Discuss two of the Sherlock Holmes we have read. What similarities and differences do you see, and which of the stories do you prefer.

Doyle planned to end the series and in 1893 he became so fed up of his detective that he devised his death in the 'Final Problem,' published in the Strand in the December issue.

Sherlock Holmes was the soap opera of the Edwardian times so readers were distraught when they found out he had been killed off and expressed their disappointment by wearing mourning bands and The Strand Magazine lost 20,000 subscriptions so Doyle decided to resurrect him from the dead in 1903.

The two stories I am going to look at are 'The Adventure Of The Speckled Band' and 'The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb'.

A brief outline of the first story, 'The Adventure Of The Speckled Band' is about a stepfather, Dr Roylott, who wants to have his step daughters inheritance. He finds out she is going to wed, but if she does this he will get less money. He therefore decides to kill her and does this by a speckled band, a breed of snake, hence the name. Sherlock Holmes then goes to investigate and obviously solves the mystery surrounding her death.

In 'The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb' is a man goes to see Sherlock Holmes and has had his thumb amputated, he has no recollection of this but just one memory of a woman telling him to go. Sherlock Holmes unravels the mystery and concludes that a sinister German and a morose Englishman committed the crime.

Both these stories have many differences but a number of similarities. The first similarity between the two stories is Sherlock Holmes' character. Both stories suggest Holmes is an eccentric character 'reading the agony aunt column' but also the fact he is not paid for his services, but will only do the unusual, sounds rather eccentric too. He also is very calm, not scared in the face of danger. For example, in 'The Adventure Of The Speckled Band' he has solved the mystery yet to prove himself right, he risks danger by staying the night in the bedroom where the speckled band will be released. In 'The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb' he returns to the station where his thumb was amputated. These two examples show Holmes' bravery in both stories. Both stories also show how very calm Holmes is in the face of danger. In 'The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb' Holmes, at the end of the story does not care that the criminal has got away, he just laughs and blames it on 'experience'. In the other story an example of his calmness is when Roylott bursts into his office shouting at Holmes, he replies by saying about the flowers 'I have heard the crocuses promise well' also adding humour to the story.

The second similarity in these stories is Watson's admiration for Homes. In both stories Watson is telling the story, he describes Sherlock Holmes with great detail, such as '...to find Sherlock Holmes fully dressed...He was a late riser...' and also in 'The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb' Watson wrote 'weary, heavy lidded expression...'. Also in 'The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb' Watson, when he heard about the engineers, he responded by saying 'I'll ask a good friend'. He also drops all plans with his wife to show the engineer to Holmes' home, which also shows admiration.

The third similarity is the use of a red herring. The red herring takes you off the scent of the story and adds extra shock. In the first story 'The Adventure Of The Speckled Band' the red herring is the gypsies outside. You assume when Holmes asks about this, it is he believes the gypsies had something to do with her death, when at the end, you find out in fact, they had nothing to do with it. Th red herring of the other story is the horses, how they look fresh when they came to pick him up, after travelling six miles, this also has nothing to do with the story.