In the Red Headed League Holmes is trying to prove the point that he doesn’t just look he observes to his sidekick Dr Watson. To do this he asked Watson how many steps there are on his staircase. Watson does not know the answer but Holmes does. This is a characteristic that Holmes uses to help him solve many of his mysteries.
Another characteristic that Holmes possesses is his ability to work out what has happened and how it has happened. He managed to piece together the most insignificant pieces of evidence and information he collects from the scenes of crimes, and how people dress and act.
He even manages to work out somebody’s life from what clothes they are wearing and what their hands are like. “ Ha has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a freeman, that he has been in china and that he has done some considerable amount of writing lately”
Holmes is helped in solving mysteries by a knowledge he has of obscure things, places and processes. One of these is his knowledge about the German paper making industry. After receiving a letter asking for help in a mystery Holmes observes the paper the note is written on and tells Watson exactly where the paper was made and who by. “ The paper was made in Bohemia”
Being secretive is another one of Holmes’s characteristics. He is able to keep anything secret from any body. This helps him in his investigations of crimes and mysteries because it means that he can set traps to catch criminals and the like without others knowing and the trap possibly being compromised.
Another one of Holmes’s characteristics is that he is able to be clever, sensible and responsive at one time but at another time he is a drug user. Unlike most people he is able to keep these two very different lives separate.
He is then and anti-social character. This is summed up with a phrase from his dear friend Dr Watson “ who loathed every sort of society”.
Sherlock Holmes has a very complicated character, which can be broken down into the few characteristics that I have detailed. The characteristics all help in some way or another to solve the often-complicated mysteries that he is asked to solve.
