Muhammad Ali

Class: 7th”C”

Roll# 37

Subject: English Literature

Assignment ON: Sherlock Holmes

Submitted To: Sir Zulqarnain

DCS Bahawalpur
Sherlock Holmes:

Sherlock Holmes (/ˈʃɜːrlɒk ˈhoʊmz/ or /-ˈhoʊlmz/) is a fictional private detective created

by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "consulting detective" in the
stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, forensic science, and logical
reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide
variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
First appearing in print in 1887's A Study in Scarlet, the character's popularity became
widespread with the first series of short stories in The Strand Magazine, beginning with "A
Scandal in Bohemia" in 1891; additional tales appeared from then until 1927, eventually
totalling four novels and 56 short stories. All but one are set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras,
between about 1880 and 1914. Most are narrated by the character of Holmes's friend and
biographer Dr. Watson, who usually accompanies Holmes during his investigations and often
shares quarters with him at the address of 221B Baker Street, London, where many of the stories
begin.
Though not the first fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes is arguably the best
known,[1] with Guinness World Records listing him as the "most portrayed movie character" in
history.[2] Holmes's popularity and fame are such that many have believed him to be not a
fictional character but a real individual;[3][4][5] numerous literary and fan societies have been
founded that pretend to operate on this principle. Widely considered a British cultural icon, the
character and stories have had a profound and lasting effect on mystery writing and popular
culture as a whole, with the original tales as well as thousands written by authors other than
Conan Doyle being adapted into stage and radio plays, television, films, video games, and other
media for over one hundred years.

Inspiration for the character

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), Sherlock Holmes' creator. Photo from 1914
Edgar Allan Poe's C. AugusteDupin is generally acknowledged as the first detective in fiction
and served as the prototype for many that were created later, including Holmes.[6] Conan Doyle
once wrote, "Each [of Poe's detective stories] is a root from which a whole literature has
developed... Where was the detective story until Poe breathed the breath of life into
it?"[7] Similarly, the stories of Émile Gaboriau's Monsieur Lecoq were extremely popular at the
time Conan Doyle began writing Holmes, and Holmes' speech and behaviour sometimes follow
that of Lecoq.[8] Both Dupin and Lecoq are referenced at the beginning of A Study in Scarlet.
Conan Doyle repeatedly said that Holmes was inspired by the real-life figure of Joseph Bell, a
surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, whom Conan Doyle met in 1877 and had worked
for as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for drawing broad conclusions from minute
observations.[9] However, he later wrote to Conan Doyle: "You are yourself Sherlock Holmes
and well you know it".[10] Sir Henry Littlejohn, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence at the University
of Edinburgh Medical School, is also cited as an inspiration for Holmes. Littlejohn, who was also
Police Surgeon and Medical Officer of Health in Edinburgh, provided Conan Doyle with a link
between medical investigation and the detection of crime.[11]
Other inspirations have been considered. One is thought to beMaximilien Heller, by French
author Henry Cauvain. It is not known if Conan Doyle read Maximilien Heller, but he was fluent
in French,[12] and in this 1871 novel (sixteen years before the first adventure of Sherlock
Holmes), Henry Cauvain imagined a depressed, anti-social, polymath, cat-loving, and opium-
smoking Paris-based detective.
Life with Watson

Holmes and Watson in a Sidney Paget illustration for "The Adventure of Silver Blaze".
Holmes worked as a detective for twenty-three years, with physician John Watson assisting him
for seventeen.[20] They were roommates before Watson's 1888 marriage and again after his wife's
death. Their residence is maintained by their landlady, Mrs. Hudson. Most of the stories
are frame narratives, written from Watson's point of view as summaries of the detective's most
interesting cases. Holmes frequently calls Watson's writing sensational and populist, suggesting
that it fails to accurately and objectively report the "science" of his craft:
Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and
unemotional manner. You have attempted to tinge it ["A Study in Scarlet"] with romanticism,
which produces much the same effect as if you worked a love-story ... Some facts should be
suppressed, or, at least, a just sense of proportion should be observed in treating them. The only
point in the case which deserved mention was the curious analytical reasoning from effects to
causes, by which I succeeded in unravelling it.[21]

— Sherlock Holmes on John Watson's "pamphlet", The Sign of the Four

Nevertheless, Holmes's friendship with Watson is his most significant relationship. When
Watson is injured by a bullet, although the wound turns out to be "quite superficial", Watson is
moved by Holmes's reaction:
It was worth a wound; it was worth many wounds; to know the depth of loyalty and love which
lay behind that cold mask. The clear, hard eyes were dimmed for a moment, and the firm lips
were shaking. For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great
brain. All my years of humble but single-minded service culminated in that moment of
revelation.[22]
Practice
Holmes clients vary from the most powerful monarchs and governments of Europe, to
wealthy aristocrats and industrialists, to impoverished pawnbrokers and governesses. He is
known only in select profession circles at the beginning of the first story, but is already
collaborating with Scotland Yard. However, his continued work and the publication of Watson's
stories raises Holmes' profile, and he rapidly becomes well known as a detective; so many clients
ask for his help instead of (or in addition to) that of the police[23] that, Watson writes, by 1895
Holmes has "an immense practice".[24] Police outside London ask Holmes for assistance if he is
nearby, even during a vacation.[25] A Prime Minister[26] and the King of Bohemia[27] visit 221B
Baker Street in person to request Holmes's assistance; the government of France awards him
its Legion of Honour for solving a case;[28] the King of Scandinavia is a client;[29] and he aids
the Vatican at least twice.[30] The detective acts on behalf of the British government in matters of
national security several times,[31] and declines a knighthood "for services which may perhaps
some day be described".[22]
The Great Hiatus
Holmes and Moriarty struggle at the Reichenbach Falls; drawing by Sidney Paget.
The first set of Holmes stories was published between 1887 and 1893. Wishing to devote more
time to his historical novels, Conan Doyle killed off Holmes in a final battle with the criminal
mastermind Professor James Moriarty in "The Final Problem" (published 1893, but set in 1891).
Legend has it that Londoners were so distraught upon hearing the news of Holmes' death that
they wore black armbands in mourning. However, there is no known contemporary source for
this; the earliest known reference to such events comes from 1949.[32]
After resisting public pressure for eight years, Conan Doyle wrote The Hound of the
Baskervilles (serialised in 1901–02, with an implicit setting before Holmes's death). In 1903,
Conan Doyle wrote "The Adventure of the Empty House", set in 1894; Holmes reappears,
explaining to a stunned Watson that he had faked his death to fool his enemies. "The Adventure
of the Empty House" marks the beginning of the second set of stories, which Conan Doyle wrote
until 1927.

Sherlock Holmes blue plaque in East Dean

Holmes aficionados refer to the period from 1891 to 1894—between his disappearance and
presumed death in "The Final Problem" and his reappearance in "The Adventure of the Empty
House"—as the Great Hiatus. The earliest known use of this expression is in the article
"Sherlock Holmes and the Great Hiatus" by Edgar W. Smith, published in the July 1946 issue
of The Baker Street Journal.[33]
Retirement
In "His Last Bow", Holmes has retired to a small farm on the Sussex Downs and taken
up beekeeping as his primary occupation. The move is not dated precisely, but can be presumed
to predate 1904 (since it is referred to retrospectively in "The Second Stain", first published that
year). The story features Holmes and Watson coming out of retirement to aid the war effort.
Only one other adventure, "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane", takes place during the detective's
retirement.

Personality and habits

Sidney Paget illustration from "The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez"
Watson describes Holmes as "bohemian" in his habits and lifestyle. Described by Watson in The
Hound of the Baskervilles as having a "cat-like" love of personal cleanliness, Holmes is
an eccentric with no regard for contemporary standards of tidiness or good order. In many of the
stories, Holmes dives into an apparent mess to find a relevant item. In "The Adventure of the
Musgrave Ritual", Watson says:
Although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind ... [he]
keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle, his tobacco in the toe end of a Persian slipper, and his
unanswered correspondence transfixed by a jack-knife into the very centre of his wooden
mantelpiece ... He had a horror of destroying documents ... Thus month after month his papers
accumulated, until every corner of the room was stacked with bundles of manuscript which were
on no account to be burned, and which could not be put away save by their owner.[17]
The detective starves himself at times of intense intellectual activity, such as during "The
Adventure of the Norwood Builder"—wherein, according to Watson:
[Holmes] had no breakfast for himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense
moments he would permit himself no food, and I have known him to presume upon his iron
strength until he has fainted from pure inanition.[34]
Sidney Paget, whose illustrations in The Strand Magazine iconicised Holmes and Watson.
While the detective is usually dispassionate and cold, during an investigation he is animated and
excitable. He has a flair for showmanship, preparing elaborate traps to capture and expose a
culprit (often to impress observers).[35] His companion condones the detective's willingness to
bend the truth (or break the law) on behalf of a client—lying to the police, concealing evidence
or breaking into houses—when he feels it morally justifiable,[36] but condemns Holmes'
manipulation of innocent people in "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton". Holmes
derives pleasure from baffling police inspectors with his deductions and has supreme
confidence—bordering on arrogance—in his intellectual abilities. While the detective does not
actively seek fame and is usually content to let the police take public credit for his work,[37] he is
pleased when his skills are recognised and responds to flattery.[25]
Except for that of Watson, Holmes avoids casual company. In "The Adventure of the Gloria
Scott", he tells the doctor that during two years at college he made only one friend: "I was never
a very sociable fellow, Watson ... I never mixed much with the men of my year". The detective is
similarly described in A Study in Scarlet.
As shooting practice during a period of boredom, Holmes decorates the wall of his Baker Street
lodgings with a "patriotic" VR (Victoria Regina) in "bullet-pocks" from his revolver.[17] Holmes
relaxes with music in "The Red-Headed League", taking the evening off from a case to listen
to Pablo de Sarasate play violin. His enjoyment of vocal music, particularly Wagner, is evident
in "The Adventure of the Red Circle".
Drug use

1891 Sidney Paget Strand portrait of Holmes for "The Man with the Twisted Lip"
Holmes occasionally uses addictive drugs, especially in the absence of stimulating cases. He
uses cocaine, which he injects in a seven-percent solution with a syringe kept in a Morocco
leather case. Although Holmes also dabbles in morphine, he expresses strong disapproval when
he visits an opium den; both drugs were legal in 19th-century England. As a physician, Watson
strongly disapproves of his friend's cocaine habit, describing it as the detective's "only vice", and
concerned about its effect on Holmes's mental health and intellect.[38][39] In "The Adventure of
the Missing Three-Quarter", Watson says that although he has "weaned" Holmes from drugs, the
detective remains an addict whose habit is "not dead, but merely sleeping".
Watson and Holmes both use tobacco, smoking cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. Although his
chronicler does not consider Holmes's smoking a vice per se, Watson—a physician—
occasionally criticises the detective for creating a "poisonous atmosphere" in their confined
quarters.[40]
Finances
The detective is known to charge clients for his expenses and claim any reward offered for a
problem's solution, such as in "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Red-Headed
League", and "The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet". In "The Problem of Thor Bridge", the
detective says, "My professional charges are upon a fixed scale. I do not vary them, save when I
remit them altogether". In this context, a client is offering to double his fee, and it is implied that
wealthy clients habitually pay Holmes more than his standard fee. In "The Adventure of the
Priory School", Holmes earns a ₤6,000 fee, an amount that surprises even Watson (at a time
where annual expenses for a rising young professional were in the area of ₤500).[41]However, in
"The Adventure of Black Peter", Watson notes that Holmes would refuse to help even the
wealthy and powerful if their cases did not interest him.
Although when the stories begin Holmes needed Watson to share the rent for their residence, by
the time of "The Final Problem", he says that his services to the government of France and "the
royal family of Scandinavia" had left him with enough money to retire comfortably.
Attitudes towards women
As Conan Doyle wrote to Joseph Bell, "Holmes is as inhuman as a Babbage's calculating
machine and just about as likely to fall in love".[42] Holmes says in The Valley of Fear, "I am not
a whole-souled admirer of womankind",[43] and in "The Adventure of the Second Stain" finds
"the motives of women ... inscrutable .... How can you build on such quicksand? Their most
trivial actions may mean volumes ... their most extraordinary conduct may depend upon a hairpin
or a curling tongs".[44] In The Sign of the Four, he says, "I would not tell them too much. Women
are never to be entirely trusted—not the best of them".[45]
Watson says in "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches" that the detective inevitably "manifested
no further interest in the client when once she had ceased to be the centre of one of his
problems". In "The Lion's Mane", Holmes writes, "Women have seldom been an attraction to
me, for my brain has always governed my heart," indicating that he has been attracted to women
in some way on occasion, but has not been interested in pursuing relationships with them.
Ultimately, however, in "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot", he claims outright that "I have
never loved". At the end of The Sign of Four, Holmes states that "love is an emotional thing, and
whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which I place above all things. I should
never marry myself, lest I bias my judgement."
Despite his overall attitude, Holmes is adept at effortlessly putting his clients at ease, and Watson
says that although the detective has an "aversion to women", he has "a peculiarly ingratiating
way with [them]". Watson notes in "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" that Mrs. Hudson is
fond of Holmes because of his "remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women.
He disliked and distrusted the sex, but he was always a chivalrous opponent".[46] In "The
Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", the detective easily manages to
become engaged under false pretenses in order to obtain information about a case, but also
abandons the woman once he has the information he requires.
Irene Adler
Irene Adler is a retired American opera singer and actress who appears in "A Scandal in
Bohemia". Although this is her only appearance, she is one of only a handful of people who best
Holmes in a battle of wits, and the only woman. For this reason, Adler is the frequent subject
of pastiche writing. The beginning of the story describes the high regard in which Holmes holds
her:
To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any
other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt
any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler ... yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman
was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.
Five years before the story's events, Adler had a brief liaison with Crown Prince
of Bohemia Wilhelm von Ormstein. As the story opens, the Prince is engaged to another. Fearful
that the marriage would be called off if his fiancée's family learns of this past impropriety,
Ormstein hires Holmes to regain a photograph of Adler and himself. Adler slips away before
Holmes can succeed. Her memory is kept alive by the photograph of Adler that Holmes received
for his part in the case, and he refers to her from time to time in subsequent stories.