From ‘he Red Headed League’ we can see that Holmes has a short temper, for example when he is in the cellar of the bank and Mr. Merryweather struck rather loudly his stick upon the flags which lined the floor,
‘ I must really ask you to be a little more quiet…You have already imperilled the whole of our expedition.’
In this story we see some of Holmes’ trademark characterstics, for example when he curls up in his armchair, and smokes his pipe when he is presented with Jabez Wilson’s problem. When Holmes first meets Jabez Wilson he almost analyses him and his clothes and comes up with the most amazing results, for example when Holmes says,
‘…He has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a free mason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately.’
Mr Jabez Wilson along with the reader finds this deduction incredible. We also see Holmes’ deduction skills when in the story we hear of Vincent Spaulding. This gave me the impressions of how great his powers of observation are and just how good a detective Sherlock Holmes really is.
In the book we also learn that Holmes is a master of questioning, he never asks an irrelevant question, and he always gets the answer he wants. Holmes never leaves anything to chance, he always wants everything down to the finest detail. This is because Holmes is the kind of person for whom it is compulsive to know everything about what they are dealing with. We can see this on page 45 where Holmes remarks,
‘It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London’.
This supports my idea of him wanting to know everything.
‘The Red Headed League’ is more of a ‘whydunnit’ than a ‘whodunnit’ story, Holmes solves the crime before it has been commited.
In 1929 a writer called Monsignor Ronald Knox set out ten rules which he suggested any writer of detective fiction should follow. These are shown below:
(Remember Sherlock Holmes was first written over 45 years prior to these).
1) The criminal must be introduced early, not just brought iin at the end.
In this story the main criminal Vincent Spaulding is introduced near the start of the story, but we do not find out he is the criminal until late in the story.
2) No crime must be solved by logical means, not by supernatural causes.
The intelligence and expert detecting of Holmes solve the crime.
3) No more than one secret passage or room should be used.
In the ‘Red Headed League’ there is one secret passage(From the shop to the bank) and one secret room( Vincent Spauldings ‘Photocopy room), but they are linked.
4) No new, undiscovered or undetectable poisons.
No poisons are used in this story.
5) No foreigners of sinister or malignant aspect (especially Chinamen).
None are used to my knowledge, although we are not given details of origin.
6) The crime must not be solved merely by a lucky accident.
The intelligence and expert detecting of Holmes solved the crime.
7) The investigator must not have committed the crime himself.
Holmes is not responsible not the crime (At least as far as we know).
8) He or she should not wittingly conceal any clues or the reasons for his deduction.
We are given nearly all clues and reasons, but not all, this causes the reader to work out some of the mystery and therefore feel part of the book. (This is another reason for why the books have become so popular).
9) If a ‘Watson’ is introduced, he must not conceal his opinions.
I think this factor is important, and in Sherlock Holmes, Watson does often voice his opinion, and often his opinions are similar to the reader, but they are not always correct and can misguide the reader therefore Making the story that much more of a mystery.
10) Identical twins or doubles are not to be used.
No twins are used in this particular story.
The next Sherlock Holmes story I read was ‘The Speckled Band’. I am going to look at the structure of this story, and find out why it is so affective.
The first thing I notice having read the story is that it has been split up into four main sections. First of all we have the introduction to the story, with the detective, Holmes, and the client. In this case the client come in the form of a young lady who appeared to be in a state of considerable excitement. But this later turns out to be not excitement, but fear. This is the classic damsel in distress scenario seen in so many of his novels. The story then move’s on to the investigation, where Holmes begins to use his great detective skills and intelligence. The young lady who was introduced at the start told him the story.
Her family at one time was among the richest in England, they owned a grand estate and had a large income, but gradually this was lost, completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency. She tells Holmes about the imprisonment of her father, and the death of her mother. The twins and their stepfather went to live at Stoke Moran, the old house of their stepfather, Dr. Roylott. Then a terrible change came over Dr. Roylott, he became violent and never left the house. The lady goes on to talk about the death of her sister.
Later in the story Holmes discovers that Dr. Roylott has killed the lady’s sister prior to her marriage because otherwise Dr. Roylott would have had to give his stepdaughter some of the income that was left by the girls mother. This is when we have the next section, that is the dramatic climax, where all the clues are put into a conclusion and we find out how Dr. Roylott killed the twin. And we discover how he was planning to kill her sister, as she was also engaged to be married.
Then comes the last section, the conclusion put together by Sherlock Holmes, although I get the feeling that Watson would like to do it at least once. We see exactly the same structure with the ‘Red Headed League’, with four main sections.
Having now read both these stories thoroughly I can begin to see very noticeable patterns emerging. The first that strikes me is the way in which they begin. With Holmes In his house being visited by someone in need of help. He then gathers as much information as possible then goes to his chair, puts his pipe to his mouth and then sits and thinks in almost in a meditation fashion. He then rises from his chair, rarely needing assistance in solving the almost impossible mysteries put forth to him.