Victorian Detective Genre and Sherlock Holmes

Paper Summary:

Victorian Detective Genre is formed around a criminal offensive, which includes a protector of justice (usually a detective), a motive produced by the criminal, clues which are left for the detective to examine, and a criminal. This paper discusses how a common example of this type of writing is that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a doctor at the time of the Victorian era who started writing small newspaper stories which were crafted to his audience with excellence. His main character was a master at solving crimes, a very well educated gentleman with a unique charm which pleased all of his clients. This man was the famous detective named Sherlock Holmes, created and based on Doyle's own medical knowledge. The paper compares some of the stories from the Sherlock Holmes collection to show how Doyle uses Victorian detective genre throughout while using historical references and various quotes from Sherlock Holmes books.

From the Paper:

"'The Speckled Band', 'Silver Blaze' and 'The Cardboard Box' were all stories where a murder had taken place. Both the stories 'The Speckled Band' and 'Silver Blaze' were based on murders which were both committed by animals, a snake and a horse. Both stories were in enclosed village areas, and both stories had many red-herrings which were tailored to each case along with the police who often believed these theories. Doyle used red-herrings to direct his audience along another route, while allowing Sherlock to investigate strange and often short explanations, for example 'Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and all of them with the keenest interest'. Doyle showed the audience the same clues as Sherlock saw, so they felt Holmes was more cleaver than them to a certain extent, as they had followed the red-herrings throughout the story. This effect was sewn into the clues so the audience could not tell truth from theory. "

More papers on Victorian Detective Genre and Sherlock Holmes:

• Analytical Essay # 32570 : "Sherlock Holmes"
• Analytical Essay # 8466 : "Sherlock Holmes - the Man and his Enemies"
• Analytical Essay # 66227 : "Sherlock Holmes"

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