What has made the detective stories of Sherlock Holmes so popular over the last 100 years?

What has made the detective stories of

Sherlock Holmes so popular over the last 100 years?

In this essay I will be analysing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes stories and looking at what has made them so popular over the last 100 years.

Introduction:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 22nd May. He was the eldest of 10 children, seven of which survived to adulthood. His father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was a poorly paid civil servant and became a chronic alcoholic and epileptic, also suffering from depression.

His mother, however, was vivacious and well-educated’ like Arthur she had a passion for books and was an excellent story-teller.

“In my early childhood, as far as I can remember anything at all, the vivid stories she would tell me stand out so clearly that they obscure the real facts of my life.” (Arthur Conan Doyle talking about his mother). His mother was a beneficial influence on him.

The origins of Sherlock Holmes:

Conan Doyle studies medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he met Doctor Joseph Bell, one of his professors. Bell was an expert at the use of observation and deduction to diagnose his patients.

Joseph Bell was often able to diagnose patients before they had said a word about their symptoms. He was often able to find out a number of facts about the patients by simply observing and could even guess their occupation. This fascinated Doyle, who was inspired by these highly effective methods and used them in creating his famous detective. It is clear that Bell was a huge inspiration for the character. Like Bell, Holmes was lean and dark, with piercing grey eyes and a nose like an eagle’s beak.

The beginning of Sherlock Holmes:

Conan Doyle set up a medical practice in Southsea, which was initially not very successful; while waiting for patients he again began writing stories.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in ‘A Study in Scarlet’, published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual for 1887. This was followed by ‘A Sign of Four’ in 1890, but didn’t really take off and grab the public’s attention until Strand magazine (newly founded in 1890) published a series of short stories called ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. From then on, the public loved reading of Holmes and his always reliable confident John Watson, a retired military doctor.

The Sherlock Holmes stories redefined detective crime genre and the famous detective became a much-loved character.

The Detective Story Genre:

The main typical features of Doyle’s detective stories are the detective, the sidekick, the victim, the villain/criminal, the crime(s) and the suspect(s). These are all important features needed to make a good detective crime fiction story. As are the elements of mystery and suspense; these all-important aspects are what keeps the reader reading on.

They keep the atmosphere and mood, and build it up until the outcome at the end, where all is finally revealed. This is what makes the reader so enthralled.

These are all in the nature of a ‘whodunit’ plot-an atmosphere of suspense that is important to keep the reader’s attention.

An example of how suspense is expressed in the story is the sinister setting of the streets of Victorian London in ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’, where the scene is described as ‘a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves..’ and ‘leading to a black gap like the mouth of a cave.’ These descriptions create the strong image dark, putrid streets, and the simile linking the opium den entrance to the mouth of a cave gives a feeling of unease. It is the unknown of what is within and what could happen in such a creepy place that makes ...

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The stories are brought to us through Watson, who acts as the narrator. This is a good point of view because the audience get an ‘over the shoulder’ perspective. It makes the audience feel more involved in the story, as if they are a part of the action and adventure.

Characterisation:

The writer clearly creates different moods and feelings of the audience. For example, the character of Sherlock Holmes is describes as lean and dark, with long legs and a hooked nose like an eagle’s beak. These sharp features give the feeling of cunning and intelligence. You can get a lot from just the description of a character. Jabez Wilson in The Red-Headed League was described as ‘obese, pompous and slow’ (this creates the feeling that he is not very intelligent), with ‘nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red head.’ These descriptions were from Watson, who considerably lacks the talent of deduction and observation. Jabez Wilson is clearly not a man if great importance; he goes on to say that he runs a small pawnbrokers business.

Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as sly, cunning and witty. This can be seen by the fact that by the power of observation and deduction he can supply the client with a number of details about their life from merely looking at their appearance. He notices even the subtlest clues that others fail to see. For example, in the Red-Headed League, Holmes deduces several things about red-headed Jabez Wilson with just a glance, astonishing his impressed client – “he has at some time done manual labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately...”

This proves Holmes has extraordinary talent for observation and deduction, and is clearly very bright. This is a sign of a very good detective.

Different roles in the story often have typical characteristics. The victims, for example Julia and Helen Stoner in The Speckled Band, were often portrayed as young, innocent and vulnerable, making them the typical targets (though this may not always be true). The motive in the story was money (as it often was); women at the time had no control over their money or income, which was looked after by the father until they married. The Victorian audience could understand and relate to this as that was the common thing at the time.

The villain or criminal, for example Dr Roylott in The Speckled Band, were often shown as strong and threatening, with an unpredictable temper and sometimes unstable past.

But another typical villain is cunning and sly, a menacing and unpredictable mastermind-for example John Clay (shown in the Red-Headed League), always slipping out of reach of the police. Holmes had a few enemies, and his arch enemy was Professor Moriarty.

Like many detectives in modern dramas, Holmes had a faithful and trusted sidekick, Dr John Watson (a retired military doctor). He would accompany Holmes on most of his adventures, but often would be as oblivious to the clues of the case and as baffled to the workings of Holmes’s mind as the audience, making him a good narrator. The audience get an over the shoulder view but without getting anymore than necessary.

Doyle builds up suspense throughout the stories, also a significant factor in their popularity.

In the stories Sherlock Holmes never fails to find some subtle but important clues that lead to the solving of the case which his companion Watson is unable to make anything of. For example in The Speckled Band when Holmes and Watson discover the fake bell pull and the bolted bed in Julia Stoner’s room. To Holmes these are potentially vital clues and he already starts to fabricate the answers in his mind, whilst Watson merely sees the strangeness of it all but fails to deduce anything and can not make a connection.

Often Sherlock Holmes deduces the outcome of the mystery and mentally solves it before giving any proof, but does not reveal any of what he has discovered, until right at the end when all is revealed in the crucial moment that unveils the mystery. Watson often asks Holmes for explanations and what he has found, but Holmes never replies with a straightforward answer but withholds the information from Watson and the reader, only giving tantalizing hints so that the reader may try to work out what’s going on. But it is this element of mystery and concealment that keeps the reader hooked till the end, where all is revealed.

Though a lot of the time Holmes shows us that he knows something that we don’t, telling his clients that the outcome will be exposed by a certain time (e.g. in the Red-Headed League and The Speckled Band, Holmes assures his companions that the outcome will be revealed by the end of the night), presenting the idea that he already knows more than he will say. This makes the reader wonder what he knows and what he is planning to happen.

It is also this that contributes to the feeling of suspense and anticipation (which is very important to keep the audience hanging).

Holmes also often takes risks when proving and solving the mystery. For example, in The Man with the Twisted Lip, when Holmes strides into the police station and confidently rubs off the dirt on a ‘tramp’s’ face, loudly announcing the name of the missing man Neville St Clair, much to everyone’s surprise. On another account in The Red-Headed League, Holmes tells everyone to sit and wait in silence in the black bank vault for the criminal who he was adamant would come. No one but Holmes knew what was going on, but those who knew him and his clever ways learned to trust his instinct. And those who doubted him soon saw how efficient and accurate he was. Sherlock Holmes always got it right.

Combined with the fact that the police at the time were unreliable and inefficient, Holmes’ success was one of the reasons the Victorian audience love reading about Sherlock Holmes. The fact that he conquered evil and solved every crime and mystery thrown at him, and his unfailing knack of using observational skills and deduction to crack seemingly impossible cases never ceased to amaze.

The people of Victorian England and especially London could look to Holmes for inspiration, and as a national symbol of pride.

‘…The people of London (and England) could look to Holmes for inspiration, and as a national symbol of pride.’

Along with his astonishing talent of observation Holmes had many habits and eccentricities. His distinct personality and little quirks made him very interesting to read about. The way he would sometimes leap from his chair in excitement and sometimes laugh loudly at random moments (‘Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in high spirits’) shows he has a sense of humour. But he can also be mysterious or moody, disappearing away at any moment; “I beg that you won’t speak to me for fifty minutes.” This shows he has different sides to his character.

It is well known that Holmes had a few undeniable habits; when solving a case he would often smoke a pipe for hours at a time (“It is quite a three-pipe problem…”), in order to enter some sort of stupor which cleared his mind and allowed him to mull over the facts in detail. He sometimes stayed up all night smoking tobacco until he found the missing the piece of the puzzle that led to the solving of the case. Along with smoking Holmes also sometimes took drugs like injecting cocaine.

The readers get familiar with Holmes’s habits which makes it more personal.

Setting and atmosphere:

Victorian London was an ideal setting for the stories-many of the Sherlock Holmes adventures were based in the streets of London (and 221B Baker Street was the famous detective’s residence).

Victorian London was a fascinating and very atmospheric place to live - horses’ hooves clattered along the cobbled streets, gas lamps lit the way and the bustling noise of street sellers filled the air. There was lots of smog from the factories, and the air was thick and polluted, creating a dark and gloomy atmosphere. This can be seen in the story The Man with the Twisted Lip.

In this story it switches between two main, very contrasting settings; ‘The Cedars’, the pleasant home of Neville St Clair and his wife; and the squalid opium den in which the apparent disappearance of Neville St Clair took place. This connection adds a sense of mystery about his disappearance - it makes the reader question what a man like St Clair was doing there in the first place, and it generates lots of ideas and thoughts. This all makes it more appealing a story because it makes you want to make sense of the strange connections and motivations.

In the Speckled Band, an atmosphere is created with Holmes and Watson’s secret entrance into the Manor House accompanied by Helen Stoner. The fact that it is in secret and Dr Roylott must not find out creates a feel of suspense and puts the reader on edge. It captures the attention and creates an atmosphere of both unease and excitement.

There was a public uproar when Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off the famous character in 1893 when in The Final Problem, Holmes and his arch nemesis Moriarty supposedly meet their deaths.

Conan Doyle had decided to kill of the character because he didn’t want to be known only for Sherlock Holmes, but when he did the Victorian people were outraged. Many people had become so familiar with the character that they thought he was a real person, and even wore black armbands to show their grieving! Holmes had become such a phenomenon that he couldn’t be killed off.

So eventually Conan Doyle gave up and brought Holmes back to life in The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1903, after even receiving death threats for killing him off!

Conclusion:

In my opinion, in the Sherlock Holmes stories, along with all these key aspects I have been discussing (characters, setting, atmosphere etc.), it is the elaborate and well thought-out storylines that really appeal, and the intriguing twists as the plot unfolds. There is always a new and exciting situation to grab the attention and imagination of the reader, many ever-changing storylines, and unexpected twists which leave the reader wanting more.

The stories of Sherlock Holmes are recognized all over the world, and have set the foundations for modern detective dramas everywhere.

Conan Doyle redefined many aspects of crime fiction and the whole convention of the ‘whodunit’, which many detective productions have used in crime fiction everywhere, for example, the duos of detective and side-kick in other books and television; Morse and Lewis, Poirot and Hastings, etc. Holmes has also influenced many detective series such as Taggart and House.

Sherlock Holmes's hat, magnifying glass, and pipe are used today to represent the detective and mystery genre.

Museums have been built in honour of Sherlock Holmes, as well as statues being erected in his name. There are also societies dedicated to this great detective. 221B Baker Street, the residence of the famous character, is a tourist attraction. This is all evidence that Sherlock Holmes has inspired many around the world and will still be remembered for years to come.

The Holmes stories were considered a major advance in crime fiction - Sherlock Holmes was an inspiration to many and became an iconic character then and still is now.

Its popularity is ongoing with many films, books and dramas, surviving over 100 years of crime solving.