Korayma Arriaga Professor Lynda Haas Writing 37 12 February 2014 Thirst for Puzzles: An inside view of Sherlock Holmes

I never remember feeling tired by work, though idleness exhausts me completely. (Conan Doyle Loc 881) The irony portrayed by Sherlock Holmes in this quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyles novel, The Sign of the Four; depicts a mentality that opposes from the common human being, who usually end up tired from working, while for Holmes not working is indeed what tires him instead. The Sign of the Four, published in 1890 during the Victorian Era, begins with a client named Mary Morstan seeking help from the only unofficial consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. John Watson, to figure out her fathers mysterious disappearance from 10 years ago after the request to meet with the mysterious donator of a pearl for the past 6 years. Thaddeus Sholto, the mysterious sender, explains the occurrences about the tie between her father, Major Morstan and his father, Major Sholto with a treasure from India that he recently discovered along with his twin brother Bartholomew Sholto who was found dead and the treasure stolen by Jonathan Small, who was captured and revealed the truth behind the treasure. A text under the mystery genre must include a crime that was committed early in the story, evidence/ clues left behind so that the detective (who should be introduced to the audience early on in the story), then solves the case along with his sidekick, as stated in Steven Pressfield Online article. Sherlock Holmes, a fictional yet believable character in Conan Doyles texts, is an

eccentric character whose distinct personality becomes heavily significant in solving crimes in the mystery texts. Holmes unparalleled skills to those of others, allow him to work efficiently in the stimulating process of solving a mystery. My mind, he said, rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.(Conan Doyle 1) Holmes yearning for cases to stimulate his mind shows his unique character that not only makes him stand out during the Victorian Era by showing off his abilities to deduce, but it also shows how without a case/work he becomes desperate to the point where drugging himself is the only way to keep him sane. Conan Doyle uses much detail when describing an aspect about Holmes, for example the addition of the extra words: abstruse, intricate, and proper contribute to further developing our knowledge and concept about Holmes. With the addition of the word abstruse, the audience is able to deduce that Holmes practices and observations are complicated to understand, which is completely true, therefore Doyle proves the purpose of writing through Watsons perspective to be able to later comprehend and follow along Holmes on his adventure to solving another crime. Foreshadowing can be formed by Conan Doyles excess use of detail; keeping in mind that Holmes success in solving a crime is due primarily to his keen ability to observe any and all details present, it is notable that Conan Doyle purposely added the extra details to his texts allowing his intended audience to play along and shadow Holmes solving a crime. In contrast to the police detectives that existed during the Victorian Era, who not only performed their job for the pleasure of obtaining credit from the society, but also for the monetary recompense, Holmes did not help solve crimes for the money, but instead for the thrill

and challenge he received from performing the task. In the opening of The Sign of the Four, Holmes injects himself with a seven percentile solution of cocaine, indicating that he is a drug addict. As Watson questions Holmes about how bad his addiction is, Holmes character is greatly illustrated as a matter-of-fact, emotionless man who stresses about not having a case and having the urgency to stimulate his mind through performing an experiment or drugging himself. Surely, police detectives viewed him as a psychopath with the ability to even kill to get his mind stimulated, however they did not hold the skills (observation, deduction, and knowledge) that a detective should have to be able to solve a case. Holmes choice of setting emotions aside and adhering to cold facts, which validate his conclusions, differentiates his personality from everyone else who chooses to use their heart. Holmes eccentricity enacts a socially awkward character whose ability to be different aids him in the process of solving crimes, as Conan Doyle presents him in his texts. Modern day texts including: Sherlock BBC, Psych, House, and Elementary portray an updated version of Holmes, all have that one-of-a-kind eccentric character that leads them to the conclusion of a case. Even though, these modernized characters representing Holmes change a certain aspect of him, ranging from Sherlock in the BBC show who becomes more likeable due to his ability to quit his smoking addiction through the usage of nicotine patches, to Shawn Spencer from Psych who lies about who he is, claiming he is a psychic, contradicting the originality of Holmes, who states only the truth, in the end they all share the common goal of solving a case through the usage of their multiple skills that their individual personalities allows them to.

Works Cited Conan Doyle, Arthur. The Sign of Four. 1890. Books. 13 Feb. 2014 Farrell, Kirby. "HEROISM, CULTURE, AND DREAD IN "THE SIGN OF FOUR"" JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. "What It Takes: Conventions and Obligatory Scenes." Steven Pressfield Online RSS. Shawn Coyne, 25 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014.