Each side of London is shown throughout the mysteries, the seedy East end is represented in “The man with the twisted lip,” it’s known to have an opium den where Holmes successfully dons a superb masquerade to hide his own identity. It’s once again shown in the same story as the prosperous beggar Hugh Boone plies his trade in a good part of London, but it shows that even in the better regions of the city, people can’t escape the sleazy areas. These two sides of London also represent the ego and the id of Holmes. When Holmes is introduced to Watson he is in the well established West side of the city and he is showing off by using his scientific knowledge to help discover “an infallible test for blood stains.” When we read the story “The speckled band” we once again hear about two sides to London, however this time it’s two sides to a house. When Dr. Roylott moved into Stonemoran, it was a highly regarded area with many great houses. He left his house to deteriorate significantly and it then became like the id side of Holmes being rebellious in its care. The language that is used when Watson enters the opium den in “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” creates the impression that the den is a very seedy place; the formation of this impression is very successful and gives the reader a very good idea of what the den is like. There are many times where Conan Doyle describes the opium den to be a very unpleasant place: “Upper Swandam-Lane is a vile alley,” Through the gloom, one could dimly catch a glimpse.” This shows the den is a very dark and disturbing place where most people would probably feel uneasy. The steps leading down to the “long low room thick and heavy with the brown opium smoke” were described to be “worn hollow in the centre due to the ceaseless tread of drunken feet.” This makes the reader believe that the den’s occupants aren’t just addicted to opium but also to alcohol. Conan Doyle uses the effect that opium has on its users to make the den seem as bad as imaginable. “Bodies lying in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown back and chin pointing upwards, with here and there a dark, lacklustre eye turned upon the new comer.” This repetition of their state makes the image of the den and the people who spend time in there a vivid painting of the scene.
From each story, we have a predictable structure. Each mystery includes a meeting between Holmes and his newly aquainted client that is frequently held in 221B Baker Street. “The Speckled Band” is a perfect example of this; Helen Stoner who is an extremely distressed victim comes to visit Holmes in his bachelor pad. “The red-headed league” is another good illustration of this point, as Mr Jabez Wilson comes to see Holmes because his job has been terminated with immediate effect and no reasoning. After the meeting, Holmes can show off his excellent powers of deduction, this is emphasised when Holmes can gather an amount of information that seems incredible to both the reader and to Watson. This is impeccably shown in “The Blue Carbuncle” when Watson merely states “But you are joking. What can you gather form this old felt?” when Watson says this to Holmes, the response that Holmes is able to reply with in uncanny. Holmes says, “The man was highly intellectual and he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years. He had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which when taken with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink at work, his wife has ceased to love him.” Holmes continues to go on and then talks about both the man’s lifestyle and how recently he has had his grizzly haircut. He also says that the man has tried to retain some self-respect as he has blotted some ink on the hat to try and hide away the worn areas of felt. When the lesson of deduction from Holmes has ended, there is often a visit to the site of the crime or mystery. There is an example of this in “The Red-Headed league” Holmes and Watson go to the pawnbrokers that Mr Jabez Wilson owns in order that he can see the assistant who Mr Wilson has talked about so perfectly. Holmes figures out their plans as soon as he realises that it’s feasible to dig a tunnel form the pawnbrokers, all the way to the bank that is on the other side of the square. The prolonged wait for the assistant to answer the door signals that he has been digging and when he appears with dirty knees, all of Holmes’ original assumptions prove correct; this backs up how accurate his powers of deduction could be. After the scene has been set by Holmes’ visit, there is a graphic exposition of the crime that has been committed. It often involves Holmes explaining what has happened to the victims, Watson and the reader in great depth. In “The Speckled Band” after Holmes and Watson had spent the night in the dreaded death room, Holmes is then given the chance to describe the murder of Dr. Roylott to which he could comment on the fake bell rope which was used for the snake to climb down. With the readers knowing what would happen in the set up, they could know what to expect when they bought the next issue. The public would want to buy the last issue of each mystery, this is because they know what happened in the crime, but Holmes has not yet explained how the crime was committed and how he came to his conclusion.
Holmes is an immensely intelligent man; this is shown in “A study in scarlet” when he is known to study many medical opinions even though he hasn’t studied for a degree. “He is an enthusiast in some branches of science, he is a first-class chemist; but as far as I know, he has never taken out any systematic medical classes.” When I first heard about Holmes, I thought that he was a very dedicated man who could completely devote his time and efforts to one subject and totally forget everything around him. When we first met Holmes he is busy trying to find a new substance that could determine dried blood this is not just his scientific side but it also shows that he cares to help the police who he still finds incompetent. This perfectly demonstrates his ego side. The unique powers of deduction that Holmes has got is perfectly demonstrated when he can tell in an instant the Watson had spent time in Afghanistan, this also came from “A Study in Scarlet.” “You have been in Afghanistan, I perceive.” This was only down to his great mind, “that’s just his little peculiarity” this is what Stamford said to Watson. After Watson had been shocked by Holmes’ knowledge of Watson serving in Afghanistan, he was astonished by the way Holmes could easily unravel Watson’s history. Another irregularity about Holmes’ character is the way he stays in silence to think about the case in hand. This is demonstrated several times in the same mystery, “The man with the twisted lip” it’s shown when Holmes and Watson take the ride to Lee in Kent, Holmes is allowed to sit in silence while he thinks of the outcome of the case throughout the journey. While Watson may not be nearly as clever as Holmes, he understands him. Watson knows about both Holmes and his methods, Watson knows that Holmes needs this time to think and if this is disturbed then he might not make the correct conclusions. Later on in the mystery, Holmes stays up all night in order that he may discover what may be baffling him; he sat up all night on a pile of cushions and just a pipe through his lips. Watson explains in the narrative how Holmes can become ratty whilst a case is on his mind. “Holmes was a man however, who when he had an unsolved problem on his mind would go for days if not a week without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient.” This underlines the commitment for his studies even though they are not for personal honours. When Holmes sits in silence to contemplate a case that is baffling him, he is able to reach a heightened state of consciousness. With Holmes devoting a lot of time and effort into his work, he becomes very lonely, the reader sympathises with Holmes. Subconsciously, Holmes’ id side is used before he even starts a case; this is because he only investigates certain cases. He believes that he won’t waste his time on mysteries that aren’t a challenge for his ego side or aren’t unusual from the majority of cases. He has a good understanding of peoples’ minds and knows what can drive them to commit crimes. This is represented in “The blue carbuncle” when he calls the carbuncle (usually red, so unusual from the very start) evil and says that it can tempt men to cause great crimes just to steal this precious jewel.
The relationship between Holmes and Watson is a very special one; they have mutual respect for each other even though it seems that Holmes is much the cleverer of the two. Holmes admires Watson’s bravery in that he will accompany Holmes into danger even thought he doesn’t know where he is going. This shows that Watson trusts Holmes with his life. With Watson playing the role of narrator, we the reader think that we can relate to him as we both share the same inadequacy compared to Holmes. The literacy device of Watson being the narrator, keeps the reader interested in the story as we know as little as he does so we both want to read on together. When Holmes can finally tell us the results of the case, it bamboozles us, as we can’t imagine how Holmes has worked out the plot. The respect that Watson must have towards Holmes would almost certainly leave him in awe of Holmes but he manages to carry on helping Holmes and the reader commends this. Watson like the reader has his own limitations, this is shown by his own interpretation of events, I believe if the stories were written with Holmes as the narrator then they would have certainly been much more complex. The reader can relate to Watson, as both Watson and the reader can try to play a detective, amateur detective at that. The prolonged silences that Watson is willing to endure for Holmes indicates how much looks up to the man and understands that he needs these breaks and moments of deep concentration.
There is a distinct element of humour in different moments in the stories. One of the continuing signs of humour is Holmes mocking the incompetent police force when they fail to spot what he can easily see straight away. Some of the story lines are comical, when we look at what the villains are willing to do to commit their crime, for instance putting a jewel inside a goose just to successfully steal it, this seems like a ludicrous plan, but it was too much for the police and it took all of Holmes’ judgement to discover what had happened. Again there is another story line that seems impossible for the villains to get away with, but they would have had it not been for Holmes. “The Red-Headed league” has a plan to get rid of the shop owner that can make the reader laugh when we look back at how he was disposed of. To think that an impeccable assistant would come and work for Mr Wilson for half price and then Mr Wilson getting a job that involved simply copying out an encyclopaedia for a good wage, that was better than his current pay. This story line is again absurd and if there was a real Red-Headed league, I believe that it would be very amusing.
The way that Conan Doyle can set an impressive scene is truly incredible. In “The speckled band” when the treacherous garden filled with untrustworthy gypsies and savage Indian animals was described to perfection and created the scene perfectly in the readers mind. “The red-headed league” also demonstrates a very creative setting with the picture of hundreds of men all with varying shades of red hair waiting in a great long line to get into an interview for a lucrative job. This aligns with the fact that the story is humorous; if someone was to see this in real life. He is able to make the reader feel uneasy from reading the story; this is clearly shown in “The Man with the Twisted Lip” when Watson enters the opium den Conan Doyle makes the reader totally aware of every aspect in the den, including the horrific manor in which the addicts are spread out over the floor. Conan Doyle uses a slimily to compare the entrance to the opium den to the entrance of a cave. “Leading down to a black gap, like the mouth of a cave.” Conan Doyle uses repetition to imprint the scene on the reader so they won’t forget it. He also uses repetition in the climax of “The Red-Headed League,” “Formidable gate” is repeated several times to create the effect that the scene is guarded like a fortress.
For the modern reader to continuously like the Sherlock Holmes mysteries there are several great appeals for the modern reader to still read the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, one of the main points is the amazing character of Holmes himself. His powers of deduction would still be as strong in the modern world as they were when his mysteries were written. I think the modern reader can understand Holmes needing some time alone because the rigours of modern day life will make people also need some breaks so they can understand why he needs these periods of silence. I believe that people still like Sherlock Holmes today because of the weird and wonderful cases that he has to solve, they are totally unfeasible and that makes the reader feel intrigued by the story lines and want to read what strange things will happen in the next story. The amount of suspense that is caused will always make the reader want to read on. In the way Holmes describes his cases to Watson at the very end of each case, this entices the reader to keep reading until the very end so they know how the mystery happened. When the reader first reads the story, they feel like they have to read on because of the story structure, hearing about the distressed victim and what has happened tempts them but they know they will have to wait to see the results. This makes the reader want to carry on reading the book and not just put it down. I think that the Sherlock Holmes stories will continue in their great success as the key points to the story will never become less important and they will always stay intriguing to the reader, who simply can’t resist to read on with the story.