In this section I will analyse the structure of Arthur Conan Doyles’ Sherlock Holmes stories. Nearly all of the stories follow loosely the same general structure. They start with Watson looking through the casebook and focusing on one particular story, usually the most “fantastic” or “amazing,” such as “The Speckled Band.” He then begins to retell the story. After this the ‘vulnerable’ female usually enters, such as Kate Whitney in “The Man With The Twisted Lip.” This is when Holmes usually first becomes involved and instantly impresses the client by saying something amazing yet simple, e.g. in “The Speckled Band” where Holmes is talking to Helen Stoner:
“You must have started early, and you had a good drive in a dog-cart. . .The lady gave a violent start.” This shows how Holmes can easily grab the attention of both modern and Victorian readers by making an amazing but actually simple deduction. After the client has been impressed with Holmes’ deducing skills, the client begins to give their background and their reasons for visiting Sherlock Holmes. After this, Holmes develops a theory, although the reader is often not told such as in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” when Holmes visits the scene of the murder and runs around like he is possessed:
“Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent as this.” This adds a sense of mystery and suspense to the stories. It also involves the reader because it encourages you to make your own theories and decisions and so makes you want to read on to find out the actual outcome.
After Holmes has tested his theory, he finally exposes the villain to us, the readers and Dr. Watson. This is followed by Holmes revealing how he solved the mystery:
“’You see Watson,’ he explained in the early hours of the morning” This tells us how all the clues from earlier fit into place. This is an outline of the general structure for most of the stories. This structure would appeal to a Victorian readership because it would have made them feel secure in a time when many Victorians would have felt very insecure, due to the poor standard of the police force, and also because of people like Jack The Ripper being on the loose. Therefore many Victorians would have found sureness and security in the Sherlock Holmes stories, as Holmes is a kind of super-detective who always catches his criminals, whereas the police force at the time was useless, and they never knew what to expect in real life, whereas in Conan Doyles’ stories they did and so found security in them.
Modern readers, however, may find the structure of Sherlock Holmes stories a little clichéd. For example we now expect there to be blood gore and violent scenes, and a cliff-hanger ending in murder mystery stories, but Holmes always manages to get it right. If Conan Doyle had however put cliff-hanger endings and changed the structure around more often, the Victorians would have lost the feeling of security which they enjoyed.
However there are occasionally some slight changes in the endings. For example the ending to “The Man With The Twisted Lip” is what we would call an anti-climax, because we think there has been a murder and a mysterious death, however there was no mystery, it was just a proud man trying to cover his tracks. This would appeal to the Victorians because in those days the middle-upper classes were very proud and the thought of an upper class gentleman begging for money was impossible, whereas we can understand the man’s plight.
Another anti-climatic ending is that of “The Noble Bachelor,” where it appears that the mans bride has been kidnapped by the insane woman. However all that has happened is that the woman has gone to find her original lover. This is an anti-climax because we think the woman has been kidnapped and possibly murdered but we find out nothing of this sort has happened. This is a disappointment for us, however the Victorians would have found security in this as it turns out that the woman hasn’t been kidnapped and she turns up safe which would please the Victorians.
In the second part of my essay, I will look at Holmes’ character.
Holmes’ motivation for accepting cases is simply the thrill of a mystery. He is not bothered about either the client or the money they are offering but simply the mystery they present. He also does not particularly care for the coming to justice of the criminals, he simply wants to solve the mystery or he is not happy. An example of him accepting a case because of its mystery is in “The Red Headed League:”
“I know my dear Watson that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.” In this story it appears several people have just disappear although it turns out, as Holmes discovers, that they are actually trying to rob a bank. Another example is in “The Noble Bachelor” where Holmes accepts a case for its unusual disappearance of the lady, where it seems she has disappeared without a trace along with the apparently “crazy” lady. I think this makes Holmes’ character more engaging, especially to a Victorian readership because it shows he’s not lazy and wants the most difficult and weird cases, which would have impressed the Victorians. Another thing is that he isn’t afraid to admit he’s wrong - which Victorian police at the time never did, so Victorian people would have loved this because he still solved all his cases.
Holmes’ relationship with Watson is quite a weird one. Watson is necessary to Holmes because of his social and medical skills, which is demonstrated in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” where Watson has a chance to show off while analysing the surgeons deposition:
“it was stated that the posterior third of the left parietal bone…” This shows that Watson is an intelligent man as well and isn’t just there to make Holmes look good, he actually knows his stuff as well. Holmes also needs Watson to rely on instead of the police because he does not trust them and constantly insults them. The reader needs Watson as well however. We need Watson because he is the storyteller. He also influences the reader in many places into thinking things which he, as a normal person, might think correct, but Sherlock Holmes might prove completely useless. Watson sees Holmes as a bit of a god. He never fails to miss on an opportunity to flatter him and this therefore can influence us into making us think Sherlock Holmes is great. He also makes Holmes look great by developing his own theories and then having them totally disproved by the almighty Holmes. This again can influence the reader. Holmes and Watson also have some humorous aspects to their relationship. Holmes always patronises Watson by calling him things like “boy.” He also never tells Watson any of his theories to help build up suspense which is a good technique. Their relationship adds to the stories by making them more humorous.
Holmes also has some eccentric quality’s, particularly when he is investigating a case. For example, in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery,” Holmes is compared to an animal which is hunting while carrying out his investigations:
“Sherlock Holmes was transformed when hot upon such a scent as this…His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase.” Another rather odd aspect of Holmes’ is all his random knowledge and the books he has apparently written, such as in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” where he talks about how he has written a book on tobacco ash, which conveniently fits in with the story:
“I found the ash of a cigar…I have as you know devoted some attention to this, and written a little monologue.” This is very weird because tobacco ash is hardly the most exciting subject in the world.
Holmes is also quite melodramatic. He dramatises himself by being falsely modest and claiming to despise the attention he secretly loves. If Holmes was really modest, why would he get all his cases written down so they can be looked at again? This makes him seem odd again. Some modern readers may also find his character clichéd and unrealistic. The fact that he always solves his cases, rights books on all the right topics and some of the language used, e.g. calling each other by surnames, all could seem a little clichéd and unrealistic to a modern day reader, although the Victorians would have loved it all.
In conclusion I think that the reason Sherlock Holmes stories are still so popular today is because they are very good stories in general and also they were the first type of “crime” stories. Another reason is the humour and mystery of the stories. The build up of tension and thrilling climaxes to the Sherlock Holmes stories make them very enjoyable to read. I think also however that some of the things Holmes does are today viewed a little unrealistic such as the writing books on tobacco, I think that is very farfetched. Overall however I think the Sherlock Holmes stories are a good read.
By Liam Farrell 10SS