Sherlock Holmes Research Paper

Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories featuring Sherlock Holmes became enduring classics of the mystery and detective genre. Sherlock Holmes is a legendary detective who solves the most baffling crimes. Holmes often solved these crimes using astute observation, and deductive reasoning, a method that sets him apart from his colleagues, the police force and also from the common man. Doyle used similar themes in each of his short stories such as a lack of money, a father-daughter relationship, the treatment of women, and secrets between husbands and wives along with many others. We frequently see the repetition of these themes throughout Doyle’s short stories and his novels.

The first theme we often see in many of Sherlock Holmes stories is a lack

During this Victorian era, abuse was very common in relationships. I agree with David when he says “this theme is very prominent in the story “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”, mainly pertaining to the events that were occurring between Mr. Hilton Cubitt and Elsie Patrick” (David Milliken). In “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” Mrs. Elsie Patrick Cubitt keeps secrets from her husband, Mr. Hilton Cubitt. Strange notes kept appearing at their home but, Mr. Cubitt refrained from asking his wife what they meant because he promised his wife before they got married that he would not ask about her past. However, Mrs. Cubitt’s old lover, Abe Slaney, had come to win her back. It is he, Slaney, who was sending her the encoded messages. Mr. Cubitt was killed by Slaney himself. If secrets had not been kept, or had Mr. Cubitt asked his wife about the suspicious notes, maybe he could have prevented his own death. (“The Adventure of the Dancing Men”). In “The Bruce-Partington Plans,” Arthur Cadogen West keeps a secret from his fiancé, Miss Violet Westbury. West was a government employee that knew of a secret submarine plan. He suspected the plans were being stolen and fled from his fiancée one night without acknowledging where he was going. After finding the culprits, West was killed and his body dumped on a train. When further investigating, Holmes attempted to uncover clues from Miss Westbury. According to David Milliken, “West was a patriotic man and would never sabotage the country by selling the plans” (David Milliken). However, discretion in the relationship became more evident when Miss Westbury confronted West about what was bothering him, he responded “it is too serious for me to speak about, even to you” (“The Bruce-Partington Plans”). In both of these stories secrets were kept from significant others and had one person been more truthful, the story would have ended