Sherlock Holmes shows his awareness of her situation be these keen observations. As Ms Stoner explains her situation and her difficulties with her step father we can say Holmes is quick to observe evidence of her physical distress. Conan Doyle describes her“Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace to reveal…five little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white wrist.”
He goes onto say “You have been cruelly used.”
The Victorians also prided themselves in there self control and self restraint and they admired these qualities amongst their society.
In this story we see Holmes show self restraint when faced with violent and insulting behaviour from Dr Roylott. Dr Roylott Bursts into Holmes Baker Street home uninvited and begins to insult and threaten Holmes in a violent way “and shaking his hunting crop,” “ I know you scoundrel … Holmes the Scotland Yard jack – in – office.”
Holmes refuses to return the insults and only smiles while keeping his self control. As Holmes prepares to investigate the case of Ms Stoner we see he uses the most progressive and up to date technology that was available. “I shall walk down to doctor’s commons, where I hope to get some data which may help us in this matter.”
Victorians would have admired this progressive attitude. They would have also enjoyed Holmes self confident and fearless attitude to his dangerous work.
Ms Stoner says of her step father “He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him”. Holmes follows this up by saying confidently “He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone more cunning than himself upon his track.”
The setting, in particular of the Roylott family home reminds us that this is still the period when large country houses and their aristocratic families still dominated rural life in England. Helen stoner tells Holmes “I am living with my step father, who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England.”
Victorians were very proud of their country mansions with extensive gardens which were well kept by quite a large number of servants. A well kept house reflected on a good family.
In the case of Dr Roylott we see that the house is in a state of decay and the gardens are badly kept. Victorians would have drawn the conclusion from this that Dr Roylott was not a good or respectable character. Watson describes the country manor of Dr Roylott “Windows were broken, and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture of ruin.”
Watson Continues and says “Holmes walked slowly up and down the ill trimmed lawn.”
The Victorians admired intelligence and success in life so long as it was used for the good. In this particular case we see that Doctor Roylott is unfortunately using his education and skill for the wrong purpose. This is underlined by Holmes when he says “It’s a wicked world, and when a clever man turns his brain to crime it is the worst of all.”
On the other hand we can see the very gifted but dedicated Sherlock Holmes who works almost physically like a servant to solve this crime. Watson says of him “He threw himself down upon his face with his lens, in his hands, and crawled swiftly backwards and forwards, examining minutely…”
Another aspect of Victorian life that’s highlighted in this text is the reference to social classes and in particularly upper middle classes, as in the case of Roylott’s of Stroke Moran.
Helen Stoner says “I am living with my step father who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England, the Roylott of Stroke Moran, on the western border of Surrey.”
There is evidence of how this upper middle class only socialized amongst themselves and intermarried within their class.
Again Helen Stoner reminds us when she says “When Dr Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs Stoner, the young widow of Major – General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery.”
Further more Helen Stoner reminds us that this class had been used to having servants who did all there basic chores and underlined their status as idol rich. She states “You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servants would stay with us, and for a ling time we did all the work of the house.”
We see that the proposed marriages of Helen and Julia Stoner are arranged within their social acquaintances. Helen tells us “We had, however, an aunt, my mother’s maiden sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near harrow, and we were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady’s house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there whom she became engaged.”
Helen herself is also engaged in the same manner. She states “A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage – Percy Armitage , the second son of Mr Armitage, of crane water, near reading.”
These References to arrange marriage within their own social class tells us much about the Victorian society.
Finally when we examine the language of this text, we are reminded in many instances of the very formal language used by Victorians and use of long complex sentences. As well as a variety of words which are not much in use today.
Watson in his commentary tends to use long complex sentences like the following “I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional Investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis, with which he unravelled the problems which were submitted to him.”
Sometimes the tone of the language tends to be biblical reflecting the Victorians custom of using the bible as a reading text.
Helen stoner says to Holmes “But I have heard, Mr Holmes that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human heart.”
Watson again describes Holmes behaviour in a very formal way when he says “Continued my companion imperturbably.”
Looking back on the story it’s self and the period when it was written I feel that this would have been a form of entertainment for the Victorians of a particular class who read widely, While we are today entertained by television and radio especially through soap opera’s. The Victorians would have used their serialised stories as a form of entertainment and source of conversation socially.
Sherlock Holmes as a character was extremely popular with Victorians because he was the type of person they wished to be. There was a great cry among the readers when Holmes character was killed of .
The author Conan Doyle had to bring Holmes back to live by the popular demand.
In Conclusion Overall I have found that this particular story has reflected many aspects of Victorian life.
First of all Sherlock Holmes Professional approach to his work and his sense of duty to do all his best for everyone while employing the most up to date methods available to him in solving crimes.
We are also made aware of the life style and social behaviour of the upper middle class. Further we have evidence of Victorian progress and Technology especially in Transport.
Finally the language in its complex sentences and formal and ancient words remind us of this period in English history.
