This shows Holmes invariably emerges as a dominant force in the stories. Why? Partly it is the brilliance of his deductions but equally it is the incisiveness with which he takes up every challenge:
“My dear Doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We are spies in an enemy’s country.” The Red-Headed League
Furthermore, his stories are infused with a sense of energy and excitement.
Holmes is a consistent character; he may not always be sympathetic or likeable but he displays a range of characteristics and inspires devotion in Watson, which in turn persuades the reader that he is an honourable character. Consider some of the following examples of his particular traits of character:
“I am no doubt indirectly responsible for [his] death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience.”
Talking to Watson at the end of The Speckled Band; and is there the suggestion that he has put himself above the law?
“What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.”
Most of the time Sherlock Holmes uses his intelligence and ability merely as a means of dispelling boredom! In response to Watson’s open admiration in The Red-Headed League Sherlock Holmes replies:
“It saved me from ennui … Alas I already feel it closing in upon me! My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the common places of existence. These little problems help me to do so.”
Second Part
Sherlock Holmes stories are some of the best detective stories ever written. They were written by Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle (1850-1930) who was a medical doctor. "The Red Headed League" was published in 1891 and "The Speckled Band" was published in 1892 in a magazine called The Strand Magazine. "The Red Headed League" is about Holmes who is being consulted by a "tradesman" -- a merchant or salesman of some kind, whom we later find out to be a somewhat unprosperous pawnbroker. Because he considers the pawnbroker common, Holmes treats Wilson with a sort of mock-respect, much the same way many adults treat precocious children. He invites Watson to listen to Wilson’s story and see what he can make of it.
"You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson," he said cordially.
Wilson explains that he has responded to a newspaper advertisement inviting only red-headed men to apply for a very exclusive and desirable job.
"Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began it all. You just read it for yourself, sir."
The key is, they have to be truly red-headed -- not auburn, and not strawberry-blonde -- and their flaming red hair has to be natural, rather than dyed which Watson takes it off & reads for example;
I took the paper from him and read as follows:
"TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one years are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet Street."
The ad was pointed out to Wilson by his assistant, Spaulding, who tells him that the Red-Headed League is a very reputable association, and encourages Wilson to apply; he does, and passes the interview with flying colors. His new employer, Duncan Ross, informs him that the job involves nothing more than copying the Encyclopedia Britannica in longhand. But Wilson has to promise to come to work every day between the hours of ten and two – for example
"'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your billet.'
For this he will be paid four pounds a week, which we would consider very slight, but which would have been a very attractive pay for a tradesman in those days.
He goes to work faithfully for eight weeks, getting paid every Saturday. Then, when he reports to work at the beginning of the ninth week, he finds the office locked, and a sign on the door stating that the Red-Headed League has been dissolved. Wilson contacts the building’s landlord, only to discover that the room had been rented under an alias, and Duncan Ross’ forwarding address is specious as well. He has come to Sherlock Holmes to find out what happened. Holmes sends both Wilson and Watson away so he can smoke his pipe and think for example;
“This is at least a” “Three-pipe problem.”
When Watson returns, Holmes asks him whether he’s in the mood to go to a concert -- by way of Mr. Wilson’s place of employment. At the pawnshop, Holmes examines the sidewalk in front of the building very closely, beats his cane upon it vigorously, then makes a point of speaking to Wilson’s assistant, Vincent Spaulding. On the way to the concert, Holmes remarks cryptically that Spaulding must be
"The fourth smartest man in London,"
and asks whether Watson observed the knees of Spaulding’s trousers. All of this is intended to be puzzling, and it is. After the concert, Holmes elicits a promise from Watson to return to his apartment at ten; there he meets several of Holmes’ other friends, including an official from Scotland Yard and the director of a large London bank for example.
"Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in to-night's adventure."
Holmes takes the trio down a warren of narrow streets, through two sets of iron gates, and down a flight of steps into the cellar beneath the bank. There they wait. Before long, one of the pavement stones in the cellar starts to lift and Spaulding, together with the man who called himself Duncan Ross, lift themselves through the hole, where they are apprehended by the "good guys."
The purpose of the Red-Headed League is thus revealed. It was all a ruse to get Jabez Wilson out of the pawnshop during the day so that Spaulding and Ross could tunnel from the pawnshop to the bank’s basement and thus steal a large store of French gold without being detected. Sherlock Holmes was able to confirm his suspicions by a thump on the pavement outside the pawnshop (it sounded hollow) and a glance at the knees of Spaulding’s trousers (they were dirty from digging). A little improbable -- but a tantalizing mental exercise nonetheless.
“The Speckled Band" is about," Sherlock Holmes whom is called upon to calm a frightened client, Helen Stoner, who fears for her very life for example.
"It is not cold which makes me shiver,"
"It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror."
This quote tells us that Helen was very terrified of something and she had to come to Holmes for help as she feels her life is in danger
Helen carries on telling Holmes that when she and her twin sister Julia were two years old, their mother married into a wealthy and prestigious Surrey family, the Roylott’s. Dr. Roylott is extremely eccentric, keeping a menagerie of wild animals at the family homestead; he also has a violent temper. Helen’s mother is now dead, and nothing remains to protect Helen from the ferocity of her stepfather’s anger. But something even more acutely ominous has caused Helen to contact Sherlock Holmes.
As Helen describes the situation, several years ago Julia Stoner became engaged to a major in the British military. Dr. Roylott did not seem to object to the match, but ten days before the wedding, Julia mentioned to Helen that she hears a whistle noise & she cannot sleep & wonder if her sister Helen heard the same whistle for example.
"'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of the night?'
Helen said she herself had heard no whistling. Julia lately been disturbed by a strange whistling in the night, and told her sister Helen about it for example.
"'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from perhaps from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just ask you whether you had heard it.'
Julia went to bed, saying it was probably nothing, but Helen was very worried and did not sleep well that night. A few hours later she heard a low whistling sound, followed by the clank of metal, and then a terrible scream emanated from her sister’s room. Julia was
obviously in great pain, and before dying, she pointed toward Dr. Roylott’s room and gasped,
“Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band!”
Now, two years later, Helen has herself become engaged. The previous evening she also heard the ominous low whistle that had heralded her sister’s death. She sprang out of bed and immediately headed for London to see Sherlock Holmes. Holmes agrees this is a very serious business, and suggests that later on that same day, he and Watson should go out to Surrey to get a feel for the situation.
Helen has no sooner left than her stepfather, Dr. Roylott, bursts into Holmes’ parlor. He has traced Helen here; now he wants to know the object of her visit. Holmes refuses to tell Roylott anything, which so infuriates him that he grabs the fireplace poker and bends it back upon itself, threatening Holmes as he exits.
Now Holmes is absolutely convinced that Helen is in danger. He and Watson immediately set off for Surrey, arriving about the same time as Helen. She shows them the arrangement of the bedrooms, and Holmes notes although Helen used to sleep down the hall; Dr. Roylott has recently moved her to the same room Julia occupied when she died. Only a single wall separates Helen from her stepfather, and the most notable fixture of this wall is a bell-pull -- a rope feeding through the ceiling, which when pulled is supposed to summon the servants.
Holmes pulls the rope, and no servants come; upon further examination he finds it’s attached, not to a wire, but to a hook just above the ventilator. Moreover, the placement of the ventilator is also strange, in that it opens not to the outside (where the fresh air is) but into Dr. Roylott’s room. Most strangely of all, the bed in which Helen sleeps is bolted to the floor, just underneath the ventilator and the hanging bell-pull.
Holmes has seen enough. He advises Helen to move secretly back to her old room, while he and Watson will spend the night in hers. Midway through the night, they see a light flash at the site of the ventilator, and they hear a low, whistling sound. Holmes lights the lamp and begins smacking the bell-pull with his cane, yelling
"You see it, Watson? You see it?"
"It" is a swamp adder,
A deadly Indian snake, which Dr. Roylott was coaxing through the ventilator into Helen’s room on the other side. Suddenly a terrible scream came from Dr. Roylott’s room, showing that the swamp adder had backtracked and attacked the first human being it came across -- Dr. Roylott himself. Holmes reveals that he had a chance to look at Helen and Julia’s mother’s will, and as he suspected, a good percentage of the money left to Dr. Roylott would be diverted to the girls if they married. Dr. Roylott therefore had a very lucrative reason for keeping his stepdaughters single -- even if that meant rendering them dead.
Sherlock Holmes is described as "the relentless, keen- witted, ready-handed criminal agent”. He is shown as the best in the detective field with every skill that a detective needs... He has a "brilliant reasoning power" and it amazes the readers in ways how he draws correct conclusions from small observations. For example, in "The Red Headed League”, by looking at John Clay’s? "worn wrinkled and stained” knees he realizes that John Clay has been digging a passage to the bank. On the other hand he is also shown as a lonely man without a family life. I think this is done deliberately for psychological reasons to prevent readers from hating him because even though some might feel jealous for his investigating skills on the other hand they will feel pity for his lonely life.
Dr. Watson is the narrators of the stories .Doctors are one of the most trusted professions as they traditionally have an image of being saviors. I think the reason why Dr. Watson is shown as a doctor is to make the readers trust him and therefore believe in the story. He is shown as less skilful, lacking the reasoning skills compared to Holmes, which makes us trust him more and like him because we are at the same level as well. As a doctor he has excellent skills of observing and describing, which is an aid for us to recreate every event that happened in the story while we read.
People always prefer familiar settings. That is why the author provides information like the name of the streets and underground stations such as "Baker Street" and "Aldersgate" underground. This would have attracted the British / especially London readers who knew these places. Conan Doyle also provides precise dates such as
"The Morning Chronicle, of April 27, 1890" and "The Red Headed League is Dissolved. Oct. 9, 1980",
This would have delighted the readers who lived during this period because they would have felt a part of this story which also develops its realism. The author always gives the readers clues. When Dr. Roylott warns Holmes by saying,
"Don’t? You dare to meddle with my affairs “in "The Speckled Band";
We may guess that he might be the villain in this story as he feels uncomfortable with Mr. Holmes Investigation? Similarly when Holmes asks whether John Clay’s "ears are pierced for ear-rings" in "The Red Headed League" we guess that he might be a well known criminal. This is a technique to make the reader follow the investigation in the right track and at the end when Holmes explains everything instead of feeling completely lost they will feel happy and proud for guessing correctly.
THE CONCLUSION OF BOTH THE SPECKLED BAND & THE RED_HEADED LEAGUE STORIES
In both stories the climax is an interesting part with full of suspense and action .In "The Red Headed League" the climax is more like a thriller which includes Mr. Holmes and Scotland Yard Officers surrounding the cellar and arresting the criminals . In "The Speckled Band" the climax is set more like a horror sequence which includes action with a mysterious creature (which later turns out to be a snake) and the death of Dr.Roylott.
Even though they might not be much thrilling to us as we have seen many thriller and horror movies it would have been really interesting for the Victorian and Edwardian readers. The climax is always kept full of suspense either if it is about whether the criminal might escape from justice (John Clay in "The Red Headed league" for example) or about whether the innocent will be hurt (Helen Stoner in "The Speckled Band" for example) . In the end we can notice that in both cases what we wanted happened (which is the criminal being punished and the innocent being protected), which restores morality.
The author also includes many references to foreign countries. "Indian animals" in "The Speckled Band" and 'the Chinese tattoo? In "The Red Headed League" are two fine examples for this. As the British Empire was ruling many foreign countries Victorian and Edwardian people were interested in these countries. But the author’s? Common usage of French sentences such as “‘L? homme c?est rien-l?oeuvre c?est tout" also serves to show the readers that Mr. Holmes is intellectual.
Sherlock Holmes stories were famous during Victorian and Edwardian times because of the techniques Conan Doyle uses. He seems to have got the ability to describe virtually everything in the imaginative scene of crime and make the reader feel him/her self as a detective. Even if Sherlock Holmes stories might not be as successful as they were in the Victorian and Edwardian societies due to the time gap, I still feel that they are relevant as still many crime novelists use Sherlock Holmes stories as basis for their modern novels and movies.
On the whole, the excellent characterization, brilliant plot, griping climax and the sense of realism make Sherlock Holmes stories very successful
The interest of the reader is primarily sustained by the setting up of the situation which is mysterious right from the beginning. As is usual in Sherlock Holmes stories, Holmes notices minor details that become important later on, and the reader is left trying to deduce something from these clues themselves. We are working it out alongside the narrator of the story, Watson.
The violence shown towards Helen Stoner and her sister by their strange guardian immediately grasps the attention of the reader, and the urgency with which she has come to Holmes also makes this seem a matter of great urgency. Look carefully at the vocabulary used, because this creates quite an effect on the reader.
Interest is continued mainly through the plotline and the trap that Holmes lays to try and discover the truth of what has happened. The two storylines entwine: what happened in the past to the sister, and the present repetition of the crime. The close examination of the scene and the actual events of the night are tense, as is the death of Dr Roylott. Lots of words and phrases are used to increase this tension, for example:
"Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it."
Don’t overlook the setting, or the fact that most of the action happens at night, which gives it a chilling effect.
In the course of his investigations Sherlock Holmes shows that the stories tend to be very moral. The code of humour observed by Holmes and Watson persuades them to defend and protect those worthy and deserving of their care, even if it means breaking the law, or not strictly enforcing it.
We have a memorable villain, Dr Grimsby Roylott, whose terrible temper and abuse and murder of his step-daughter leaves no room for sympathy or pity. We have the vaguely threatening presence of gypsies and the real threat of exotic wild beasts.
Roylott is truly ghastly, a larger than life pantomime villain who tries to intimidate Holmes with his physical strength and overbearing manner. We hope that he will come to a sticky end, and he does, right on cue. Whereas Holmes' actions in previous stories may have been questionable, the dispatch of Roylott at the hands of his poisonous snake is an occasion for cheers.
This is why I believe that Dr. Roylott does deserve to die as he showed no remorse by killing her sister and then by trying to kill Helen Stoner. Also “The Red-Headed League” offers some of the most lighthearted moments in the series, from Holmes literally bounding over the settee in order to retrieve his friend from the corridor, to the final conclusion where all is resolved. His dealings with an upper-crust gentleman of esteemed notoriety but very little common sense are particularly fun to observe. The climax appears in a darkened room and involves a surprisingly greedy twist.
