The relationship between Holmes and Watson is another reason why they are so popular. The two main characters compliment each other. In the way that if Watson wasn’t there, there would be no Holmes, because Watson asks the questions that don’t lead anywhere. In doing this Sherlock Holmes is set out to be brilliant and very intelligent. This is one of the key points about this relationship, that Watson is only there to ask questions that the reader wants to know, but he is also there to act like a responsible, ordinary, dependable person. This is why it is such a good relationship. They are opposite to each other.
Society in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories is very important. There is a lot to learn about society in the “Speckled Band” and “The Man With The Twisted Lip”.eg. The way the class system works including importance amongst people and how technology was basic and limited. In the “Speckled Band” the Roylett family had no money and yet their status in society had stayed the same for years. Because of the ‘Royletts’ name, the people of the lower-class look up to them and the people in the town where they lived were proud to have such an important family living there.
It is the same in the “Man With The Twisted Lip”, as soon as Neville StClair had supposedly been murdered; the beggar and the Lascar were blamed. Lascar means an East Indian Sailor, almost like a pirate of the seas. The Police call the person by that name just because he looks of Indian origin, which sets the picture of racism of that time. Also, the picture is a typical view of poverty, smoke and beggars which is a very powerful image for the readers of today’s world.
The unusual nature of the crimes adds to the popularity of the Sherlock Holmes stories. The crimes to the naked eye, look complicated but the answer is simple, the fact that the crimes are unusual makes the reader wanting to read on.
In the “Speckled Band”, Lord Roylett trained a snake to respond to a whistle and go back up the rope pull and into his bedroom via the ventilation hole. This is the reason why the bedroom door and windows were locked from the inside. That is one reason why the Sherlock Holmes stories are still popular now, because the clues are almost like a puzzle.
Sir Arthur Canon Doyle doesn’t just use cases where somebody was robbed; he uses the most mysterious cases he can think of, in doing this readers get hooked on the stories. In the “Man With The Twisted Lip”, Neville StClair was supposedly murdered. The unusual thing was that there was no crime committed because Neville StClair himself dressed up as the beggar ‘Hugh Boon’, this was his job and only income. When his wife saw him he quickly dressed up as the beggar, threw his upper-class clothes out of the window and cutt his hand on the ledge. When the Police came in, they thought that the blood was from Neville StClair and that it was the beggar who had weighted down his jacket with coins and threw Neville St Clair out of the window.
One of the main contributors of the popularity is the language that Sir Arthur Cannon Doyle uses in his stories, his use of complex sentences describes scenes, characters in detail and creates an image for the reader. The use of conversation is polite and formal but there is a part of melodramaticism in the way that the people of that era spoke, also there is an emphasis on class.
The Sherlock Holmes short stories are still popular in this era because of the continuing effort between Sherlock Holmes and the reader to solve the crime first. I believe that this is one of the main points in the popularity. Another reason is the relationship between Holmes and Watson and their friendship they share when solving the crimes. The crimes also share a big part in the popularity of the stories because they are challenging and unusual, so the reader has to think about them. Society plays a small part in the popularity with the use of powerful images that Sir Arthur Canon Doyle lays out to the reader.
