A Scandal In Bohemia

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Intellectual Notebook

A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle was a great read and gave a different look on the Sherlock Holmes series. This short story was very different than the other two discussed in class this week. The conflict in this story is that Irene Adler has a photo of some sort that could be used against the next King of Bohemia. The King is about to marry a woman in good standing, and he thinks if she's contacted by Adler she'll be scared away .The King of Bohemia hires Sherlock Holmes to retrieve this photo. What makes this short story very interesting is that it is told from Watson’s perspective, and not Sherlock Holmes. It gives the reader a different feel of the story, more of an outside view. One thing that this short …show more content…

"I am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business to a more successful conclusion.’ “ (420 Pickering).
Women were not treated the best in the late 1800’s, but this quote shows the respect the author has for women. After all this is Sherlock Holmes, and a woman managed to outsmart him, which is not something that happens very often. This quote also makes me question the next King of Bohemia, because it is clear how he feels about Irene Adler, but he is not marrying her.
The great part of Irene Adler outsmarting Holmes is that it is very ironic, and goes against the beginning of the story. The very first paragraph of the first story in this collection, A Scandal in Bohemia, includes the following line: "He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen."(405 Pickering). Part of Sherlock Holmes's attraction, both for Watson as his narrator and for the readers, is the guy's superbly disciplined mind. Conan Doyle emphasizes Holmes's magnificent brain in many ways: he uses Watson's admiration to reinforce the reader's own. Which is why the story being told from Watsons point of view gives it a completely different feel. He gives Holmes lots of foils, including foolish officers and the criminals he's hunting. And perhaps the best trick of all, Holmes frequently gets to show off his smarts by wowing

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