English Society in the Nineteenth Century in Conan Doyle's Works

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English Society in the Nineteenth Century in Conan Doyle's Works

For my essay I have decided to study Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's

"Speckled Band", "Silver Blaze" and "Final Problem". Sir Arthur Conan

Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were first published in the London

magazine "The Strand" in 1892. All the stories were kept relatively

short because they had to be published in the magazine. When the

Sherlock Holmes story "The Final Problem" there was a large public out

cry of shock and horror to the death of the character they had got

very attached to over the last 5 - 7 years. His stories were of a

detective genre.

The Victorian period was mainly built on a class system almost pyramid

like. At the very bottom there was the people who could not support

themselves, e.g. Beggars etc. Further up there was the lower class

that worked in the factories and could just about support them. On the

same level of the lower class were the servants. The next level up was

the Labourers who worked for/with the working class and upper classes.

The Working class were the next ones up they were the Doctors etc,

e.g. Dr Watson. The next class up was the middle class; they lived off

inheritance and owned factories. Upper class owned a lot of land and

factories they lived in the country. Next up were the Aristocrats,

lords, ladies etc these people did not need to work, they were the

ones one step down from the King or queen.

Women and children of higher classes did not have to work, the

children received a good education and the women stayed at home. But

the lower classed women and children had to work in factories to

support their families. Industrial revolution gave the lower classes a

source of money in the cities, most people left the country life to

live in the cities and make more money. They lived in poor housing

conditions called slums and made little money, some even resorted to

crime.

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes a lot of people had

lost faith in the London police, as there was a lot of corruption,

Sherlock shows this by showing that he is a lot cleverer than the

police force. He really does show the police up to no extent.

The stories are written in first person by Dr.Watson who uses his

notes and memory to write them. All the stories are based on detective

genre with a very big twist in the end and clues that only Sherlock

picks up on. Sherlock Holmes' character fits perfectly in his class as

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