Readers and Characters

Doyle, an intelligent and prolific writer who created the everlasting novels of Sherlock
Holmes but also revolutionized the detective genre in its entirety and made it popular to the
reader. Doyle was a very talented writer during his early years, much of his famous work were
depicted on real life circumstances. Holmes was based upon a man named Joseph Bell who was
a former university teacher to Homes, the genre was heavily depicted on the police infrastructure
as being a broken and useless crime stopping system. Doyle was surrounded with many
attributes that directed him into writing detective genres and this contributes to the characters
that Doyle uses in his work to make his novels not just memorable but everlasting. Watson and
Holmes are the characters presented in the novels, whose characteristics are defined differently
however these differences actually connect to the reader into he was not there novel during this
time was able to accomplish, in fact not only these two characters but also minor secondary
characters Doyle's implements into the plot of his novels. These characters drove the popularity
and success that Doyle obtained not just during the Victorian period but still today and made the
detective genre flourish into knew innovative story driven plot.
Doyle changed and altered the course of the detective genre to new ambitious paths that
not only revolutionized the genre but made it into something greater than fiction a reality.
Doyle's work of Sherlock Holmes was not (in a superficial perspective ) the first of its kind,
many authors such as Poe gave detective stories and conventions though his use of{characters}
into literature however Doyle was the first to popularize and demonstrate a true and relatable
story which can traced to Doyle's dynamic characters and unique structure of the novel. Many
writers agree that Doyle revolutionized the detective genre especially Panek who argues that
"Doyle soon shaped the genius to their own down-to-earth values. Thus the developing concept
of the genius joined with a modest concern about the police, and both appealed to a readership
which writers perceived differently"(Panek 19). During this period the conventional detective
character was very bland, there was nothing relatable nothing unique that made the reader want
to emerge himself into the thoughts of the detective. This changed when Doyle created Holmes,
an intellectual man who was a man of conviction, determination, who was painstaking, diligent,
yet was a man who had issues and faults. This was something out of the proportions of the
detective convention, but it worked, his faults appealed to the reader, the reader began having a
connection with Holmes they began seeing him as not as a super-natural genius but as a "downto-earth" guy.

One of the characters that Doyle uses beside his most famous Sherlock Holmes is his
"sidekick" Watson. Watson is introduced in The Study in Scarlet who was remarkably impressed
and interesting in Holmes way of thinking and logic. Watson is then shown to be in every novel
along with Holmes even in the Hound of the Baskerville. Doyle decides to make Watson the
main character plot wise in The Hound of the Baskerville and the story is driven through the eyes
of Watson. This is key factor that Doyle implements into this novel is in the medium that the
story is presented in through Watsons. Doyle mentions this during the interval talk with Holmes
and Watson, "Then my reports have all been wasted ... 'Here are your reports my dear fellow... I
must compliment you exceed upon the zeal and the intelligence which you have shown over an

extraordinarily difficult case'"(Doyle 220). Doyle uses Watson because Watson as the narrator
because the reader and Watson are connected. Holmes is like usual the genius and the ideal way
to reason and think however most people aren't like Holmes, we are more like Watson. Watson is
not the genius but as described in this s quote the "conductor of light"(Doyle 71) who doesn't
"[possesses] genius but [has] a remarkable power of stimulating it"(Doyle 71). In other words,
Watson is the character that isn't ideal but the realistic variant in which we think see or behave in.
Doyle introduces Watson as the key to connect the reader to the story, to the novel through
Watson who despite lacking the intelligence of Holmes is an important factor for the
development of Holmes as he is the " conductor". The remarks of Watson gives connections to
the reader, it brings the reader to the plot and makes the reader continue to read and embark of
the journey with Holmes and Watson.
Although Sherlock and Watson can appeal to the reader in their simplistic yet effective
characterization, Doyle uses other mediums besides his main protagonist in which are the wide
variety of secondary characters that Doyle writes about. Doyle's vast production of novels
contains many wonderful and dynamic characters however the characters mentioned will be
associated with the Hound of The Baskerville and The Final Chapter. Arguably Doyle's greatest
detective story of Holmes, The Hound of the Baskerville, embarks in a journey to one of the
greatest mysteries of all time, the death of Sir Charles by a beast, a hound. This mystery was
paved by the introduction of a very pleasant character who was Mortimer who Watson deduces
to be a self esteem, medical man from a special stick and adds on saying that he is also a country
practitioner (Doyle, 70). The novel begins with this character presenting an issue to Holmes and
Watson and later on Watson goes into seeing the country side of which he is from. Here the
reader starts with a new character who is remarkable but also relatable, Mortimer was a country
man with aspiration and dreams and sought the health fields, the reader felt a connection because
these readers were middle class men and woman who can occupations like Mortimer but also
were part of this country side since most migrated to the cities during the mid 1800s. Much like
Mortimer another character Doyle mentions in this novel is mentioned and happens when
Sherlock turns "into a district office where he was warmly greeted by the manager. 'Ah Wilson, I
see you have not forgotten the little case in which I had the good fortune to help you?'"( Doyle
117). This fellow was a nearby city folk who owned a store and was Sherlock's patients. This
character was hardly mentioned later on but his role gave a setting for the reader to engage to
feel a part of the novel because like Wilson most readers had similar occupations or new people
of the sort and that fed to the readers connections to the novels.
Doyle brought the genre into new heights because of the characters used in the plot that
resembled the reader. Doyle's success as a writer was in large part because of his ability to
connect the reader to a plot to a story that not only entertained but drove new connections for
future writes into the detective genre. Holmes and Watson relation with the reader was a one of a
kind, no one author was able to not only connect the protagonist but also the "sidekick" to the
readers pleasure and enjoyment. These characters drove the plot and suspense that the genre
convention was so famous for and allowed the reader to engage far more into the plot than any

other detective novel. Doyle practical and effective placement of his characters drove this novel
to a popularity that the genre has had yet to see.