The Public loved Sherlock Holmes, they felt so close to him, as if he were something real. Almost as if he really did live at 221B Baker Street, at the time crime rates in London were high, and the incompetent police didn’t help much either that is why Sherlock was almost like a saviour to them, he was able to solve any mystery or crime no matter how difficult it may be. At the time, Jack the ripper was also a problem for people, he made life for women very insecure and unsafe seeing as they were his main targets. When Sherlock spoke to women he was more of a gentleman, in many stories women came to Sherlock seeking help. Women didn’t have much power during the times of Victorian England. Back then the old “Ball ‘n’ Chain” really was the Ball ‘n’ Chain for women, once they were married they were basically considered, in my opinion, baby making machines or trophies, something you had around the house that’s sole purpose was to look happy or pretty. Men didn’t consider that their wives had feelings or desires, that there was something behind the smiles, women, like men actually wanted to be something and not just watch other people get there. That’s one of the reasons why women came to visit Sherlock Holmes to ask for help, he was a gentleman.
Victorian England had a very interesting setting to it, dark streets, opium dens, markets etc. The opium dens being one of the places in Victorian England that was considered somewhere were everyone went to smoke their troubles away, opium dens, evolved into regular bars, where people go to drink their troubles of the day away. Opium dens were generally dark settings where mysterious figures would be hidden in dark corners, away from the people, Opium dens were considered indecent back then. In “The man with the twisted lip” Watson went into an opium den to find Isa Whitney who was a slave to the drug. Kate Whitney, Isa’s wife visited Watson’s house during a rather late hour and this lead to Watson going on a ‘mission’ to the opium den Kate told him about, her husband hadn’t been home for two days. Watson went inside and not only found Isa, but was surprised as Sherlock Holmes appeared from the darkness of the unlit corners within the opium den.
The styles and structures in which these short stories are written present us with an interesting technical problem straightaway: Who is actually telling the story, Conan Doyle or Watson? With the exception only of “His Last Bow” All the short stories are told as if by Watson, and so presumably from his point of view. It seems like Conan Doyle’s voice is always the one we hear, it’s almost as if the voice “instructs” us when he indulges in “fine” pieces of description. The stories are usually structured in the same way: Holmes is visited by someone seeking his assistance on a certain case, he discusses the problem, he searches for evidence, inspects certain places and people, discovers the “guilty” one, he usually tells no one until he has a reasonable plan to capture him or prove his guilt, Holmes then presents his solution to Watson and ends up capturing the culprit, solving the mystery, finding the relic etc.
Many of his stories conform to this simple chronological structure, but there are more sophisticated examples of Conan Doyle’s craft which add to the enjoyment in many cases. “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, is an example of a main plot hinted at from the start by Watson’s involvement in a parallel story which begins the narrative; “The Empty House”. The similarities start with Watson attempting to make sense of a muddled crime, this leads to Holmes who then solves the crime very easily, a way for him to “Come Back”. Another feature that adds depth to the stories making them seem more substantial than mere short narrative stories is Watson’s habit of referring to other cases from time to time, the stories sort of hang together like a biography of Holmes, a few chapters missing – we regard them as a collection.
Conventional detective stories always have a hero, in this case the hero is Holmes, and a faithful sidekick who would die for the hero, Watson. The hero always sits and waits for someone or a “damsel in distress” to explain her troubles, the hero then ventures out into the wild with his sidekick and does all he possibly can to solve the problem!