Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories and Their Undying Appeal
When the Sherlock Holmes books were written, London was rife with
croime. The slums, especially, were victims to prostitution, murder
and drug abuse. Jack the Ripper was free on the streets, making many
people scared. The police couldn't catch him so the public resented
the police force as they weren't seen to be protecting them. I think
that this is one of the reasons why the Sherlock Holmes stories were
so successful. The idea of a detective who solves every crime would
appeal highly to a Victorian readership. Also, all the clues are given
to the reader which invites them to solve the crime as well.
To help me answer this question, I will refer to three Sherlock Holmes
Stories; "The Speckled Band", "Silver Blaze" and "The Cardboard Box".
These three stories are all very different, only two of them are
murders. "The Speckled Band" is about a premeditated murder with the
motive of money, whereas "The Cardboard Box" is a spur of the moment
murder arising out of jealousy. "Silver Blaze", however, is not a
murder, merely an accident, although until the dénouement we are led
to believe that it is.
The relationship between Holmes and Watson is completely platonic.
They live together but only in a professional partnership. This would
not have been unusual in Victorian England. Dr. Watson gives all the
narratives. In tradition doctors are a very trusted profession as they
have the image of being saviours. I think that this is why we believe
what he says and trust him. He is a more likeable character because he
is nearer the level we, as a reader, are at, when it comes to
detecting...
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... is an upper
class citizen as most detectives may have been in those days whereas
the modern detective is either a member of the police force or a
professional private detective. The age of the talented amateur has
passed.
Even though the Sherlock Holmes stories might not be as successful
today as they were in Victorian times because of the difference in
societies due to time, Sherlock Holmes is still one of the most famous
fictional detectives of all time. I believe that this is because his
stories set the basis for modern detective novels and films. I also
think, that because it was one of the original detective stories it is
more compelling. Overall, the likeable characters, intriguing plot,
gripping climax and the sense of realism have made the Sherlock Holmes
stories very successful, in the past and present.
(The adventure of the speckled band) The two also differ in other ways, for example although Holmes is intellectually gifted he lacks the contact of friends, this shows him as a loner. On the other hand, Watson, being the average man, has friends and later in... ... middle of paper ... ... olmes gives us the information that Watson didn’t see and tells us the rest of the case. In my opinion, the best of the Sherlock Holmes stories is The Last
How Does Arthur Conan Doyle Create Tension And Suspense In The Speckled Band The Speckled Band is just one of the murder mystery stories featuring the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes was not any ordinary detective, he was a detective who was famous for solving murders. In this case Holmes is trying to solve the mystery of the 'Speckled Band'. Some examples of tension building techniques are dramatic events and in some instances the inclusion of red herrings. Bad weather and night time are also used as a means of building up atmosphere and tension.
Detective fiction always ends with a successful resolution because law and order is restored. Once moral and social order is restored this impacts the reader as they are still trying to figure out how it happened and how did Holmes solve the crime. The reader also feels relieved when a crime is solved especially if it was Victorian readers.
The Appeal of Arthur Conan Doyle's Stories Over 120 years ago the lived a fictional character called "Sherlock Holmes", who lived at 221B, Baker Street. Arthur Conan-Doyle created the character in 1887 and the stories are still popular today. In 1887 Doyle was going to stop writing the stories but he got death threats telling him to keep Holmes alive, he did what they asked. I am going to examine and write about three stories: "The Speckled Band" "Silver Blaze" "The Cardboard Box" "The Speckled Band" is a murder story set in the countryside and is about a man who kills his step-daughter because of the money she will inherit on her marriage.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the creator of the character Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. He was a Scottish writer and physician, he wrote many things in his life. Doyle did not just write detective mysteries he also fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction and historical novels. Even though he wrote many other thing he is mostly well known for writing all of the canon Sherlock stories. Doyle himself had a career in the medical field there he meet many influential people to base his characters from. A letter was found where he wrote to one of his colleagues whose name was Joseph Bell that the most important traits of his character Sherlock was mostly based on him. Bell himself had the career title of forensic
Another convention of the detective story is that the detective will have a confidant through whom he can explain his reasoning to the reader. Holmes has a confidant, Watson, who is the stereotypical gentle doctor who is plain and uninteresting so as not to draw attention away from Holmes. “I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional investigations'; this implies that Watson lead an uninteresting life, without many interesting hobbies or pastimes.
Doyle’s detective stories were written to be told by a character to which he could relate. He trained to become a doctor and used this training to influence the profession of the narrator of his Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. John Watson. It is through the eyes of Dr. Watson that we first see our main character, Sherlock Holmes (Geherin 295). Watson was not the only character inspired by a real-life figure, however. Doyle based the character of Holmes off of his instructor, Dr. Joseph Bell.
Forensics is a scientific method of gathering and examining information about a crime. It is used in the law for figuring out when, where, and what happened at the scene of the crime. Mystery writers must use forensics when writing about crime solving. This draws in the readers because of how realistic the mystery seems. In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short story “The Red-Headed League,” the author shows his perspective on justice while exemplifying his linear and detailed style, with the main character depicting the story in chronological order and the detective using deductive reasoning to solve the crime.
“All we ever see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” This was a quote by Edgar Allan Poe that was included in his poem A Dream Within A Dream. This quote basically means that life is nothing but a dream, a long one perhaps, but it is one that you only awaken from when you died, or about to die. I really like this poem because sometimes I often wonder, what if life was really just a dream, and death is when you awaken and cross into another world; one that is more perfect and jovial than the one that existed in “life.”? Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer in the Poe often wrote about death and fear, for these two things seem to be the main focus points of Poe literary works. Edgar Allan Poe’s writing are often serious, talking about dark things, and they usually seem to reflect his childhood,his love life, and his view of what life basically is.
A detective story is a genre of fiction in which a person attempts to solve a crime. The detective may be a professional or an amateur, and generally has nothing to gain from solving the crime. However in Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King”, the main character Oedipus is not only determined to solve a crime, but he is also in pursuit to find his own identity. This is similar to Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia” where Sherlock Holmes has been hired to work as a detective in return for monetary compensation. Both situations enable Oedipus and Sherlock to gain from unraveling the mysteries that sweep their towns hence making these stories different from most detective stories.
First, Holmes is the first scientific detective. Second, all of his cases ended up solved so therefore there are no flaws in his method. Well after researching in and out of books and web sites, I finally found the "true" way Holmes solved crimes. The site I found such spectacular information is Sherlockian.Net. This sight was helpful and it made me understand most of the stories by Conan Doyle.
Edgar Allan Poe, an often misinterpreted literary mastermind, known predominantly by his extraordinary tales of horror, forbidden love, madness, and mystery, is more than meets the eye. Though his genres of expertise may indicate otherwise, Poe was a very social person, a gentleman by trade, and he possessed more hands-on military experience than any other major American author in history. As a writer, Poe gained a great deal of his inspiration from his surroundings. His enlistment in the army contributed significantly to his repertoire, and inspired some of his greatest works, including “’The Gold Bug;’ ’The Man Who Was Used Up,’ a satire of southern frontier politics; ‘The Balloon Hoax,’ set along the mid-Atlantic Carolinas coast; ‘The Oblong Box,’ involving a voyage out of Charleston harbor; [and] ‘The Cask of Amontillado,’ possibly based on a Fort Independence/Castle Island Legend”(Beidler, Soldier 342). The death of his mother and his unfortunate love life played another major role in his authoring, giving him the ability to write about “. . . the intense symbiosis between love and hatred . . . [illustrating that] love is seldom as simple or as happy as popularly hoped” (Hoffman 81). Poe’s chilling tales remain popular today, and have a long history of providing inspiration for major books and other cultural staples of entertainment.
As a reader, one can overlook “the detective’s social abnormality only because these are attached to individuals we take to be normal” (Gregoriou 25) as well as Watson’s adoration for Holmes pores through the narration and binds the reader.
An examination of Sherlock Holmes' abilities and techniques. allied to his personal characteristics, enable him to solve crimes. There are many reasons to explain why Sherlock Holmes is one of the world's most famous fictional detectives. However, the main reason for This is that not only are the stories complex, but the actual character of Sherlock Holmes has extreme depth, with some subtle. elements of his character only becoming apparent when he is in certain situations.
Detective fiction is read and has been read for going on 200 years, simply because the stories are entertaining. The authors are truly what help to draw people back to the genre. This appeal of reading for fun is one that would strike any literate person as intriguing, and that’s exactly what detective fiction does. Because there are no serious moral or social values to be derived from reading these mysteries, people keep coming back! I have enjoyed reading detective fiction for eight years now, and it’s the simple escape from the “required” or educational readings that keep me coming back, and that’s the most likely reason that detective fiction has managed to stay around and so popular for such a long time.