Colegiul Romano-Catolic Sfntul Iosif

Proiect pentru obinerea atestrii

profesionale n

Limba Englez
Titlul lucrrii:
The different perspectives of
Sherlock Holmes

Profesor coordonator: Ciobotaru

Antoaneta

Elev: Crian Andrei

Bucureti

Mai 2015

Table of contents
The Argument..........................................3
The beginning of Sherlock, literature.......4
A study in Scarlet.................................5
The new Sherlock, cinematography.........9
Sherlock Holmes: A game of shadows..10
Sherlock(2010) TV series...................14
Conclusion.............................................16
Bonus.....................................................17
Can there ever be a person like
Sherlock?.............................................17
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Bibliography...........................................18

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The Argument
I chose this topic because of the possibility of
treating multiple views of a single character, Sherlock
Holmes. The next pages will consider treating this
character of British literature and highlighting differences
and similarities between different views, the cinematic
one, literary, etc ..
First, we'll see how Sherlock was described in
literature, what inspired the author and how real is
everything. There was a super-man? A genius? more
importantly than that, can there ever be a person like
Sherlock?
In the second part, we will go through Sherlock's
modern vision, like Sherlock Holmes TV series and many
other elements which will be detailed soon.
I propose you to start this "journey" through the
history of this character, and, like any good journey, we
must begin with the beginning...

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The beginning of Sherlock, literature

Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character created by
Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a
graduate of the University of Edinburgh Medical School. A
London-based "consulting detective"
whose abilities
border on the fantastic, Holmes is known for his
astute(clever) logical reasoning and his ability to adopt
almost any disguise.
Holmes, who first appeared in print in 1887, was
featured in four novels and 56 short stories. The first
novel, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in Beeton's Christmas
Annual in 1887 and the second, The Sign of the Four, in
Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. The character's
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popularity grew with the first series of short stories in The

Strand Magazine, beginning with "A Scandal in Bohemia"
in 1891; additional short-story series and two novels
(published in serial form) appeared from then to 1927.
The events in the stories take place from about 1880 to
1914.
All but four stories are narrated by Holmes's friend
and biographer, Dr. John Watson while two are narrated
by Holmes himself ("The Adventure of the Blanched
Soldier" and "The Adventure of the Lion's Mane"), and
two others are written in the third person ("The
Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" and "His Last Bow").

A study in Scarlet
The story begins with Dr.John Watson, the narrator,
setting in London to recover from a wound and illness he
sustained while he was in the second Afghan War, he was
a military doctor. One day, he runs into an acquitance,
Stamford. They began speaking and Watson confides in
his friend that he needs a new living arrangement since
last place was too expensive. Stamford responds that
another friend of him has the same desire, so he takes
Watson to a laboratory where Sherlock were working on a
experiment.
Stamford gives some background information on
Holmes, such as the fact that he is eccentric and brilliant.
After a while Sherlock and Watson talked they decide to
live togheter. Watson started noticing the enigmatic
Holmes and notes his strange behaviour.
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One day, Watson notices an article about the Art of

deduction based on observation. The main idea of this
article was:

The tiniest detail can yield a

multiplicity of information
Watson scoffs at this theory, but he is surprised to
discover that Holmes was the author. After that, Holmes
tells Watson that he is a consultant detective and laments
that there werent a good case from a while.
However, a good case soon drops when Scotland
Yard detective, Gregson, asked Sherlock to assist him in
solving a recent crime, Holmes claims that John has to
come with him and they traveled to the crime place, an
empty house in London. They observe cab prints on the
street and footprints in the garden, a man who has been
poisoned but not robbed in a room and the word
RACHE(revenge) wrote with blood on the wall. When
they lifted the body a wedding ring falls off.
Over the next couple of days Watson watched more
pieces of the puzzle fall into place for Holmes. He
informed Watson how he determined the murderer's age
and height from his observations, as well as his
complexion. An interview with the constable on duty that
night revealed that a drunken man in the street was
actually probably the murderer returned for the ring. In
the middle of the investigation, another Scotland Yard
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detective on the case named Lestrade, whom Holmes

respected, bursts into the Holmes and Watsons
apartment announcing that Stangerson had also been
killed. This turned out to be a result of a stabbing, not
poison. In Stangerson's room was a box of the pills that
Holmes identified as the method of death for Drebber.

With this piece of information Holmes excitedly

announces that his investigation is complete. Moments
later, a cab driver that Holmes called for arrived to pick
him up. Holmes burst out that this man, Jefferson Hope, is
the murderer of Drebber and Stangerson. With the help of
Watson and the detectives, the man was subdued. This is
the end of part one.
Part two begins with a vivid description of the
American desert where are two travelers who struggle to
survive after the death of their companions, John Ferrier
and his daughter Lucy. They were rescued by a caravan of
people trough their exodus. Their leader, Brigham Young,
allowed the two travelers to come with them only if John
converts. He did and the caravan continued to Utah.
The subsequent years have passed and Johns
daughter grown up and become beautiful and
independent. One day she was saved from near death in
a herd of stampeding cattle by the handsome, solitary,
and industrious hunter/miner Jefferson Hope. The two fell
in love and Ferrier gave them his permission to marry
when Hope returned from a few months' journey.
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To Brigham Young, this was unacceptable, so he

visited personally John and commanded Lucy to marry
one of the sons of the Elders, Enoch Drebber and Joseph
Stangerson. He gave John a month for her to decide.
Drebber and Stangerson arrogantly visited Ferrier's
house to talk to him about Lucy, but he threw them out.
This egregious act of disrespect increased the
surveillance and threats levied upon Ferrier and his
daughter. Finally, the night before the month was up,
Jefferson Hope arrived at their home in the middle of the
night and the three escaped into the mountains.
Unfortunately, when Hope went off to hunt game to feed
the famished escapees, he returned to an empty
campsite Ferrier had been murdered and Lucy abducted
for marriage.
Obviously, Hope wanted revenge, and
now we should make the connection with the word wroted
with blood on the wall, RACHE. So, John tracked them
along the years and when they were in London he set up
in motion his plan to murder them.
At this point the narrative returns to Holmes, Watson,
the detectives, and their detainee. Hope was taken to the
police station but asks to tell his tale because he would
not be going to be able to have a trial or go to prison. The
men learned this was because Hope had an aortic
aneurism that could burst any day. He was allowed to
finish his narrative.
Hope explained how he got a job as a cab driver and
tracked Drebber and Stangerson. He caught Drebber
drunk one night and killed him with poison. He tried to do
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the same with Stangerson but had to stab him in selfdefense when the latter fought back. He remained driving
the cab for a few days so as to not appear suspicious. The
next day Hope was discovered dead of the aneurism, a
peaceful smile upon his face.
Holmes spoke with Watson about his ability to reason
backwards; this method helped him solve the case.The
novel ends with Holmes and Watson reading a newspaper
article about the end of the investigation; it only
mentions Holmes as an amateur detective who helped
but gave primary credit to Lestrade and Gregson.
To conclude this section of the study, we have to
establish some features of Sherlock Holmes ( the first
perspective ):

Attentive
Objective
Arrogant
Brilliant

Therefore, in my opinion, the author creates a nonhuman character. Sherlock is brilliant, but he is
adrenaline addicted and arrogant. This negative features
are meant to give Sherlock a human breeze. And the
question is: May the modern Sherlock be different?
And how? Why?

The new Sherlock, cinematography

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In this section I will treat two types of cinema, a film

and a TV series. "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of
Shadows(2011)" is the film that I will use as an object of
study and analysis, and "Sherlock(2010)" will be the TV
series, used for the same purpose. From the outset I
would like to mark a difference between this two types of
cinema, the production country:
USA, when it comes to film;
UK, when it comes to TV series;
First will come the film and then the TV series.

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Sherlock Holmes: A game of shadows

It was 1891. France and Germany were at

loggerheads because of recent bombings. Some blamed
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on anarchists, others blamed nationalists, but as usual,

my friend, Sherlock had an entirely different theory.,
thats how John Hamish Watson begins his story about
this adventure. After this, the action moves on Sherlock
that showcase his skills of camouflage since the
beginning of the film, been disguised as a seller and
adressing a lady with a package in her hands. From the
first minute of the film, Sherlock proves his talent of
observations, noting that the lady was pursued by three
men.

Despite this evidence of the remarkable talent that

Sherlock held, I could not help noticing the feeling that
the film gives and does not quite fit with the first
Sherlock, that of literature, namely that he seems more
human. The look in his eyes, gestures related to that
woman, all this shows a real attraction to her, which is

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somewhat inconsistent with the original image created by

Sherlock.
The story continues by further evidence of skills, this
time among fighting, Sherlock being able to cope with
four men in a melee.
Afterwards, Watson visits Sherlock at his home,
reminding him of his wedding and also that Sherlock had
to organize "bachelor evening" for Watson. The two go to
the city where, rather, Sherlock is to work on the case of
attacks. The two meet Mycroft, Sherlock's brother, in a
local and Sherlock go to obtain information from a
"witch".
The "witch" is attacked, and Sherlock helped her, but
she flees from him too and not allow him to get too many
informations.
Morning comes, and Watson must reach his own
wedding being hungover. Sherlock, who goes there as the
best man take care of him and bring him there, but the
emphasis is not on the wedding.
The action moves to Professor Moriarty receiving
Sherlock's visit and during the discussion, threatens John
and his wife, Mary.
John together with Mary were in the train to where
they would spend their honeymoon. Soon the two are
attacked by Moriarty's men. Luckily Sherlock is there to
defend. After the train scene, which is quite controversial
because Sherlock threw out Mary from the train for two
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reasons: not trusting him(he could not rely on her) and

that it is too dangerous, they followed the road to find the
"witch". In Next, after 'witch' was found and obtained the
necessary information from it, will follow her brother, who
was working for Moriarty.

The main storyline is the battle between Sherlock

Holmes and James Moriarty, a professor, a real genius, a
narcissist and boxing champion during college. James
Moriarty follows the outbreak of World War through a well
thought out plan. Sherlock manages to defeat Moriarty
but at a huge price, his life.
The new Sherlock is as smart as selfish as the first
Sherlock, but here is putting more emphasis on his
fighting skills, more than brilliance. Moreover, Sherlock is
more humanized in this film and has moments where his
weaknesses are clear and sometimes he seems defeated.
So we can conclude that as time passed and the
"not-human" Sherlock has become more "human". In this
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film Sherlock fight melee more and disguises more, but I

still missed that part of the movie that will surprise you in
the terms of his intelligence, or was not detailed enough.
Although we all expect a brilliance when we hear of
Sherlock Holmes, but he still manages to surprise us and
make us say:"Wow, is more brilliant than I imagined."
the film was good, but not wonderful.
Now, lets review what trait we discovered compared
with the first:
Traits
Attentive
Objective
Arrogant
Brilliant

The first Sherlock

The film
Less
not surprisingly

To conclude this section, I must ask myself : In

2011(the year of the film) Sherlock got human, or is this
just the USA view?
And the only way I can aswer myself is the TV series,
produced by UK. How UK will see its own star?

Sherlock(2010) TV series

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The Tv series follow almost the same script, but the

action is placed in our time. I watched three seasons and
also had the pleasure to watch an episode with the action
of the film too.
In terms of action, it is much more restricted /
concentrated, given the time shorter by about 30 minutes
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of the episode compared with the film, but the creators of

the series (Mark Gattis & Steven Moffat) took care to
supplement each episode with a Sherlock at full capacity.
Since the first episode, which treats even the theme of
the first novels (A Study in Scarlet) Sherlock is a genius,
and every aspect of its deduction is very well detailed.
The action of the film took place in Season 2, Episode
3. Until this episode, and even this one, I rarely saw this
Sherlock fighting or disguising. The English have focused
precisely on what the Americans have not, namely on his
brilliant intelligence and maladjustment to society. Even if
in the film Sherlock is anti-social and strange, in the true
sense of the word, this incompatibility is not felt by his
attitude, but the TV Series Sherlock is "delicious" from
this point of view, going over strange habits such doing
drugs because he is bored, to shoot with a gun, etc., it is
not about arrogance, but the feeling that makes it clear
that he is above all.
Although, such in the film, Sherlock's weakness is
John and Mrs Hudson (just in serial). Sherlock not really
seemed dominated by Moriarty for a second, and finally
Moriarty won (apparently) forcing Sherlock to humiliate
and to kill himself, but this after he killed himself also,
with a gun. The drama and madness are truly impressive
show, Moriarty was not only a teacher or a genius but a
psychopath. A psychopath like Sherlock, one who loves
the "Game of Shadows".

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So, I have to recommend the TV Series because it is

more real, sometime even too real. Now lets review our
table with all the informations we gathered:
Traits
Attentive
Objective
Arrogant
Brilliant

The first
Sherlock

The film

The TV Series

Less
not
surprisingly

More

(The comparison of both, the film and the serial, are with the first
Sherlock)

Conclusion
In conclusion, the first Sherlock represents the
perfect balance between an arrogant attitude and
brilliance. "Elementary, my dear readers", Holmes is not
only a detective(but he is the best at this ), is a friend, a
true friend to Watson and beyond the appearance of this
"perfect detective" is a man, not by his flaws, but by
qualities, the quality of "loving" Watson, in his unique and
strange way.
Knowing the story of two largely do not know why I
let hottest impressed by Sherlock, detective, or their
friendship?

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Bonus
Can there ever be a person like Sherlock?
Ill go with no. The answer of this stays in the
inspiration sources for the character:
Doyle said that Holmes was inspired by Joseph Bell, a
surgeon at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh for whom he
had worked as a clerk. Like Holmes, Bell was noted for
drawing broad conclusions from minute observations.
However, he later wrote to Conan Doyle: "You are yourself
Sherlock Holmes and well you know it". 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 Doyle with a link between medical investigation
and the detection of crime.
Another inspiration is thought to be Francis "Tanky"
Smith, a policeman and master of disguise who went on
to become Leicester's first private detective.
So. Sherlock is the product of several
personalities concentrated in one. There will be no
person like Sherlock because Sherlock is a team
of abilities collected from different people.

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Bibliography

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes
A study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Donan Coyle, 1887
Sherlock (2010)
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows ( 2011 )

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