Holmes obviously feels that Watson is not only just his partner, but also a friend and key colleague.
‘ “this is my intimate friend and associate, Dr Watson, before whom you can speak as freely as before myself.” ’ Found in ‘The Speckled Band’ but also in one form or another in every other story.
Holmes depends on Watson to help smooth out his ideas and to use his common knowledge to bounce off his many suspicions.
Holmes also sees Watson as an extra limb, reaching into places where Holmes himself is too well known.
He also has great regard for Watson’s safety and well being, he fears that Watson might be badly injured, but never implies that he could just be in the way.
‘ “I have really some scruples as to taking you to-night, there is a distinct element if danger.” ’
Holmes here advises Watson of the danger and Watson then goes onto say:
‘ “can I be of assistance?”
“your presence might be invaluable.” ’
Admits Holmes, indicating that it is entirely Watson’s choice to come with him, but Holmes is obviously grateful of his assistance and company.
Watson, acting with almost no deducting power, always sees clearly the solution, after some discussion with Holmes.
‘I would not help at the ease which he explained his process of deduction, “when I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning, I am baffled, until you explain your process. And yet I believe my eyes are as good as yours.” ’
Here we can see that Watson is clearly not as quick off the mark as Holmes, but with a little help perhaps, sees method in Holmes supposed madness, which evidently proves correct.
The strong connection and long relationship between Holmes and his friend and associate, Dr Watson, is shown here in ‘The Speckled Band’,
‘During the last eight years I studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes’ indicating a commitment by Watson to follow his friend on all his obscure adventures.
Another function served by Watson is to give Holmes his perspective upon a situation and to see it in another light.
‘ “and what do you think of it all Watson?” asked Sherlock Holmes, leaning back on his chair.’
Holmes values Watson’s views and advice upon the matter, and takes into account what he says, however trivial it may be.
The sidekick provides a link with the reader, and is a voice to explain clues the reader may have missed. They also make the sleuth seem more believable and real. The sidekick provides opportunities for the sleuth to discuss the case and clues and they also pose questions that are important to the case.
A key element in every detective story is the villain, every story has one, and more often than not, the sleuth outwits them.
All villains are different and commit ‘crimes’ for many different reasons, whether it be love, money, greed, or for sport, their motive is usually for selfish reasons, and of benefit to themselves.
All villains come in different shapes and sizes, male or female, old or young, and in my opinion the least dangerous of our villains is miss Irene Adler, if in fact she can be considered a villain at all.
The case is of blackmail, as Irene perhaps feels rejected or resentful that the king would marry another, and she threatens to send the picture to his betrothed family, who have strict principles, and she herself is the very soul of delicacy and if there is doubt upon the king and his conduct it is likely that the marriage would not go ahead.
There is a hint that the King himself could be the true villain, as he tries to un-successfully recover the documents and photograph for his own ends. It is obvious that he fears the worst and that Irene will reveal his past actions to the family and woman he is about to wed.
Moving along the severity of the crime, the next villain is called Neville St. Clair, he lives in generally good style, a good husband and affectionate father, but is unemployed.
Compassion drove St. Clair to save his family from the scandal of his discovery. Deceiving his family and those around him; we almost feel sorry for his predicament as he can earn more money through begging than if he were in proper employment.
He goes to great lengths of trouble to keep his family in good style and unaware of his activities.
This crime, as Sherlock Holmes describes it is ‘the temptation of sudden wealth so easily acquired.’ Taken from the story in question, ‘the blue carbuncle.’
Upon discovery Ryder confesses his crime to Holmes and Watson, and pleads for forgiveness;
‘Ryder threw himself suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my companions knees. “for gods sake, have mercy!” he shrieked. “think of my father! Think of my mother! It would break their hearts. I never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I’ll swear it on a bible. Oh, don’t bring it into court! For Christ’s sake don’t!” ’
The actions of a desperate and pitiful man are shown here, but not all selfish acts are lost, he only thinks of his reputation, and not that of the innocent man he could have imprisoned.
After, Mr. Ryder, ‘he burst into convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands’ we notice the change in Holmes as he finally looses his patience;
‘Then my friend threw open the door,
“Get out!” said he,
“What, sir! Oh, heaven bless you!”
“No more words, Get Out!”
in disgust he lets Ryder go and afterwards comments to Watson, ‘this fellow will not do wrong again. He is to terribly frightened.’ Enforcing his disgust and revolution against the act, but also shows compassion as he lets him go, ‘besides, it is the season of forgiveness.’ Suggesting to the reader they should feel the same.
‘The Red Headed League’ plays host to our next villain John Clay alias Vincent Spaulding.
This crime consists of two elements, the first being an elaborate con to get Mr. Wilson out of his business premises to dig a tunnel to the bank situated round the corner. The second part is the robbery its self, which unlike the robbery in ‘the Blue Carbuncle’ is accurate and well planned.
As Clay is at the head of his profession he has obviously had much experience, this is just like another day at the office.
The capture of John Clay by Holmes is a very calm and collected affair, with each man complimenting the other.
‘you seem to have done the thing very completely. I must complement you.’ From Clay who acts very courteous towards Holmes, and in return is complimented by Holmes.
‘and I you…your red headed idea was very new and effective.’
Clay then bows to the inevitable and ‘walks quietly off in the custody of the detective.’
Holmes obviously holds some admiration and respect for Clay, this invites the reader to reciprocate his feelings.
Our last story, ‘The Speckled Band’ is the most serious of all, as it involves cold blooded murder and greed.
The stepfather, Dr. Roylott, stands to loose money from his late wife’s estate when his two stepdaughters leave his care through marriage.
Dr. Roylott is a huge, tall old man, with a violent temper, and short fuse. He’s committed acts of aggressive behaviour before, beating his butler to death; has had many disgraceful brawls and incidents with the police, using immense strength he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a stream, and even his stepdaughter confesses that she is also afraid of him. Not just the town folk; ‘he is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him.’
The perspective of Dr. Roylott is given in such a way that we almost feel in unison with Holmes and his feelings upon the matter.
When Holmes hides in the room and the snake slithers through the vent he hits it with his hunting whip and sends it back through into Dr. Roylott’s room, where it in-fact kills him. We do not feel any regret because nether does Holmes, is indicated by Watson that he could have been the cause of Roylott’s death, at this Holmes remarks ‘ “I couldn’t say that it is likely to weigh very heavily upon my conscience” ’ Dr. Roylott deserved to die, as he killed another.
If all villains were similar in character and ability the stories would get very tedious for the reader, and the detective would not be able so stretch his deductive powers, as with every little quirk of the villain comes another little twist in the tale.
To keep the reader interested, Conan Doyle presents different character types with short and effective descriptions, as portrayed in ‘The Man With The Twisted Lip’ this is one of Hugh Boone, the beggar; ‘A shock of orange hair… pale face disguised by a horrible scar… turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bull dog chin… penetrating dark eyes… quick wit…’
These all keep the reader in suspense providing a short insight into the villain.
Conan Doyle’s vivid descriptions of his villains enables he reader to quickly form their own opinion.
An important component in the detective genre is the use of red herrings and false trails. The purpose of these are to add mystery and suspense, and to also divert the reader from spotting the ‘truth’ too quickly. They act as almost a dead end in a maze, and become an opportunity for the reader and sleuth to distinguish between the real clues and the false ones.
It is suggested in ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’ that the supposed villain Irene Adler is in-fact the victim, as Holmes sees her in a positive light, and may be attracted to her. The wedding is used as a red herring to add interest and show that when both pairs are married the case collapses and the photograph becomes obsolete.
In effect the whole story ‘The Red Headed League’ is a red herring with false names, motives and people who don’t even exist, like Mr. Duncan Ross, supposedly benefactor of the pension fund; also the leagues address is false.
The name John Clay goes by is false, and therefore Vincent Spaulding was an invention, a false trail.
The whole league was a deterrent for Jabes Wilson to keep him away from his premises and the tunnel to the bank.
In ‘The Man With The Twisted Lip’ Holmes uses a disguise in the opium den, and also creates mystery into the affair. ‘very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between his knees’ Watson does not even recognise Holmes, he was so well disguised.
The Opium den also gives interest into the habits of Holmes, and his obsessions and cravings.
In ‘The Blue Carbuncle’ a number of red herrings are followed up by Holmes, which evidently lead to the recovery of the gem. All the people who are in-directly associated with the plot, are in effect red herrings, as they provide no clue to the real culprit.
In ‘The Specked Band’ the pet cheetah and baboon provide suspicion to divert the reader away from the real killer. Also it is thought that Julia had died of shock; ‘it is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock.’ Which also shrouds the true means of her death, and the fact that the police did not know what she died of either.
It is though pure deduction and perhaps a little conjecture that Sherlock Holmes untangles the mess of false clues to find the true cause and villain of the crimes.
For the reader to appreciate the crime, the sleuths use of deduction and conjecture, help the reader to see into the mind of the sleuth who must effectively show off his wide knowledge of subjects upon every matter that may come to hand.
Holmes is supposedly a master of all the subjects and a fine example of a detective who can use a range of skills.
‘The G with the small t stands for ‘Gesellschaft’, which is the German for ‘Company’ this is costmary contradiction alike our ‘co’. P of course stands for ‘papier’. Now for the Eg.’
‘the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you note the particular construction of the sentence – ‘this account of you we have from all quarters received’ a Frenchman or Russian could not have written that, it is the German who is uncurious to his verbs.’
Holmes’ knowledge of other cultures and nationalities shines through in this display of scientific deduction.
Another example of conjecture from ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’ is when Holmes thinks that in the call of ‘fire’ Irene will go to where the picture is hidden, showing him where it is.
In the ‘Red Headed League’ Holmes uses his detective skills by looking down at Spaulding’s knees to determine whether he has been digging or not, and also when he taps his cane on the pavement to see if the tunnel is situated at the front of the premises. Holmes uses conjecture to guess the night that Vincent Spaulding will turn up to rob the bank of its gold.
In ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ Holmes’ deductive powers come into use once more when studying the letter written by Mr. Neville St Clair;
‘the name… is perfectly black ink, which has dried its self. The rest is of the greyish colour which shows blotting paper has been used. If it had been written straight off, and then blotted, none would be of deep black shade.’
This evidence proves that the name had been known and the address written afterwards. Holmes is obviously thinking of the particular circumstances of Neville St Clair, and thinking ahead to the answer.
Holmes’ deductive powers are evident in ‘The Blue Carbuncle’. When Holmes inspects Mr. Bakers hat, about how he was an intellectual man, because of the size of his head, and that he has been drunk or has an ‘evil influence’ upon him; this all from looking at the mans hat.
The deduction by Holmes in ‘The Speckled Band’ is evidently visible when he inspects the room, in Stoke Moran, and also the building from the outside. In the room Holmes makes comments, on the ventilator between the two rooms, the milk in Dr. Roylott’s room, along with the dog leash, and the fact that the bed was clamped to the floor, and the bell pull did not go anywhere.
All of Holmes deductive powers are obviously highly tuned and adjusted. But his examples of conjecture and pure guesswork also have to take into account.
Holmes is obviously a master of thinking ahead in the case of a crime, and with each new piece of evidence builds up a picture of the case and the details within it.
Deduction and conjecture are key elements to make the detective genre work, as without them there would be none.
The effective structure and composition of a story could depend in the way the story is put together, the way it begins and the way it ends
The beginning of ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’ starts with Dr. Watson telling the reader about Holmes, which gives insight into the detective, and a background for the story to lay upon.
The problem to be solved is realised when Holmes receives the letter from the King of Bohemia, and when the King himself comes to see Holmes to explain his predicament.
The crisis in this story is not very clear, but the most obvious point is when Holmes goes to Irene Adler’s house to see if he can find out where the picture is hidden.
Resolving the mystery is not too hard, and as soon as Irene Adler marries, the photograph is near enough obsolete; so it gets passed into Holmes’ possession.
The story is resolved when we see Holmes’ admiration for Irene, and each party is safe in the knowledge that the photo is in good hands.
‘The Red Headed League’ starts with Watson going to see Holmes; only to find him in deep conversation and then to be pulled into it by Holmes.
The problem to be solved is explained by Mr. Jabes Wilson and it is explained in great detail.
The crisis is revealed when Holmes goes to London to Wilson’s porn brokers to see Mr. Vincent Spaulding and to investigate the crime.
The point of crisis is inside the bank waiting for Spaulding to appear, and the crime is resolved by the story ending in his capture.
The story as is usually the case is moral, as justice is reached at the end, and Spaulding, otherwise known as John Clay, is very respectful towards Holmes, and even compliments him upon the capture.
‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’ begins describing a man not linked to the story, and was only used to get Watson into the opium den, where Holmes is waiting disguised.
The problem to be solved is brought to light by Holmes describing the situation to Watson on their way to see Mrs. St Clair at her home.
The point of crisis is probably when they go to the police station to see Hugh Boone, the beggar.
The resolution by Holmes reveals that Hugh Boone was actually Neville St. Clair all along.
The reader feels pity for St. Clair having to beg to get money, but also sympathetic that he had to keep his family from his secret and the fact that he had to fake his own death rather than to expose himself as a beggar to them.
The beginning of the ‘Blue Carbuncle’ is Watson calling upon Holmes and joining him examining the hat.
The problem to be solved is brought to light by the fact that it has been stolen not long ago, there is no specific crisis as Holmes follows numerous clues to come to the conclusion and suspect who stole the gem.
The resolution is when Mr. Ryder effectively breaks down and confesses to Holmes the whole story.
The ending is one of disgust as Ryder only thinks of himself, but we also feel a good spirit from Holmes as he lets him go, and out of good will of the season.
‘The Spackled Band’ begins with Watson giving more information about Holmes, describing him and his numerous habits.
The problem to be investigated is when Helen Stoner comes to Holmes to explain her situation about her step father, sister and their place of residence; Stoke Moran.
The crisis point is inside the room adjacent to Dr. Roylott’s with Holmes sitting in the dark upon the bed.
The resolution is shown when Holmes goes into Roylott’s room and finds him dead, bitten by the snake.
This story is very moral, because Dr. Roylott got what he deserved and the crime was resolved.
Each story is unique, but each follows a similar problem which proves very successful, but can become tedious and repetitive, as we can guess the result of the crime.
The beginnings and endings, even though are of similar nature do provide verity and interest for the reader.