Conan Doyle's hero Sherlock Holmes was popular in Victorian and Edwardian society for many reasons. What, in your opinion, makes 'The Red-Headed League' exciting and successful?

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MIKE PHILLIPS 11D

Conan Doyle’s hero Sherlock Holmes was popular in Victorian and Edwardian society for many reasons. What, in your opinion, makes ‘The Red-Headed League’ exciting and successful?

“The Red Headed League” is a short story that revolves around a mysterious organization which Mr. Holmes’s client; Mr Wilson was working for until, for some reason, it dissolves. Finally this bizarre league simply turns out to be a diversion to distract Mr Wilson while criminals tunnel a secret passage from his cellar intending to rob gold from the adjacent bank. I hope to analyse the methods employed by Doyle that makes this and all his stories so interesting and exciting.

To find out what makes the story exciting, we must first ascertain what the audience of Doyle would of found exciting and thus made them read the book. This is of course because Doyle would probably have had no idea that his books would be read hundreds of years later, and he would have written his stories for the people of the time.

Many of the people who could read and indeed afford to ‘waste’ money on books for the mere purpose of leisure reading would have been middle to upper class in society, therefore it is easy to presume that audience’s hero would have been middle or higher class in status. Also, since Doyle himself would have been considered middle or higher class, it would be fairly logical to suggest that he would prefer to write about some one with the same class as himself.

 

As with many stories of the time, and indeed many stories written at present or even yet to be written, there is the basic plot of good representing evil. In order for society to remain intact, the evil must always be defeated by the good. The Sherlock Holmes series provides just that for the audience, a gripping tale of how evil is brought to justice and punished by good.

Sherlock is too intelligent for the reader to comprehend; Watson is the manifestation of the reader in the story. He records the adventures and it is this that we read.

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You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my little adventures.

Sherlock is remarkably intelligent, he has surpassed the average man’s abilities, it would there fore be difficult for the average man to relate to the main character in the series of short stories. Doyle, has the foresight to see that the reader will need a mortal of lesser ability, but still adequately intelligent to relay the story to us.

Watson embodies everything that is required of ...

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