How does Conan Doyle make the reader believe in Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson?

“When we talk of Sherlock Holmes we invariably fall

into the fancy of his existence.” T.S. Eliot.

How does Conan Doyle make the reader believe in

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson?

The stereotypical image in most people’s minds whenever the name “Sherlock Holmes” is mentioned is the magnifying glass, deerstalker hat and smoking a pipe. He has more or less become a part of our English culture, almost as much as English tea, Yorkshire puddings and cricket.

Few of the number of people who can picture that stereotypical image of Sherlock Holmes have actually read the books. There have been other sources which have informed society of Holmes’ features; there have been, numerous television productions, approximately two hundred and fifty Sherlock Holmes films, many newspaper interviews with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the author of the amazing book and documentaries on the story.

Nevertheless, in the original publications in “The Strand” magazine the detective’s stereotypical image was never described in the way it has evolved. These ideas have all been created and drawn from the media. This was an effort to make the famous detective easily recognizable to a wide range of audiences.

As the tale was originally serialised in “The Strand” all Sherlock Holmes stories have been slightly affected, this is due to the fact that there had to be a cliff-hanger at the end of each week’s episode. The reason for this was the editors of the magazine wanted to encourage readers to buy the magazine regularly, as they did not want to miss out on the next section of the tale.

Due to the immense number of people who could visualise a mental image of not only Mr Holmes but also and not surprisingly his faithful sidekick Watson, many people believed, and some people still do, that these two characters really existed and various people have been known to write letters to Holmes’ Baker Street address even today. Some people are even employed to write back to the senders pretending to be Holmes.

The whole situation could be seen as a little absurd since in reality the detective would now be approximately 120 years old! On the other hand ...

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The whole situation could be seen as a little absurd since in reality the detective would now be approximately 120 years old! On the other hand it shows how well Conan Doyle’s admirable pattern of writing brought these stories to life using various techniques and writing styles.

Arthur Conan Doyle uses many techniques to bring Holmes and Watson into existence, starting with the way the very tale is told; it is reported as a first-person narrative and explained through Watson’s letters and diary accounts, which makes it more attention-grabbing for the reader. An example of this is the newspaper cutting in chapter two of “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. It is almost a type of ‘principal evidence’ in the case. This method also gives the information to the reader as the characters discover it; this gives a thrilling desire to crack the mystery before the detective.

The tales themselves appear plausible by including credible names, dates and places, such as the Northumberland Hotel and Grimpen Mire, both of which actually exist in London and Dartmoor areas. This realistic idea is strengthened by the normality that dramatic proceedings appear from; practically all of these tales begin and end at the Baker Street flat, as with “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Also, each case develops from a seemingly innocent event for example; Dr Mortimer’s walking stick was accidentally left in Holmes’ flat in “The Hound of the Baskervilles”. Subsequent to one of the “most gripping and disturbing” cases the characters return to the Baker Street flat. This gives a sense of familiarity to the reader making them believe that they are with Holmes and go about his cases routines with him.

Conan Doyle uses strongly contrasting characters in all of his stories, for instance Holmes, Watson and Clayton, the driver of the hansom cab in chapter five. Clayton being of the working class and almost certainly often criticised by higher members of society, is quick to defend himself against a potential complaint.

“I came here straight from the Yard to ask you to your face what you had against me,” shows his instantaneously protective nature. Yet, once comforted the cabman calm downs and relaxes. This is shown as he begins using slang language such as “toff” despite the fact that he’s still constantly being polite and calling Holmes “sir”. Sherlock Holmes, on the other hand, appears to deem himself to be far better to the other characters. This is shown in his attitude towards Watson; he builds up the doctor’s hopes “Really Watson, you excel yourself!” merely to then tell him that he is wrong by saying “most of your conclusions were erroneous.” The language he uses makes him appear patronising and criticizing, only because he knows his intelligence far exceeds that of all the other characters. He only seems to show respect to Sir Henry, as he is a member of the gentry.

Likewise to Holmes, Dr Watson is of the upper-middle class and treats other people accordingly. However He is far more polite to Clayton than Holmes was and extremely courteous to Sir Henry. Both the tow characters use formal language even between themselves, always using surnames instead of informal Christian names or first names. What's more, all the characters treat women considerately and civilly, which reveals the moral attitudes at the time Arthur Conan Doyle wrote these stories.

One more feature used to make Sherlock Holmes’ cases give the impression of reality is the historical and social context included. The methods of transport and communication such as the hansom cab in chapter four and the telegram to Barrymore in chapter five of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” makes it factual to the time and technology of 1902.

Holmes’ treatment of the policeman Lestrade for example ordering him around shows Holmes’ arrogance and certainty in his own superiority. This is also reflected in his lack of police involvement until right at the end when a way of disposing of the criminal is required. This also proves that police detection was still developing in the early 1900s.

All the above features of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing techniques helped create a tremendously believable detective, mainly by the contrasting characters which roughly entirely reflect the historical and social context of the stories. It is through these techniques that Conan Doyle makes the reader believe in Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson, even convincing them that Holmes is the only man to help solve their problems.