“You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.”
Sherlock Holmes's quote from “The Scandal of Bohemia” can be compared
with Aldous Huxley, in "The Art of Seeing", who summed up visual
communication, "The more you know; the more you see." Understanding
yesterday's and today's Sherlock Holmes, connects both Sherlock's and
Huxley's conclusion: if you observe the little details and clues around
you and understand what you observe; it can lead you to an important
insight. This paper will explore the six perspectives in how the
written, and visual aspects of Sherlock Holmes's character has been
created and communicated into an exceptionally strong identity that
resonates among the generations of Sherlock Holmes fans. (Lester, P.M.,
p. 11,2011) ( Huxley, A., 2012)
( gutenberg.org, 2012)
Personal Perspective
When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first wrote the stories of the
masterly detective Sherlock Holmes, the public's fascination about the
character and his role in solving crimes, suddenly increased
enthusiastically. Holmes solved cases through his magnifying glass and
discovered traces of evidence with all the tools available that existed
in the late 19
th century. Today, this immortal detective's popularity continues to be viable. In the 21
st
century, the tools of technology have made Sherlock's powers of
deduction more explosive. Holmes's continues to exhibited an
extraordinary ability to gather evidence through his honed skills of
observation and deductive reasoning. Although he has difficulties with
social interactions, his only loyal friend and colleague is Dr. John H.
Watson, who brings humanity and humility to Holmes. (BBC, 2012) (PBS,
2012) (gutenberg, 2012)
Sherlock Holmes character bears
the mark of longevity from the Scottish creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
and all who read those countless Sherlock Holmes short stories when
they were younger. Even today, Sherlock resides at 221 Baker Street,
London with his friend and colleague Dr. John Watson. The admired
detective solves cases with his comrade, Dr. Watson whose character Sir
Conan Doyle portrays as a competent loyal ally to Holmes and also a
disabled army physician from Afghanistan. What is so attractive about
Sherlock Holmes is his dual personality that brings out his brilliance
in deduction, while at the same time he can easily become bored when
there are no puzzles or crimes to be solved. The British Broadcasting
Corporation Channel's (BBC) modern Sherlock frequently states he is in
'his mind palace' when trying to solve crimes. He uses what one may
call an ancient Greek Method of Loci, a memory technique that dates
back to 500 B.C. (BBC, 2012) (PBS, 2012)(healthdiscovery, 2012)
The method of Loci is based on the assumption that you remember
best when you place that memory in a familiar place in your mind
location which will serve as a clue to remember. The method is usually
used by people who are good at visualizing. Many of the Greek and
Roman orators use the Loci method as a memory tool to give speeches
without the aid of notes. The Loci method works well, because it
enhances the way you remember. You visualize rooms in your mind's
house as departments to store the memory for a particular item. After
visualizing the item using all your physical senses (smell, feel, see,
hear, etc) , you store the information in a particular room in your
house. (howstuffworks, 2012)
Historical Perspective
Author Sir Arthur C. Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories helped
unleash the passion for mystery and detection that has persisted for
over a century, along with recognition spanning over the world.
Sherlock was modeled after Dole's medical professor, physician Joseph
Bell at the University of Edinburgh. Arthur Doyle admired Dr. Bell's
extraordinary ability for observation, logic, deduction and diagnosis.
Thus, by using the unique persona of Dr. Bell's abilities, the famous
fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, was born. (SherlockHolmesonline,
2012)
In order to understand the time-line of the
public's fascination to Sherlock Holmes, the time-line of Sir Author
Conan Doyle has to be recognized as well. As a writer, as well as a
physician, the young Conan Doyle was better known for his written work
in America than in England. His first novel “A Study In Scarlet” was
first published 1887 in Beeton's Christmas Annual, in which the novel
introduces both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. It was not until 1889,
that a publisher of the Lippincott's Monthly Magazine from
Philadelphia, U.S.A. wanted to establish a British edition for his
magazine. After meeting with Doyle and another well know writer, Oscar
Wilde, Doyle was commissioned to write a short novel for the magazine.
On February 1890, “The Sign of Four” was then published in both
America and England and instrumental in establishing name recognition
for both Conan Doyle and the eccentric pipe smoking detective Sherlock
Holmes. But it was not until Doyle started to write for “The Strand”
magazine later that year, that the 'image' of Holmes was created by a
talented illustrator, Sidney Paget. Paget used his handsome brother as
a model to create Sherlock's image. From that point onward, the
author, the magazine, and the artist established recognition around
the world. (SherlockHolmesonline, 2012)
In 1891, The
Strand serialized the antics of the famous detective 'Holmes' and his
side kick 'Dr. Watson' with the arch-enemy professor Moriarty in “The
Scandal of Bohemia”. After a few years, Doyle became tired of the
short stories surrounding Holmes and decided after a trip back from
Switzerland, that Sherlock had to come to an end. In 1893, the “The
Final Problem” was published and the famous “Sherlock Holmes and
professor Moriarty plunged to their death at the Reichenbach Falls” in
Switzerland. This resulted in 20,000 people canceling their “The
Strand Magazine” subscriptions. (SherlockHolmesonline, 2012)
Nineteen hundred was the year the Boer War started. This was the
year Doyle decided to get involved in a war instead of just writing
about battles of the war. Age and weight kept him from being enlisted,
so he decided he would volunteer as a physician. After Doyle was
accepted, he went to Africa. This time he battled the microbes while
writing a 500 page chronicle of the war “The Great Boer War”.
(SherlockHolmesonline, 2012)
After the war, Canon
Doyle spent some time in the Devonshire moors in England. Back to
writing again, Doyle decided to bring back Sherlock Holmes (as if the
detective had never vanished) and wrote and published in “The Strand”
magazine “The Hounds of The Baskervilles” in 1901. Today, this story
remains the favorite of the world-wide public. Doyle wrote a total of
56 short stories and 4 novels involving Sherlock and Watson. There
also has been numerous of films and TV series depicting Conan Doyle's
stories. (SherlockHolmesonline, 2012)
TechnologyPerspective
In the late 1890s, Holmes uses forensic tools such as a
magnifying glass, microscope, and assortment of dissolving chemicals in
order to do research on evidence found around the crime scene.
Microscopic analysis in the today's laboratory is very important in
forensic chemistry in crime investigations, such as in the 1927 “The
Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place”. Sherlock Holmes had been bending
for a long time over a low-power microscope. "Now he straightened
himself up and looked around at me in triumph." “It is glue, Watson,”
said he . . . “Those hairs are threads from a tweed coat. The irregular
grey masses are dust. There are epithelial scales on the left. Those
brown blobs in the centre are undoubtedly glue . . . Since I ran down
that coiner by the zinc and copper fillings in the seam of his cuff,
they [Scotland Yard] have begun to realize the importance of the
microscope.”
. (freeservers, 2012) (BBC, 2012) (PBS, 2012)
Since the late 19
th
century the beginnings of forensic science was sprouting.
Accordingly to Forensic Science -History, Sir Francis Galton reveals
finger prints are “unique and do not change with age”. In 1890,
Scotland Yard used a system that a French police official, Alphonse
Bertillon, developed. The Bertillon systems used 11 body measurements
and dimensions that were photograph. It was considered one in 250
million chance that two people would have the same dimensions and
measurements. In 1894, finger prints were added to the Bertillon
system. By today's means, Sherlock Holmes would fit in like a
glove in forensic science. The 21
st century gives Sherlock
has technology at his finger tips, his laptop, his smart-phone, a
forensics laboratory, contact with Scotland Yard and/or British police
and of course his innate ability to resolve a complex cases from the
smallest of clues. Today's Sherlock displays a self-conscience
emphasis on aligning both its narrative and visual style with text
messaging and the Internet. It also should be noted that the
modern-day Sherlock's thoughts and observations have been sub-titled
on the screen in all “Sherlock” TV BBCs episodes (jrank, 2012) (PBS,
2012)
The recent BBC Series I consists of three stories.
"A Study of Pink" loosely based upon Doyle's "A Study in Pink." The”
Great Game" is based upon several Doyle's novels including "A Study in
Scarlet", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Adventure of the Retired
Colourman", "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty", "The Adventure of the
Final Problem", and A Scandal in Bohemia". The “Blind Banker” episode is
based from Doyle's "The Valley of Fear." The recent BBC series II
consist of three stories, “The Scandal of Belgravia”, “The Hounds of
Baskervilles”, and “The Reichenbach Fall”. The “Scandal of Belgravia” is
an updated “A Scandal in Bohemia”, a short story apart of "The
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" made in 1891. Belgravia is the
Buckingham Palace district. Bohemia is an area in the Czech Republic.
The Hounds of the Baskervilles is a popular novel published in 1902.
The Reichenbach Fall is from "The Final Problem", a 1893 short story in
"The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes". The Reichenbach Fall is where
Sherlock and John Watson meet in "The Final Problem" novel. The series
involves today's technology with yesterdays stories by Sir Arthur Canon
Boyle. All the series are fast action, humorous, adventurous and does
not disregard what the original author wanted to convey. (BBC,
2012)(thumbr.com, 2012)(PBS, 2012)
Ethical perspective
“What is it today, I asked, morphine or cocaine? It is cocaine,
he [Sherlock] said, a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try
it?” “
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the
mantelpiece, and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case.
With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle
and rolled back his left shirtcuff. For some little time his eyes
rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist, all dotted and
scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally, he thrust the sharp
point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the
velvet-lined armchair with a long sigh of satisfaction.”
(literature.org, 2012) In the mid 1800s to early 1900s,
the impetuous Sherlock Holmes usage of a legal drug cocaine was a
predominate occurrence when Sherlock became bored and under-stimulated
between cases. This acknowledgment was identified in both Doyle's
written stories and earlier Sherlock film episodes. Holmes's drug
addiction survived the mid 1890s until the early 1900s where
cocaine-opium elixir medicines, tonics, wines, and soft drinks such as
Coca-Cola were considered safe, acceptable and commonly use and
embedded among all social classes. Well known Sigmund Freud promoted
cocaine as a cure for depression and sexual impotence and/or Thomas
Edison promoting the positive effects from cocaine elixirs. Hollywood
also participated in advertising and influencing the mass audience
about the drug's benefits through means of silent-film stars' personal
testimonials and by the stars' own publicizes life styles. Eventually a
majority of the public realized regular usage of cocaine had major
side effects such as addiction and deterioration affects on the mind
and body. It was not until 1920 that the Dangerous Drug Act was passed
and cocaine became one the drugs listed that would be outlawed. The
21
st century Sherlock has replaced the needle injections of
cocaine with nicotine patches. (narconon.org, 2012)(BBC, 2012) (PBS,
2012)
The BBC's 21
st Century's Sherlock is more
anti-social and crude at times in comparison to the Sherlock in the
1890s. Dr. Watson's character becomes a 'gate-keeper' to Sherlock's
verbal and nonverbal behavior. Regardless of what era, Sherlock's
trademark is still focused on his super-human deduction abilities.
Both yesterday's and today's Sherlock Holmes personality could be
described as barbed or impatient, while at the same time, composes his
chose of words in a brilliant fashion.
Unlike other past and
modern day detectives, Holmes considers women as a distraction and is
quite neutral when it comes to women. He has a keen ability to
understand other human beings and their actions, however, his logic is
to maintain an emotional distance from anyone, especially women, that
would interfere with his work . Sherlock becomes easily bored and
somewhat reclusive until there is a juicy unsolved case that needs his
attention, then Sherlock acts like he is on a lot of caffeine. Since
Sherlock “. . cannot live without brain work. What else is there to
live for.” (literature.org, 2012) (sherlock-holmes.co.uk, 2012) (BBC,
2012)(PBS, 2012)
CulturalPerception
The latest Masterpiece theater film series called “Sherlock” are
for the Holmes's admirers who don't want their favorite character
Sherlock to upset their intelligence, taste, and admiration with just a
mediocre character. They also do not like the main story line to
stray without giving due reverence to Sir Conan Doyle. The BBC new
adapts the long-loved Sherlock Holmes into a modern-age-era by
paralleling and superbly intermixing Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's
classical literature into the 21
st Century's technology era. This attracts a variety of taste groups as well as the popular culture. (tumblr, 2012)
Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are now known as Sherlock and
John, the way we informally address people now. Instead of of John
writing and publishing Sherlock's and his exploits in the Strand
Magazine, he blogs it on the internet. The cutting-edge Sherlock not
only consults with his clients at his 221 Baker Street flat, he also
consults over the i-phone. At times Sherlock can view and evaluate
crimes scenes by means of his home laptop webcam while his assistant
John humorously uses his laptop webcam to scans the area around the
crime scene. Rather then sending telegrams, Sherlock texts and
instead of publishing articles, he composes on his own web site called
“The Science of Deduction”, which is available on real time for all
Sherlock's fans. Sherlock Holmes loves classical music and uses
classical music and his own violin music compositions in order to ponder
a thought on a case. (Freeservers, 2012) (literature.org, 2012)
Critical Perspective
The attraction the public has for any Sherlock Holmes televised
series or films can easily be related to Huxley's statement "The more
you know; the more you see" how Sherlock's character persona and
analytical capabilities have evolved from the 19th century to modern
times. From Canon Doyle's written work, the invention and advancement
of films and television have visually evolved Sherlock's character from
the 'the mind's eye' to the screen. (BBC, 2012)(PBS, 2012)
Writers and producers are stepping-up the adventures of Sherlock
Holmes by incorporating some of Canon Doyle's language into today's
dialogue and creating more suspenseful crimes that Sherlock and Dr.
Watson have to solve. Science and technology have taken a larger role
in today's Sherlock crimes scenes, as was mentioned earlier, in the
development of forensic science. Music and sound in today's films are
modernize and provides the aura of suspense as Sherlock and John are
solving a case. (BBC, 2012)(PBS, 2012)
Yesteryear and today's film both
recreated the ambiance of London. "...dense drizzly fog...and
Mud-colored clouds droops over the muddy streets", as Canon Doyle's
describes in "The Sign of Four," "Down the Strand" the lamps were but a
misty splotches of diffuse light which threw a feeble-circular glimmer
out into the slimy pavement." The 21
st century TV episodes
takes out the 'fog' and the 'diffuse light' from the Victorian gas
light era to the modern day nuance. This method produces drama and
recreates the audience's sense of today's reality. (PBS, 2012)(BBC,
2012) (literature.org, 2012) (tumblr, 2012)
By
understanding the phrase "You See, but you do not observe" then you
understand the subtile visual and written clues that are communicated
about Sherlock's identity that resonates so strongly among the
generations of admires. The immortal detective Holmes has always given
the mystery genre meaning and illumination into solving crimes.
Whether the crimes were done in the 19
th century or in the
21th century, the results are the same. Understanding the charisma that
Sherlock's character promotes, also holds true to Huxley's statement,
"the more you know; the more you see", Sherlock is able to solve crimes
with unequaled efficiency. For all who love Arthur Canon Doyle's
famous detective character, Sherlock can be summarized by the
following: “ My mind, . . . rebels of stagnation. Give me problems,
give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most
intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can
dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine
of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I chosen my
own particular profession, -or rather created it, for I am the only
one in the world”. (literature.org, 2012
)( gutenberg.org, 2012) (Huxley, A, 2012)
References:
Lester, P.M. (2011) Chapter 1 - Visual Communication
(pg. 11), Visual communication, images with messages, 5th edition, Wadsworth Cengage, printed in United States.
Anonymous (2012) Biography of Sherlock Holmes page 2
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Anonymous (2012) Sign of Four Chapter 1
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www.literature.org/authors/doyle-arthur-conan/sign-of-four/chapter-01.html
Anonymous (2012) Biography of Sherlock Holmes
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www.sherlockholmesonline.org/biography/index.htm
Anonymous (2012) Sherlock Season 2
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00m5wm7
Anonymous (2012) Chemistry of Sherlock Holmes
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http://surrey-shore.freeservers.com/HolmChem.htm
Anonymous (2012) Sherlock Season 1
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www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/season1.html
Anonymous (2012) Sherlock Season 2
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www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/sherlock/season2.html
Anonymous (2012) Mark Gatiss Live Chat
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