- High Moral Yes.
- Money – Rich Usually.
- Women Not many of the detectives favour women.
- Very clever Yes.
- Loner Not many friends
- Has a drug problem Many drink, and abuse alcohol etc.
This table shows how many detectives nowadays are still very much like Holmes.
Holmes was very popular too many people in the Victorian era. He was a brake from normal life, an escape from reality. Many of the men had to perfect and where find it too difficult so would take a break and read Conan Doyle’s stories on Holmes. Victorian people needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the streets and daily life so turned to the stories of Sherlock Holmes.
At this time in the Victorian era the police didn’t have much control. There were many people on the streets and there was a lot of crime. Jack the Ripper was also on the loose and people didn’t feel safe. They turned to Holmes to reassure them and comfort them.
There was also a rise in middle class educated people. This meant more people were reading so would be more interested in finding good books. As more and more people enjoyed them the word spread, so many more people would by his stories, of Holmes.
The first story that I am going to talk about is The Speckled Band.
The Speckled Band
This is a story about heartless widower, Dr Roylott. He returns with his twin step-daughters to Stoke Moran, to his family's old and country house, where wild animals and gypsies wander on its grounds. One of the girls, Helen, visits Holmes after the death of her sister. She comes to Holmes and tells him the story. She exclaims to Holmes that she came out of the room screaming "the band, the speckled band." Holmes notices livid spots and marks on Helen's wrists made by her stepfather, and agrees to go with Watson to Stoke Moran to investigate. They occupy the bedroom of her dead twin which is located next to Dr Roylott’s. Late at night they hear a noise which proves to be a speckled snake going down the bell-pull from Roylott's bedroom. Holmes drives it back into the other room with his stick. On entering Roylott's room they find him dead, the cause being the bite of a swamp adder which was still there. Holmes throws a whip around its neck and tosses it into the safe. Roylott's plan had been to gain control of inheritance money left to the two girls by their dead mother.
Dr Watson plays a vital part in most of Holmes’ investigations; he introduces the story as a narrator in Retrospect. Then Holmes and Watson are always confronted with a problem. Holmes will always notice something mind-boggling, in detail. In this story it is the marks on Helens wrist and arms made by Dr Roylott. What then follows is that Holmes and Watson start to investigate with no obvious conclusion, “yet we have not a minute to loose”. Then something will occur showing Sherlock’s bravery and power, this is when Sherlock fights off the snake and captures it. With the final result of Holmes solving the case showing how clever and what a hero Holmes is.
The second story I am going to talk about is The Man with the Twisted Lip.
The Man with the Twisted Lip
