What is the main pleasure for the reader in reading a Sherlock Holmes story?
London in the era of Victorians was a fascinating place to live. Prostitution, drug abuse and murder were commonplace. Everyone was trying to find an answer to the question ‘ who done it? ‘ but they had no experience to find an answer even when they were following the clues. Then Arthur Conan Doyle made up a character, detective Sherlock Holmes. In the late 1880’s everyone was talking about this character. People liked such stories because stories contain a twist which makes it more enjoyable and interesting. Victorians liked the character of Sherlock Holmes because he cracked every case and always defeated evil.
A Sherlock Holmes story has classic ingredients. There is always a clever villain, a helpless victim, a crime or an attempted crime. In the story ‘ Red – Headed League ‘ we can see Mr. Duncan Ross as a helpless victim, the clever villain Dr. Wilson and we can also see a crime happened. Also I looked at Arthur Conan Doyle’s autobiography and I found out how he structures a Sherlock Holmes story; ‘ The first thing is to get your idea. Having got that key idea one’s next task is to conceal it and lay emphasis on everything which can make for a different explanation. ’ Also he uses hidden clues which the reader cannot understand but he is giving some information about clues so that the reader won’t be frustrated. If we look at the titles of the stories they are deliberately open to make the reader wonder what the story is about. ’’Silver Blaze’’, ‘’Scandal in Bohemia’’ gives you a bit of information about what the story is about but you cannot think of an exact answer. Also ‘’Scandal in Bohemia’’ gives you an indication on the storyline. ‘’Silver Blaze’’ opens with realistic dialog which is quite effective. ‘I am afraid, Watson that I shall have to go.’ said Holmes as we sat down together to have our breakfast one morning.
