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Titlul lucrării:

The different perspectives of Sherlock Holmes

Profesor coordonator: Ciobotaru Antoaneta Elev: Crișan Andrei

București

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

Bibliography............................................................18

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 popularity grew with the first series of short stories in The Strand

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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 ScarletThe 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.

One day, Watson notices an article about the „Art of deduction based on observation”. The main idea of this article was:

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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 weren’t 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 detective on the case named Lestrade, whom Holmes respected, bursts into the Holmes’ and Watson’s 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.

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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 John’s 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.

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

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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 the same with Stangerson but had to stab him in self-defense 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.

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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 „non-human” 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

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 on anarchists, others blamed nationalists, but as usual, my friend, Sherlock had an entirely different theory.”, that’s how John Hamish Watson begins his story about this „adventure”. After this, the action moves on Sherlock that showcase his

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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 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

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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 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.

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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 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, let’s review what trait we discovered compared with the first:

Traits The first Sherlock The filmAttentiveObjectiveArrogant LessBrilliant 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?

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And the only way I can aswer myself is the TV series, produced by UK. How UK will see it’s 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 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.

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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".

So, I have to recommend the TV Series because it is more real, sometime even „too real”. Now let’s review our table with all the informations we gathered:

Traits The first Sherlock The film The TV SeriesAttentiveObjectiveArrogant Less MoreBrilliant not surprisingly

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

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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?

I’ll 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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