has tickled the curious reader’s imagination and held it in thrall as much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The 221-B, Baker Street, London ‘amateur’ detective combines a rare blend of intellectual prowess and sharp wit to crack a series of baffling riddles.
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).
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a British physician and writer, mostly well known for his stories “Sherlock Holmes”, which are generally in the field of crime fiction. He was a prolific writer whose other works include science fiction stories, historical novels, plays and romances, poetry, and non-fiction.
The words Watson uses to describe Holmes such as “sharp and piercing” eyes, “hawk-like nose” and “mark the man of determination”. By having Watson describe such characteristics, it saves Holmes of looking like a show off with an ego. These haracteristics are true and surely the detective knows of his abilities but by having Watson aknowledge them brings more to the story because the comments were made based on observations and not by the individual trying to boost his ego.
When his good friend Dr. Watson described him, it included adjectives such as, “Bohemian, accurate, curious, and has as calculating nature.” Holmes was always thought to have a curious ability for analytical reasoning which helped him to succeed when unraveling crimes. He was also known to have the ability to “lie to police, conceal evidence, or break into houses when he felt morally justifiable.” Sherlock Holmes worked hand in hand with Scotland Yard in London, England. He was considered a respected and talented investigator.
In this essay I am going to examine how Dr Watson is used as a