Sherlock Holmes: Detective and Criminal - Research Paper Example

Type Type Your Type 23 April 24, Sherlock Holmes: Detective and Criminal Holmes is the fictional detective introduced by the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his novels published in the 19th century. Sherlock Holmes is considered to be a pioneer in crime investigation and logical reasoning. His reputation for solving mysterious and complicated criminal cases speaks for his ability and skills. Arthur Conan Doyle shaped Holmes’ methodology similar to that of one of Doyle’s professors at University of Edinburgh. The deductive reasoning of Holmes has inspired many authors to replicate characters in a similar kind of investigative stories and crime fiction literature. The process of eliminating the impossible leaves Holmes with the truth, but it is not that simple. Holmes is a moody character with old habits he is never ready to give up in any of the cases that he takes. The fan base of Holmes was such that when Doyle killed the character in ‘The Final Problem’ in 1893, the readers cancelled their monthly subscriptions of the Strand magazine which included Holmes’ stories regularly. Doyle raised Holmes back from the dead in his 1902 work ‘The Adventure of the Empty House’. Holmes was popular in both 19th and 21st centuries. Literature containing Holmes is being told into several other languages. For more than a century, stories of Sherlock Holmes have delighted thousands of people and entertained them. The techniques employed by Holmes have inspired many modern day authors to write fictional crime stories. The following is the methodology of Holmes which he used for solving crimes. As per a source, Holmes observed the situation that he was given to solve. He soaked up the facts, any that he could find, to know as much as possible about the crime. The emotional attachment to his work was worth the acclaim that he received later. It is mandatory for an investigator to be alert to every single movement, clue, activity and even sound. Holmes fulfilled the criterion for an extraordinary detective (Doyle, Chapter 1: Mr. Sherlock Holmes p11). Arthur Conan Doyle presented Holmes as an extraordinary detective capable of solving any kind of mystery by reconstructing the information that he collects using his unusual ways of investigation. Holmes could not judge a crime before he had every single piece of information related to the crime in his hand. Holmes once said, "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts" (Doyle, His Last Bow). Good results in any field of study require devotion and focus. Crime investigation is not different. Holmes quiet personality perfectly suits his profession which requires extraordinary focus on every little data (Higham p210). Holmes sucks up facts just like a magnet pulls steel whenever it is near it. Holmes observations led him to gather facts from the crime scene and during his research on the case. His collection of facts and details allowed him to come up with an array of questions which he could ask any one important enough for his investigation. Holmes’ deductive reasoning is impressive as he could analyze information efficiently. Analysis of Holmes was extraordinary. He solved cases as if he was playing a jigsaw puzzle. Having all the pieces, allowed Holmes to reconstruct the crime scene or the scenario and reach a logical conclusion of the case. The more pieces he had the better a conclusion he could reach. As Holmes said, “Each fact is suggestive in itself. Together they have a cumulative force” (Doyle, His Last Bow p40). Holmes checked for all pieces of information hoping to draw some information out from it. His search and methodologies are renowned enough that modern day investigators use his cases for training. Informers were used by Holmes for collecting information from wherever he could. People he called ‘irregulars’ were used to collect and bring information to him. After the process of collecting information and analyzing it, the final task was to imagine all the possible scenarios that would fir the information in his hand and reach a conclusion. Holmes used his imagination to solve many cases also. His secret way of life and his love for seclusion allowed him to improve his concentration and focus. Seclusion helped him solve many cases where he would only imagine the possibilities and cross check any impossibility. Holmes referred to the imagination as the greatest truth of all. His excellence and mastery in the field on crime investigation left no place to doubt his advice and intuition. Sherlock Holmes the criminal Holmes wants the reader to reconstruct the entire situation and reach a logical conclusion of the story before he himself explains the mystery. The reader follows the sequence with which Holmes gathers the pieces of information and so grasps the links to the conclusion. But a reader is far behind Holmes in crime investigation science. Holmes is advanced in his skill. For the reader, Holmes also becomes the criminal as he deciphers the information and resolves the case better than the reader. To reconstruct means to break down the entire scene into small parts and deduce as much information as possible from all the pieces. It has been seen in the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, that Holmes does not disclose the information that he has gathered and the way that he has reconstructed the entire situation. The reader discovers the mystery according to his capacity. The criminal behavior of Holmes is that he does not share the information with the reader. The reader is robbed by detective Holmes. Holmes may be called a criminal because he keeps characters including Watson until the end of the story. Another argument can be put forward by the defendants of Holmes and that will be that readers can think about the movements of all the other characters in the story, unlike Holmes. With this argument, the tables turn over. In the best of the best of Sherlock Holmes, it is quoted, “London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained” gives the opinion of Holmes about the culture of the metropolitan city of London (Stock). His opinion reflects his thoughts about the city and its life and the crimes happening in it. Holmes thinks of the residents of London as idlers of an Empire may be the British Empire, and the disgust with which he labels them shows his hatred towards the residents. This element of hatred in Holmes shows his narcissistic mind and his arrogance. No doubt the British Empire and its imperialistic ambitions which didn’t seem to have any limits disrupted the peaceful life in many countries, or colonies at the time, but that does not suit to be an excuse for hating the residents of a city. Not everyone at least (July pp309-337). Holmes would make a good criminal Holmes has been known to be an extraordinary investigator who has mastered the art of crime investigation for more than a century. This fictional character has impresses millions with the skills and strategies that he uses to uncover the mysteries behind crimes unknown to the world before his existence. Arthur Conan Doyle’s character very well knows the strengths and weaknesses of the criminal minds and also knows the ways to draw the culprits out from the dark. Knowledge is power, as the world knows it, and same can be applied to Sherlock Holmes. His knowledge and expertise in criminology and investigation methodology gives rise to the possibility that Holmes himself has the potential of becoming a mastermind criminal. There can be no doubt that Holmes, after gaining so much experience in the field, has learned all the tricks and motives of criminals and their reactions to developments in the investigations of their crimes. Holmes possibly has what it takes to become a good criminal, a very shrewd and a very strategic one. One who knows the tricks of the crime investigators yet also understands well the tactics of everyday criminals and their mistakes which he himself had discovered. Holmes does not need to be a criminal to catch one but one must think like a criminal to catch one. It is extraordinary that Holmes ends up uncovering the mystery every time he is handed a case. It is not some supernatural ability which allows him to do so rather his skills, expertise, knowledge and comprehension. The way Holmes is presented by Doyle in his works shows that Holmes is bohemian or unconventional as far as society’s norms are concerned. His attitude towards life is also unconventional not to mention his way of dealing with people and his appearance. Criminals often are unconventional not only in their norms but also the way they think or act. Holmes shares such characteristics with the criminals he seeks. Conditioning can work miracles and also can prove to be disastrous. Criminals are not born, they are made just like heroes who are not born rather they are made. Living in an environment of crime and mysteries may incite a person to act like the ones he or she tries to stop. It may be that one may feel the need to know the motives of the opponent. If conditioning and the environment can make a man criminal it can also influence an investigator to pick up a weapon and take his turn. It can also be seen from Doyle’s work that Holmes does not want the audience to know of his finding until the end. It gives the idea that Holmes is either not cooperative or thinks of himself as too smart to share his information with anyone else whether it be his assistant Dr. Watson. The secrecy Holmes works with and the superiority he feels of himself show that there may be elements of Narcissism in him. Criminals too are narcissistic in nature, at least most of them are. Holmes was always presented by Doyle as an unemotional person who did not feel much for others. This trait of Holmes can be a good contribution to his criticism as this trait is usually a trait of criminals who do not have or do not experience emotions or feeling for others. Other than that Holmes treated everyone the same way. This trait of his is objectionable as some of his close associated including Watson was treated like the way he treated everyone else. As per a source, cocaine use was not considered a bad habit in the era Holmes was created by Doyle. So it cannot be said but cocaine or any other drug is used by people with such morals or are willing to experience superfluous feelings giving the excuse of trying to find some piece of mind (Yellow). A Contrast Holmes being one of the most proficient investigators in English literature has another side a bit criminal in nature. His astute investigation and privacy in his findings paint his picture with different colors and their combinations. The extraordinary investigator does not want others to know of his finding until and unless the reader has forced himself to decipher the entire story and reach a conclusion making sense only to the reader. The hero then reveals his findings and usually proves the reader wrong undermining his or her intelligence or confidence. Works Cited Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Chapter 1: Mr. Sherlock Holmes." Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Wordsworth, 1996. —. His Last Bow. South Australia: The University of Adelaide Library, 2009. Higham, Charles. The adventures of Conan Doyle: The life of the creator of Sherlock Holmes. New York: Norton, 1976. July. "Technology, Modernity, and The Little Man: Crippens Capture by Wireless." Victorian Studies 39.3 (1996): 309-337. Stock, Randall. "Sherlock Holmes Quotes: The Ten Most Famous Quotations from the Holmes Stories." Stock, Randall. The Best of Sherlock Holmes. 2006. Yellow, Dany. "Booksie." 2011. Did Arthur Conan Doyle create a hero? 23 April 2012 . Read More