The Character Of Sherlock Holmes

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The Character Of Sherlock Holmes

In this essay I will explain why the Victorians found Arthur Conan

Doyles' Sherlock Holmes character quite so compelling and why the

stories are still so popular today. Victorians will have found

Sherlock Holmes' very interesting because he was an upper class

educate4d gentleman and this was the sort of person who was very well

respected in Victorian times, and they would also have loved how he

solved all his crimes, because there police force were so unreliable.

The stories are still so popular today because we modern readers enjoy

the thrill of a mystery and the tension of a case, which Conan Doyle

creates. In the rest of the essay I will analyse the structure of the

stories, the social aspects of the stories and the character of Holmes

himself. I will use examples and quotes from the stories "The Man With

The Twisted Lip," "The Speckled Band," "The Boscombe Valley Mystery,"

"The Red-Headed League" and "The Noble Bachelor."

In the 19th Century the Victorians views on many things were

different. This includes the police force. Many Victorians thought the

police were lazy, useless fools, which for the most part, was true.

The police in the 19th Century hardly ever solved the crimes that were

committed in Victorian England and therefore the Victorian people felt

very insecure about what might happen to themselves, especially as

Jack The Ripper was around at that time, murdering people as he

pleased. The Victorian police also did some stupid things when

investigating mysteries, such as photographing the eyes of the

deceased in the hope that when the photo was developed the murderer

would be refl...

... middle of paper ...

...ases, rights books on

all the right topics and some of the language used, e.g. calling each

other by surnames, all could seem a little clichéd and unrealistic to

a modern day reader, although the Victorians would have loved it all.

In conclusion I think that the reason Sherlock Holmes stories are

still so popular today is because they are very good stories in

general and also they were the first type of "crime" stories. Another

reason is the humour and mystery of the stories. The build up of

tension and thrilling climaxes to the Sherlock Holmes stories make

them very enjoyable to read. I think also however that some of the

things Holmes does are today viewed a little unrealistic such as the

writing books on tobacco, I think that is very farfetched. Overall

however I think the Sherlock Holmes stories are a good read.

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