The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes Essay Questions

Only two characters appear in all of the stories: the narrator, Dr. John Watson, and Sherlock Holmes the private detective. Discuss how the characters act as foils for one another.

Sherlock Holmes is a cool, dispassionate, logical man who relies on his powers of observation, reasoning, and deduction to solve cases. He is not particularly impressed with rank or social class, and works just as readily to solve the problems of a pawnbroker (in "The Red-Headed League") as he is to search for the missing wife of Sir Robert St. Simon (in "The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor"). He is an eccentric man who hoards papers but is meticulously neat and tidy in other respects. He sometimes skips meals when concentrating intently, and uses tobacco, cocaine, and occasionally morphine to enhance his concentration.

Dr. Watson has a more rounded education than the highly specialized Holmes, and is critical of his housemate's relative lack of knowledge in politics, literature, and philosophy. He is more passionate and excitable than the introverted Holmes, and publishes accounts of his exploits in the newspaper. He disapproves strongly of Holmes's drug use and smoking, in the interests of his health, and he is far more interested in women than Holmes is. But although Dr. Watson is the more gregarious and outgoing of the two, he lacks Holmes's attention to detail.

In England during the late 1800s, a person's social class was mostly hereditary. People might be members of the titled nobility, or independently wealthy "gentlemen," or professionals such as barristers or physicians, or independent shopkeepers or tradespeople, or even laborers of the skilled or unskilled variety. Although Dr. Watson is clearly a member of the professional class, Sherlock Holmes's social class and personal history is not described in these twelve stories. Based solely on the contents of the stories in the book, what do you believe Holmes's social class to be? Why or why not?

Using the process of elimination, one can eliminate the impossible options. Holmes is clearly not a member of the skilled or unskilled working class because he lacks any ordinary trade, does not work with his hands, and has received a university education. This marks him as having come from a land-owning or business-owning class at least. Holmes carries a riding crop and uses it effectively in "The Red-Headed League" and "A Case of Identity." This suggests that he has a familiarity with horseback riding and moves in social circles wherein the possession of a riding crop is not unusual.

Holmes is not a physician or university professor because he is not addressed as "Doctor." He cannot be a member of the hereditary nobility because he lacks a title such as "Duke," "Lord," or any other title suggesting he is a member of the hereditary peerage. It is imaginably possible that he could be a younger son of such a family, because he has an extensive education in botany and biology that cannot be obtained except through intense private study. Yet he is too clever to be entirely fashionable or respectable as a member of the titled elite.

Students who are more widely read will be able to cite "The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter" and other stories that do not appear in this volume, proving that Sherlock's ancestors were indeed "country squires" or landed gentry. This places him nominally in the genteel class and explains his education. However, before becoming famous Holmes does indeed charge for his services.

In what way does Sir Arthur Conan Doyle undermine English class stereotypes so as to write stories that appeal to the general population?

Doyle rejects the notion that heroes or heroines should be of a "respectable" or upper class. Holmes's class is ambiguous, and the people who hire him come from a variety of social classes: a pawnbroker in "The Red-headed League," the King of Bohemia in "A Scandal in Bohemia," the apparently respectable businessman Neville St. Clair in "The Man With the Twisted Lip," Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard in "The Boscombe Valley Mystery," and several others.

The villains in the various stories are not necessarily of a lower class than the people they harm or torment. The King of Bohemia, for example, has an ill-advised affair during his engagement, and seeks to cover up the evidence. Frequently, the perpetrators of the crime are members of the victim's own family as in "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" and "The Adventure of the Speckled Band."

Doyle eschews the notion that a former criminal is necessarily predestined to take up his criminal ways. In "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," Holmes exonerates the felon initially accused of stealing the jewel. The real thief turns out to be a hotel attendant. Since the jewel is found, Holmes allows the thief to remain free rather than commit to a criminal lifestyle as a result of being convicted and jailed. Doyle does not present members of the so-called "lower" classes as being rude, unintelligent, or incompetent.

All the stories are told in the first-person singular, as related by Dr. Watson. Compared to having Sherlock Holmes relate the story, how does the use of Dr. Watson's narrative voice help develop the plot without giving away the solution to the mystery?

Dr. Watson can only speak or write about what he personally knows. Holmes has a vast knowledge of subjects such as forensics and botany, specifically poisons, that exceeds what Watson has learned during his study and practice of medicine. Holmes and Watson frequently see the same things and the same clues, however Holmes is able to extrapolate based on limited evidence in a way that Watson cannot. Watson therefore misses some key clues and does not draw the necessary conclusion.

Much of the story takes place after Holmes has already solved the mystery and is seeking to resolve the conflict in a way that matches his sense of social justice. If Doyle had used Holmes' narrative voice, the revelation of the solution at the end of the story such as "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" would have been anticlimactic.

How are female characters presented in the Sherlock Holmes stories?

Doyle's female characters are not helpless creatures although a few of them, such as Helen Stoner in "The Speckled Band" do qualify as ladies in distress. In "A Scandal in Bohemia", the opera singer and adventuress Irene Adler shows herself to be Holmes's intellectual equal: she is one of the only people to get the better of him. Doyle allows his female characters to be powerful, but powerful women are not always dangerous.

Doyle is not afraid to make a female character into an antagonist. Although some of the female antagonists, like male antagonists, are acting out of love or self-deception, a few are genuinely antisocial. For example, the female thief in "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet" is not the martyr-like supporter of social mores many Victorian authors preferred to present.