Funmilayo Sokabi

Prof. Lynda Haas

Writing 37
26 November 2014
Analysis of Holmes Holmes
The consistency of Holmes Holmes' personality has enabled the character, originally
created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to be both mirrored and adapted by modern day texts such as
BBC's Holmes and CBS's Elementary to appeal to the audiences of the detective genre while still
staying true to the character. The modern Holmes character has been depicted as an arrogant,
socially inept, intellectual sociopath that closely mirrors the character Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
set out to portray. The detective is used as a gateway into the detective genre to assist in luring
the audience into a story. The behavior, mannerisms and eccentricities of the detective allow his
personality to lure in the audience to begin the game that the director and author so cleverly have
laid out.
In CBS's Elementary, Holmes Holmes' character is depicted as (insert descriptive
adjectives of Holmes' behavior along the lines of eccentrics, intellectuality, social ineptness),
similar to Doyle's first depiction of Holmes in the Victorian era. In the first episode
of Elementary, we are introduced to the modern day Holmes. Holmes who in the first instance of
meeting Joan Watson recites an entire monologue expressing his undying love for her, which
turns out to be a scene from a show he was observing moments before her arrival. In this scene,
we're introduced to Holmes' abrasive personality that Holmes' is well known for. In this scene
alone, we've learned that not only is Holmes a recluse, but he is also socially inept. This
convention in the modern day version of Holmes mirrors the conventions of Doyle's original
Holmes. Holmes's abrasive character makes for a more appealing protagonist because he is a

protagonist that we can at time question whether his intentions were good or bad. Another
convention we are introduced to when meeting Holmes is ability to observe. Within moments of
meeting Joan Watson he was able to deduce details of her life that she had yet to share with
Holmes. This is appealing to the reader because it seems that Holmes has a "superpower" that is
not available to us. His personality made it easy for Holmes' to become reclusive enough to be
able to develop the observation skills it took for him to become this way. Classic Sherlock
Holmes conventions such as his lack of ability to care for the feelings of those around him were
part of the reason he became such a great detective. Both the modern and classical texts depict
Holmes, according to English Scholar T.J. Binyon, as "another proud, alienated hero, superior to
and isolated from the rest of humanity" (10). His superiority complex and abrasive personality
assisted in his isolation which then led to him dedicating his time to becoming the detective he is.
Holmes is character consistency throughout the century has kept Holmes such an alluring
character.
In BBC's Sherlock, Sherlock Holmes' character mirrors the Doyle character
entirely except in his relationship with the people around him. In Watson and Holmes' first
encounter, in the first episode of Sherlock, Watson is introduced to Holmes through a mutual
friend. When Watson first enters the room Holmes barely acknowledges Watson's existence and
then continues to work on his experiment. When Watson first speaks Holmes replies with
observations he's made about Watson within the first two minutes of their introductions. In this
adaption of Sherlock Holmes Watson and Holmes' first meeting is almost exactly identical to the
classical Holmes in Conan Doyle's book. In the first episode of Sherlock, A Study in
Pink, Holmes' his character begins to develop into the same archetype that was developed by
Doyle. When Holmes is recounting to Watson how he found out details about him that no one
knows about, the camera begins to zoom in on details that were hard to see or make obvious
before because we didn't care to pay any attention to them. As the camera zooms in on these
details, superimposed words are written over the details to bring more attention and tell us what

we are meant to be observing. The director chose to do this because, it is meant to bring attention
to the details that we are meant to observe. The zoom brings attention to these details because it
allows us, the audience to feel like we are also following the case along with Holmes and
Watson. We are given the opportunity to play the game that, according to Dove is one of the four
qualities of literary detection, along with: a transitory detective story, that the story is
intellectually undertaking, and its limited structure (3). These conventions are also evident in the
classical version of Sherlock Holmes where the detective's deduction skills are highlighted by the
language in which Doyle uses to allow the reader to imagine that they are deducing along with
Holmes. This game that forms whenever the reader is reading or the audience is watching creates
a type of formulaic game that draws the reader in and allows them to feel that they too are going
through the motions of solving the case. In both versions, both classic and modern the detectives
ability to deduce opens a window to observation in a way that never occurred to the reader
beforehand. In Prigozy and Delameter's literature review of Conan Doyle's books, "[they] offer
here two tentative speculations about why the detective story has become so canonical. One of
them deals with the special significance of the unique form of the detective story itself, white the
second is a notion about why the theme of crime and detection has become increasingly
important on a global level" (Prigozy, Delamater 1). Doyle's pocket genius and the foregoing of
every romanticized detail enabled the reader to be drawn into a story and feel as though the
occurrences in the book could also happen to them. "The recreational value of the detective
fiction has always been recognized by the reading public, and a veteran reader can testify to the
pleasure of curling up with a good whodunit' in the evening" (Dove 2). The detective genre has
been able to thrive from century to century due to the style of the writers that have been adapted
from time after time. "I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his process
of deduction. When I hear you give your reasons,' I remarked, the thing always appears to me
to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of
your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as
good as yours'" (Doyle).These writers have engaged their readers to allow themselves to delve

into a world that allows them to escape their own. They keep the reader wanting more through
the formal pattern and the duplicitous plot. These conventions have allowed for each story to
appeal to readers no matter the era. The interactive storyline draws in the reader and allows them
to, not only read the book, but also be a part of its plot. "The recreational value of the detective
fiction has always been recognized by the reading public, and a veteran reader can testify to the
pleasure of curling up with a good whodunit' in the evening" (Dove 2).By keeping the stories
short and concise the author is allowing the regular middle class man to sit and be able to allow
himself to delve into a story that captures his attention immediately. Not only is the reader able
to read about these stories, but he is able to participate in the crime while following the "game
rules" set out by the author.
Sherlock Holmes has gained immortality through the conventions that has made
the detective genre so pertinent. Through conventions as showing the flaws in the detective, a
short storyline with an interactive plot and the relatable characters the detective genre ahs
survived the test of time.

Works Cited
Binyon, T.J. "Murder Will Out": The Detective in Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1989. PDF File.
Delamater, Jerome and Ruth Prigozy, eds. Theory and Practice of Classic Detective
Fiction. New York: Praeger, 1997. Print. PDF File.
Dove, George N. "The Different Story." The Reader and the Detective Story. Bowling Green,
OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997. PDF File.
Panek, Leroy. "Doyle." An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling
Green State University Popular Press, 1987. PDF File.