{"id":5470,"date":"2021-06-09T05:46:26","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T09:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/?p=5470"},"modified":"2021-06-09T05:46:26","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T09:46:26","slug":"the-fame-and-heroism-of-sherlock-holmes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/2021\/06\/09\/the-fame-and-heroism-of-sherlock-holmes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fame and Heroism of Sherlock Holmes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By George R. Goethals and Scott T. Allison<\/strong><\/p>\n

Can a nerdy detective become a hero? The answer is yes. There are many examples \u2013 Columbo, Ellery Queen, and Jessica Fletcher come to mind. But perhaps the greatest of these nerdy heroes was Sherlock Holmes.<\/p>\n

Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes in the 1887 novel A Study in Scarlet.\u00a0 <\/em>That mystery, and most of the subsequent ones, are told through the eyes of Holmes\u2019 roommate and companion, Dr. John Watson.\u00a0 The second novel, The Sign of Four, <\/em>followed three years later.\u00a0 Then in 1892 the first set of twelve short stories appeared, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

But shortly after those were published Conan Doyle had had enough of his consulting detective and tried to kill him off in the last story of an 1894 collection The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.\u00a0 <\/em>That episode was called \u201cThe Final Problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Conan Doyle couldn\u2019t keep Holmes down.\u00a0 There was too much popular demand.\u00a0 His hero returned in \u201cThe Empty House,\u201d the first adventure in the 1905 volume The Return of Sherlock Holmes.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Many of Holmes sayings from those early works are still famous today.\u00a0 From The Sign of Four, <\/em>\u201cwhen you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.\u201d\u00a0 From the story \u201cSilver Blaze\u201d in The Memoirs <\/em>comes Holmes\u2019s unforgettable exchange with Inspector Gregory:<\/p>\n

Gregory:\u00a0 \u201cIs there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Holmes:\u00a0 \u201cTo the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Gregory:\u00a0 \u201cThe dog did nothing in the night-time\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Holmes:\u00a0 \u201cThat was the curious incident.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The back and forth with Gregory was the basis for the prize-winning mystery novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time <\/em>(Haddon 2003) and the play by the same name that opened at the National Theatre in London in 2012.<\/p>\n

Tracing the evolution of presentations of the fictional detective reveals much about changes in how heroes have \"\"<\/a>been constructed over the past one hundred years.\u00a0 As we shall see, there is much more attention to their inner lives.\u00a0 In the last decade of the nineteenth century Holmes was depicted in drawings in The Strand <\/em>magazine by Sidney Paget.\u00a0 A tall, aquiline Holmes image took hold, one largely consistent with Conan Doyle\u2019s words.<\/p>\n

Then the American actor William Gillette portrayed Holmes on the stage, in the famous deer-stalker hat first introduced by Paget, and his distinctive pipe.\u00a0 Gillette even presented Holmes in a 1916 silent film that was only rediscovered in 2014.\u00a0 Gillette continued the tall, lean and obviously cerebral presentation of Holmes.<\/p>\n

Various other actors, notably Basil Rathbone, were cast as Holmes in film and on television during the mid-twentieth century.\u00a0 Each actor shaped an evolving image, largely consistent with the original.\u00a0 If the detective faded somewhat in mid-century he was brought back to life by Jeremy Brett in the Granada television series running from 1984-1984, and then by Stephen Spielberg\u2019s 1985 film Young Sherlock Holmes.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The most recent renditions have been two television series, Sherlock<\/em> on BBC with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (2010-2017) and the CBS series Elementary <\/em>(2012-2019) with Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu.\u00a0 They reveal through the character of Sherlock Holmes and his companion John Watson the general evolution of recent treatments of famous fictional heroes, particularly with respect to issues of gender and sexuality.<\/p>\n

In the Conan Doyle canon, Holmes left the \u201cfairer sex\u201d to Watson.\u00a0 He never wanted emotion to disturb his detached rationality.\u00a0 There is one fascinating exception however.\u00a0 The first Holmes short story, \"\"<\/a>\u201cA Scandal in Bohemia\u201d begins with the famous sentence \u201cTo Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman.\u201d\u00a0 Clearly Holmes is smitten with her, one Irene Adler, and admires the fact that in the end she actually thwarts his plans.\u00a0 Otherwise Holmes eschews attraction, eroticism, or any other emotion.<\/p>\n

In contrast, issues of sexuality come up quickly in the BBC Sherlock <\/em>series.\u00a0 The character Mrs. Hudson, the housekeeper straight out of Conan Doyle, explicitly raises the possibility, even likelihood, that Holmes and Watson are a gay couple.\u00a0 The Watson character, acted by Martin Freeman, laughs at such insinuations, but the issue never dies.<\/p>\n

At least LBGTQ issues are acknowledged in the series.\u00a0 Gender and sexuality play a larger role in Elementary.\u00a0 <\/em>First, Dr. Watson is a woman, Dr. Joan Watson, played to critical acclaim by Lucy Liu.\u00a0 As a result, one feature of the whole series is tension as to whether the male Holmes (Johnny Lee Miller) and the female Watson will ever make a romantic, sexual connection (they don\u2019t).<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Miller\u2019s Holmes has frequent trysts with one or more prostitutes.\u00a0 His sexuality is highlighted.\u00a0 For Conan Doyle, Holmes views sex and other emotions \u201cas abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind.\u201d\u00a0 His work depends on avoiding or repressing feelings.\u00a0 For Elementary, <\/em>discharging libidinal drives serves to clear Holmes\u2019 mind for the operation of his \u201ccold, precise but admirably balanced\u201d logic.<\/p>\n

The many variations on the presentation and representation of Holmes all work as long as at the heart of the portrayal is the cool, precise logic, with a distinct dose of narcissism and even obliviousness bordering on the autistic.\u00a0 The latter actually lends him an unconventional but clearly \u201cgood\u201d morality.\u00a0 He is good as well as strong and active.\u00a0 Clearly the most recent adaptations reflect today\u2019s current cultural concerns and conversations.\u00a0 But the enduring elements have to fit as well.<\/p>\n

In sum, audiences over the past century have found Holmes to be a convincing hero.\u00a0 His acute mental abilities, his irreverent but dashing style, and his independence in judging the perpetrators of crime make him a compelling figure.\u00a0 He doesn’t always follow the letter of the law, but he does act justly and humanely.\u00a0 Our admiration for Holmes\u2019 morality and talents, along with his unique and appealing personality quirks, ensure his long-term fame and heroism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By George R. Goethals and Scott T. Allison Can a nerdy detective become a hero? The answer is yes. There are many examples \u2013 Columbo, Ellery Queen, and Jessica Fletcher come to mind. But perhaps the greatest of these nerdy heroes was Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes in the … Continue reading The Fame and Heroism of Sherlock Holmes<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1159,1171],"tags":[162015],"class_list":["post-5470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fictional-heroes","category-legendary-heroes","tag-sherlock-holmes-hero"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phawtM-1qe","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5470"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5476,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5470\/revisions\/5476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/heroes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}