Only 4 of the 56 short stories are not seen through Watson’s eyes, these are ‘The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb.’ and ‘Colonel Warburton’s Madness’ which are third person narrations and Holmes himself narrates the other 2, ‘The Adventure of the Lions Mane.’ and ‘ The Adventure of the blanched Soldier.’
I think that Conan Doyle has handled Holmes and Watson’s relationship well because he wrote the characters in such a way that he manages to convince the reader that they are close friends and he uses little techniques to indicate the depth of their friendship. The main features that illustrate the quality of their friendship is that Watson puts up with Holmes’ arrogance, rudeness and strange behaviour and the fact that Holmes, who seems to be rather cold and unemotional, allows Watson to be his friend.
I also think that Holmes is as good as his reputation says he is. Conan Doyle went through the trouble of devising skilful techniques and practices for Holmes instead of just making everybody else in the stories seem stupid, as most of the writers did.
In the plot of ‘The Blue Carbuncle’, which is third on the list of favourite stories of Sherlock Holmes readers, we see the great power of deduction and analysis used by Holmes.
The plot centres on the pursuit of a Christmas Goose in which is hidden the Blue Carbuncle, a gem stolen from the Countess of Morcar’s hotel room at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. The reward for the gem is £1,000 that, according to Holmes, is not even 1/20th of its market value. The stone has a violent history including 2 murders, a suicide and several robberies. Peterson the commissionaire first introduces Sherlock Holmes to the case, after he has found the goose and a hat in the street – the owner had dropped them in a fight in the Tottenham Court Road. Holmes performs an intelligent bit of deduction on the hat and his analysis of the owner is proven totally correct when the owner Henry Baker is located. The detective’s investigation leads him to the Alpha Inn and then to the windswept, chilly Convent Garden and the stall of the foul dealer Mr. Breckenridge. In the end, the detective proves generous in allowing the culprit to escape, declaring to Watson, ‘I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.’
Sherlock Holmes is a very interesting character; he is a man who has mastered the science of deduction. His methodical way of solving any mystery is very impressive. His knowledge about chemicals and crime is immense. He has a drawback though: he is a cocaine addict.
Dr John Hamish Watson, is a late British Army surgeon, he has seen many rough times in his military career, which takes him to London where he meets Holmes. Together they take the reader on adventures where Holmes displays his wonderful talents and Watson does the journalistic job. Watson is the link between the reader and Holmes. Conan Doyle’s cleverness is in introducing the character of Watson to act as the person who does not see how Holmes reaches his conclusions. Holmes then tells Watson what he did, and this helps the reader understand the logic and power of deduction that Holmes has.
P. G. Woodhouse pointed out that Holmes did not seem like a very well off person considering he was looking for a partner for a not-so-expensive apartment. He doesn’t have very rich clients except for a few, but his habits are expensive; his disguises alone cost a lot. He needs money for his experiments and most important of all, he is a cocaine addict, which is one of the most expensive drugs. The question was ‘How could he afford it?’ P.G. Woodhouse came to the conclusion that Holmes had some other source of income, something big and non-taxable. Crime. A field, which could get him a lot of money and knowing the mistakes that criminals usually make, he could easily avoid them.
The stories today are still original and unpredictable. Usually you can determine the end of the story with modern fiction, but with most of these stories, you don’t know what’s going to happen next.
‘The Speckled Band’ is about a cruel stepfather (Dr. Roylott) who is intent on murdering his stepdaughters to acquire their property. He succeeds in murdering his eldest stepdaughter, Julia under mysterious circumstances. When his younger stepdaughter, Helen, gets suspicious as circumstances start to repeat themselves, she contacts Sherlock Holmes to help her to find out whether her sister’s death was a murder and if so, the identity of the murderer. Mr. Roylott then tries to use an Indian snake to murder Helen and during the climax the snake bites Mr. Roylott himself.
In this story the villain is a very different sort of character. Dr. Roylott appears to us for the first time in Holmes' doorway. 'So tall was he that the top of his hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span across it from side to side.' He is described as having 'A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow from the sun, and marked with every evil passion.' He is also said to have 'deep, bile shot eyes' and a 'high, thin fleshless nose' which resembled 'a fierce old bird of prey.' From this and an earlier description of him by his stepdaughter, from which we suspect that he has killed one person already, we realise that he has particularly violent tendencies. Suspense is created by the description of Roylott as such a dangerous character and because of this we fear for the safety of Holmes, Watson and Helen. We think Roylott is a dangerous and violent man and this impression is reinforced when he bends the poker with his bare hands and then hurls it into the fireplace 'snarling' at Holmes before leaving. Conan Doyle never actually tells us that Dr. Roylott is evil however menacing and dangerous he may appear to the reader.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle uses many fictional devices to convey an impression of suspense and mystery. They are placed throughout the story to ensure that the reader is always guessing as to what happens next. It ensures a sense of realism which makes the mystery of the story much more powerful.
Throughout the beginning of the stories the reliability of the narrator, Dr Watson, is built up to make sure of a relationship of trust between him and the reader. This means that everything he says is instantly believable and this increases the mystery and suspense. To ensure that the mysteries themselves are properly described, no detail is left out and this creates vivid images. The horrific details that Conan Doyle puts across in his stories are not dampened in any way and this makes the story seem more believable. He goes to great lengths to describe everything so that a full picture can be constructed without leaving anything to the imagination. This ensures that the reader sees the story in exactly the way Conan Doyle wants them to see it. It also emphasises the feeling of trust for the narrator since he’s sharing so many details.
In ‘The Adventure of the Engineers Thumb’ an example of this detail shows in the paragraph spoken by the engineer: ‘Oh no: not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up. And, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so vague that it is a question whether justice will be done.’
In order to increase the image created by Conan Doyle, conversation is short, sharp and factual to make sure that only facts are expressed to the reader so that they can make up their own mind about what is happening. Conan Doyle doesn’t force his opinions on them and this makes it more realistic. An example of this type of conversation is exchanged between Holmes and the Engineer:
'One horse?' interjected Holmes.
'Yes, only one.'
'Did you observe the colour?'
'Yes, I saw it by the sidelights when I was stepping into the carriage. It was chestnut.'
'Tired-looking or fresh?'
'Oh, fresh and glossy.'
'Thank-you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue your most interesting statement.'
The engineer seems to be telling everything he knows and this makes him much more believable. The very detailed description of the events has another effect. It very gradually builds up the suspense and the reader is allowed to wonder what the mystery could be and what could be so unusual. The engineer’s statement is greatly lengthened to ensure that this happens effectively. The intrigue of this story is increased by the odd contrasts between the characters. To one side of the engineer, there is a very respectable professional man, Dr. Watson, who is in stark contrast to the quirky and abnormal private detective Sherlock Holmes and they are both in stark contrast to the engineer, a man of manual occupation. The quirkiness, that is so unique to Holmes’ character, adds a further level of realism to the story because it enables twists to the plot that ensure the story is not tiresome.
The name Colonel Lysander Stark gives a sense of intrigue. The reader is at once put on edge about his behaviour, reminded of a stereotypical Colonel, who is a cruel harsh person with militaristic cruelty. He is portrayed as a model villain. He has a German accent, which was a very common nationality for stereotypical villains of stories of the time. From the beginning, he is described as thin, mysterious and inhuman. These qualities can be seen from Conan Doyle’s description of Stark: ‘he is man rather over the middle size but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his step brisk, and his bearing assured.’
Using little but important description, he is able to build up a powerful image that has the ability to shock the reader. It is instantly believable and this serves the purpose of calming the reader into a false sense of security. When the whole truth is finally revealed it is more stunning and much more successful in entertaining the reader.
The language of the time seemed to be as formal and as accurate English as it could be and much less slang was used. Holmes and Watson speak very typically ‘posh’ English. Using a language like this gives the stories the atmosphere of that time.
Conan Doyle established a tradition of detective fiction and as a result Sherlock Holmes became one of the most famous and popular detectives. When Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes, the public was devastated to read about the death of the detective. Men in London wore black armbands as a mark of protest. It got so bad that Conan Doyle even received death threats and as a result he re-introduced Sherlock Holmes. This just shows how popular, realistic and believable the Sherlock Holmes stories really are.
The reason why Sherlock Holmes stories are popular is because of their fascinating and realistic characters and settings. The stories are very descriptive and it gives you a clear picture of what is happening in them. The settings create an entrancing and mysterious atmosphere from a fascinating period in time for the reader to be drawn into.