The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Essay Example

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The adventures of Sherlock homes are a collection of short stories by a physician Arthur Conan Doyle. The collection has twelve short narratives most of which are narrated by Dr. John Watson. The stories by Conan Doyle created his stories to be self-contained. As a result of their construction, their characters are not developed much across the stories. Most stories in the Adventure of Sherlock are narrated by John Watson but some are narrated by Holmes and some few from a third person perspective. Dr Watson apart from being the first person narrator is a reliable and limitedly omniscient narrator whose presence makes every story enjoyable and intriguing. What keeps the stories interesting however are the humour and warmth from Sherlock Holmes himself and the way he handles complicated medical cases with great simplification and efficiency. This essay is an assessment of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes with a special focus of the plot, the narrator Watson and the character Sherlock Holmes. In most stories, the normal plot involves characters undergoing some transformation, creating and meeting crisis and the solution comes at the end with some lessons for the reader to learn. This formula is not applicable in the adventures of Sherlock Holmes in which the stories are disjointed in a way that every story is a self contained one. In the adventure of Sherlock Holmes, all the stories but four are narrated by John Watson; Holmes’s friend and biographer. Holmes is the main character in the stories. Holmes is a consulting detective who amazes his readers because of his fantastic abilities when it comes to attending to his crime clients. Holmes uses forensic science to apply his logical reasoning that enables him to handle difficult problems. This investigative process makes the stories interesting. For example, in “The Red-headed League”, Wilson is drawn into a red-headed league which seems not to be trustworthy venture. As the reader waits for Holmes to solve the puzzle of the scam, his investigation becomes interesting. Holmes’s expertise surprises Wilson. At one particular point he asked, “How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Holmes?”… “How did you know, for example, that I did manual labour. It’s as true as gospel, for I began as a ships carpenter.” These testimonies by the people he worked for makes the reader to keep imagining the power he had beyond his forensic investigations. The tensions and suspense in Holmes’ investigative process keeps the reader going. The same tensions and suspense is in the story “The Blue Carbuncle” in which Holmes out to investigate the origin of a jewel diamond that they find in the throat of a goose ended up there. The progress of unveiling the source of the diamond is the most intriguing and interesting part because of the suspense and the tensions created by the narrator. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Watson is presented as the first person narrator who narrates his experiences and those of Holmes in a reliable way. Although in some stories he narrates as an omniscient character, he is limited in some way. In most instances, Watson does not help in providing a solution for the cases or contribute to the actions of the stories. However, Watson’s reliability can not be gainsaid because he contributes to the form of the stories just the way Holmes contribute to the plot of the stories. The reader is pinned by Watson’s narration because he presents only what he experiences and does not contradict his experiences with those of others. This way, he becomes a reliable source of information and life of Holmes. This is evidenced by the way the author presents the conversation between the narrator and Holmes in a way that Watson becomes like a passive reporter of incidences in the story. For example, in “The Red-headed League” the narrator reports ““Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,” I observed”” (19). The implication here is that the narrator is presenting his dialogue in first person as he experiences incidences with Holmes. The same style is found in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” for instance ““Tell me, Helen,” said she, “have you ever heard anyone whistle in the dead of the night?” “Never,” said I”” (104). This way of narrating makes the stories interesting and the narrator is given a reliable authority to tell the experiences of Holmes. In his narration, Watson is good natured, eager to know and has a welcoming feeling for Holmes that makes the story interesting as a true account of human conduct in a profession. The writer of the stories transforms the narratives from mystery to real life experiences that are explored through the narrator thus making the readers identify with the experiences presented. Moreover, what the readers can not understand from Holmes, it is interpreted and presented to them by Watson. It is very difficult to understand the character of Holmes in The Adventure of Sherlock Homes because the writer assumes that the reader is already aware of Holmes. The writer does very little to make the reader understand the person of Holmes in the stories. However, one characteristic that the reader can not fail to know is that Holmes is an outstanding detective following the many cases he succeeds to find solutions for in the stories. In most stories, the beginning does not consider the distinct theme of particularity. For instance, the “The Red-headed League” begins as thus: “I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair” (18). This first sentence gives an impression that although the story is treated as a stand alone, it is a continuation from another one where probably the reader was introduced to the character of Holmes. The same style of introduction for Holmes’s character runs through almost all the stories. For example in “The Adventure Of The Engineers Thumb” the story begins thus; “Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his notice” (117). In these examples, it is clear that the writer does not waste time, so he gets direct to the point. This way, when reading the story, the reader begins a journey in the first story and then is taken to a concatenated yet coherent narration through the same bus, drivers and similar situations of presenting a problem and having Holmes come to the rescue of situations. Sherlock Holmes is intelligent because he seems to know much of what is happening around him. Although he is a stringent character in terms of what he knows, he can not be compared to other characters. His lack of interest in anything else but criminal investigation makes Holmes an ideal character in a series of stories. Watson reports to us that “The stage lost a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in crime” (13). Specializing in crime and forgetting about all that ever was for him makes him interesting and the reader expects Holmes’s to apply his logic as an expert. Holmes unites the stories and makes it easy for readers who are interested in exploring more about Holmes. Holmes is so independent in the stories that even Watson does not want to attach him to anything else but criminal stuff. For example, Watson never refers to Holmes’s wife by her name even once. He refers to Holmes’s wife implicitly; for instance in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” he talks of “the love of his art” to refer to Holmes’s wife (101). This outright separation of Holmes’s from issues that should surround him like his family makes him independent. This way, his readers are able to take him as a simple specialized character. In conclusion, in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the writer is able to would an elusive plot yet create constant characters who bring the stories together. Dr Watson takes upon himself to narrate Holmes’s experiences as he sees them. His way of expressing and displaying the human nature and humorous nature of Holmes makes the stories a success with readers. Holmes himself is created as a consistent character whose occupation and profession are merged to a one whole coherent lifestyle. As a detective, he is magically successful in providing a solution to almost every situation he is presented with. His forensic methodology goes beyond a mere scientific investigation. This approach makes the stories interesting because they are also riddled with suspense and tensions. Moreover, the way the writer models Holmes’s through the narrator makes him accessible and trusted because the narrator tells the story in a believable way. The narrator, John Watson just becomes a passive observer who does not exaggerate his experiences of Holmes and he reports only what sees. Works Cited Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. eBooks: Thousands of Volunteers, 1999. PDF. Read More