Sherlock Holmes

First appearance: 1887

Era: Late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries

Created by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Episode count: Four Novels

Fifty-six short stories

Information

Gender: Male

Occupation: Consulting detective

Nationality: English
 Arthur Conan Doyle
(1859 1930)

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan

Doyle was born in
Edinburgh of Irish Catholic
parents. He is most noted
for his stories about the
detective Sherlock Holmes.

He was a prolific writer

whose other works include
science fiction stories,
historical novels, plays and
romances, poetry, and non-
fiction. As well as being a
writer, he was also a
physician.
 SHERLOCK HOLMES:
INTRODUCTION
Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant London-
based detective. He is famous for being
very intelligent and using his observation
skills and forensic science to solve
difficult cases.

Conan Doyle wrote four novels and fifty-

six short stories that feature Holmes. The
Hound of the Baskervilles was serialised
in The Strand Magazine between 1901
and 1902.

All but four stories are narrated by

Holmes friend and biographer, Dr. John
H. Watson, two are narrated by Holmes
himself and two others are written in the
third person.
 Habits and personality

Holmes is described as a bohemian. He is an

eccentric, with no regard for normal standards of
tidiness or good order. What appears to others
as chaos, however, is to Holmes a wealth of
useful information. He frequently smokes a pipe
when considering his cases. He also plays the
violin to a high standard.
Holmes sometimes uses morphine, which
was legal in England at this time. Both Watson
and Holmes are heavy smokers of tobacco.
Dr Watson reflects Victorian medical thought
by having no medical objection to Holmes' drug
use. However, he disapproves of his friend's
habit, describing it as the detective's "only vice,"
and expressing concern over its possible effect
on Holmes' mental health and intelligence.
 Life with Dr Watson

Holmes shares the majority of his

professional years with Dr Watson.
Watson has two roles in Holmes' life.
First, he helps with cases; he is the
detective's right-hand man.
Second, he is Holmes' chronicler. Most
of the Holmes stories are narrated from
Watson's point of view as summaries of the
detective's most interesting cases.
 Role in the history of the detective
story

The name of Sherlock Holmes

has become a by-word for the
part. His stories also include
several detective story
characters such as the loyal
but less intelligent assistant, a
role for which Dr Watson has
become the archetype.
The investigating detective
became a popular genre after
the demise of Holmes.
Forensic methods became less
important than the psychology
of the criminal, despite the
strong growth in forensics in
use by the police in the early
20th century.
 Elementary my dear
Watson!

The most typical Holmes phrase is:

Elementary my dear Watson!
when he explains to Watson the
solution of the case. But really this
famous phrase was never written by
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It first
appeared in one of the film
adaptations.
 Why Sherlock Holmes Still
Lives
For nearly two centuries, Sherlock Holmes has interested readers
with his unparalleled intelligence and incomparable crime-solving
ability. The genre of crime fiction became very popular in the
nineteenth century, as it was a time of great intellectual
advancement.
Thanks to the influences of the Enlightenment and the Industrial
Revolution, advances in science, technology, and rational thought
began to find their way into literature.
Victorian writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle incorporated these
modern ideas into his fictional work, lending the credibility of
science to the practical tasks of criminal detection and
investigation.
He was a pioneer, paving the way for the inclusion of science and
criminology in literature.