my favourite film sherlock holmes essay

My Favourite Detective

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• August 9, 2021

I love reading detective stories. They are very thrilling and very exciting. My favourite detective is Sherlock Holmes. His character was created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Mr. Holmes was a very tall man with a sharp nose and pointed chin. He wore a deerstalker cap and smoked a pipe. Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street, in London with his friend Dr Watson.

My father got me many illustrated books of Sherlock Holmes stories. Holmes very cleverly solved difficult cases using simple clues. My favourite story is The Adventure of the Speckled Band . The story is about a lady called Helen Stoner who was scared that her step father would kill her and came to Mr. Holmes for help. The stepfather had a very bad temper and used to become violent. Her sister died mysteriously before she got married and the last words were ‘the speckled band.’

Mr. Holmes visited her house and decided to quietly spend the night in her room without telling anyone. The room had a bed with a bell chord attached to the ventilator and the room on the other side was the stepfather’s. At night, Mr. Holmes heard a shrill sound. He lit a candle and saw the speckled band, which was a very poisonous snake on the bell chord. Mr. Holmes hit the snake with his long stick but it escaped through the ventilator that it came from and bit the stepfather in the other room. The stepfather had bought the snake from the gypsies and he used that ventilator to put the snake in Helen’s room.

There are many stories of Mr. Holmes but I was thrilled to bits to read this one. I like him very much. He is intelligent and strong. His observation is so strong that he can tell the many traits about a man by just looking at him and his clothes. I also admire his magnifying glass and I hope I can have one myself someday. I want to grow up and be a detective like Mr. Holmes. 

thespace.ink has collaborated with ‘Word Munchers’, a creative writing platform that trains and encourages kids and youngsters to hone their creative writing skills.  thespace.ink will be publishing two short essays by students of ‘Word Munchers’ every week.

• Agneesh Raj Banerjee , childrens writing , creative writing , detective , Favourite book , favourite character , Sherlock Holmes , sleuth , Word Munchers

Agneesh Raj Banerjee, 9 years

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77 Sherlock Holmes Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best sherlock holmes topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 simple & easy sherlock holmes essay titles, 👍 good essay topics on sherlock holmes, ❓ questions about sherlock holmes.

• Is Sherlock Holmes Realistic? Conan Doyle’s Famous Character The stories appeal to the people The hero of the novels Sherlock is a human being who comes to the rescue of the innocent.
• BBC’s “Sherlock Holmes”: The Medium Is the Message In this particular case, the medium is the BBC, and the message is the 21st century adaptation of Sir Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
• Sherlock Holmes Films Analysis The first episode’s title is a variation of A Study in Scarlet, Conan Doyle’s 1887 novel that introduced Sherlock Holmes to readers; it is an appropriate choice for the episode that introduces 21st century Sherlock […]
• Sherlock Holmes Can Be Classified as a Modern Day Hero The mother is the true hero of the child because he toils 24 hours a day to feed, clothe, and care for the child. In the case of the The red headed league, Sherlock Holmes […]
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• “Sherlock Holmes” as an Imitation of Doctor Joseph Bell
• The Importance of Detective Fiction and “Sherlock Holmes”
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• “Sherlock Holmes”: Father of Scientific Crime Detection
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• The Modern View of Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes” Stories
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• Doyle’s Characters and Context in “Sherlock Holmes”
• The Typical Detective Genre Portrayed in “Sherlock Holmes”
• The Qualities of Sherlock Holmes as a Mastermind Criminal
• The Uncanny Friendship Between Sherlock Holmes and John Watson
• Watson’s Role as a Narrator in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “Sherlock Holmes”
• “Sherlock Holmes”: An Fictional Detective Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Solving a Crime or a Mystery in “Sherlock Holmes”
• Sherlock Holmes as a Influential Fictional Character
• “The Hound of the Baskervilles”: Comparison of Characters Between Sherlock Holmes and Watson
• Thematic Sophistication of Passion in “Sherlock Holmes”
• An Analysis of the Crime Universe in “Sherlock Holmes”
• The Differences Between “Scandal in Bohemia” and Other “Sherlock Holmes” Stories
• Comparing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Jekyll
• Sherlock Holmes and His Sociopathic Characteristics
• Critical Analysis of “Sherlock Holmes” and Its Wonderful Detective Character
• Moriarty Character in “Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Evil in “Sherlock Holmes” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Roles of Sherlock Holmes in “The Speckled Band” and “The Cardboard Box”
• The Main Features of Sherlock Holmes as a Man and as a Detective
• “Sherlock Holmes”: The Man Who Knows Everything
• The Treatment of Women in Arthur Conan Doyle’s Books About Sherlock Holmes
• “Sherlock Holmes”: The Reasons Behind the Enduring Popularity
• The Spirit Versus the Word of the Law: The Consequences of Sherlock Holmes’s Criminal Characteristics
• “Sherlock Holmes” as the Embodiment of Victorian Ideas of Progress
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• Why Did “Sherlock Holmes” Stories Become So Popular?
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• What Is Sherlock’s Weakness?
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• What Are the Main Features of Sherlock Holmes as a Man and as a Detective?
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• How Does Conan Doyle Create Suspense and Tension in “Sherlock Holmes”?
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• What Are the Main Pleasures for the Reader When Reading “Sherlock Holmes” Stories?
• How Does Conan Doyle Perceive a Victorian Gentleman in “Sherlock Holmes”?
• What Methods Did Sherlock Holmes Use to Solve Mysteries?
• Was Sherlock Holmes Actually Jack the Ripper?
• Why Did the King of Bohemia Seek Help From Sherlock Holmes in “A Scandal in Bohemia”?
• How Old Is Sherlock Holmes in “A Study in Scarlet”?
• What Fighting Style Does Sherlock Holmes Use?
• How Has “Sherlock Holmes” 2009 Been Reappropriated to Suit a Modern Audience?
• What Type of Pipe Did Sherlock Holmes Smoke?
• Why Are the Sherlock Holmes Stories Still Popular Today?
• What Was Watson up to Before Coming to Live With Sherlock Holmes?
• Why Is Sherlock Holmes So Smart?
• How Are Female Characters Presented in the Sherlock Holmes Stories?
• What Are the Characteristics of a Sherlock Holmes Mystery?
• How Are Sherlock Holmes and James Bond Perceived as Heroes in the Society?
• How Many “Sherlock Holmes” Books Have Been Sold?
• What Is Sherlock Holmes’ Personality?
• What Are Some of Sherlock Holmes’ Strengths and Weaknesses?
• What Are Some Real-Life Lessons That Can Be Learned From “Sherlock Holmes”?
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• Sherlock Holmes

E veryone has their favourite Sherlock Holmes impersonator, as well as their favourite Holmes story, novel and film. For me the best Holmes is the one played on stage in 1974 by John Wood. But I admire Jeremy Brett's on TV and retain immense affection for Basil Rathbone, the first Sherlock I saw, partly because he looks like the Sidney Paget illustrations, and partly because he has the right combination of intelligence, wit, poise and world-weariness. I later came to wish that Rathbone had a better companion than Nigel Bruce's dithering, dim-witted Dr Watson. My favourite story is a toss-up between "The Red-Headed League " (which Woody Allen drew on for Small Time Crooks ) and "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton " (I once had the privilege of showing its Hampstead setting to blind Conan Doyle fan Jorge Luis Borges), and my favourite novel is The Sign of Four . My favourite adapted film is the 1939 Hound of the Baskervilles , my non-canonical one Billy Wilder's immaculate, elegiac The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes , which I would love to see restored to the three-hour-plus version that only its producers have seen.

So where does Ritchie's film fit in? Well, it's written by two young screenwriters (Michael Robert Johnson and Anthony Peckham) who clearly know the stories, and it takes place in a realistic, handsomely designed Victorian London where Tower Bridge is still under construction. Jude Law is a suitably sober yet dashing Watson. Robert Downey Jr is an intelligent Holmes, though his diction (seemingly based on studying Anthony Hopkins and Patrick McGoohan) is strained and not always easy to follow, and he's invariably ill-shaven and as badly turned out as Raskolnikov. The one dislikable aspect of Billy Wilder's film – its crude jokes about a suspected homosexual liaison between Holmes and Watson – is here blown up into a tiresome running gag, in which the pair bicker like an old married couple, have lovers' tiffs and argue about who's wearing whose clothes.

The invented story is another of those grand conspiracy thrillers, where an ancient secret society (the Masons in all but name) employs witchcraft and allies in high places in their attempt to take over the world, with the House of Lords their first target. The villain, Lord Blackwood (chillingly played by Mark Strong), is a cross between Hannibal Lecter, Count Dracula and a leading member of the Hellfire Club. Also involved are Holmes's old flame Irene Adler (Rachel McAdams) and, more remotely, his old enemy Professor Moriarty. A cross between a Dennis Wheatley black magic novel and The Da Vinci Code , it's more a brown study than A Study in Scarlet . There is also far too much violence (both slow-motion and speeded-up) and too many frenetic chases. Unendearing, then, but not unentertaining.

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THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION OF CNU CHS

• Dec 21, 2020

Dr. Wostenberg's World of Cinema Reviews: Young Sherlock Holmes

A Movie of the Detective as a Young Man

A Film Review of Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) by Christopher Wostenberg

One of my hobbies – besides watching movies – is reading. And two of my favorite literary characters are Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. I enjoy the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories, as well as the newer ones written by a string of writers. While the original stories are well-known classics, even the contrived plots of the newer stories are entertaining, like Holmes facing off against Dracula or the Phantom of the Opera. Some of my love for these stories comes from watching Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) whenever it was on television as a child. Growing up, I don’t think I ever saw the whole movie in one sitting, but I remember it fondly. Thus, I was ecstatic when I was able to see the film in its entirety as an adult. Unlike other childhood favorites, I thought the movie held up quite well. In fact, it holds up enough to recommend it to others via this review.

As the title suggests, the film tells the story of Holmes and Watson meeting as teenagers while attending an all-boys boarding school, Brompton Academy, in London (a departure from canon as depicted in A Study in Scarlet where Holmes and Watson meet for the first time as adults). Holmes is given a love interest in the form of Elizabeth Hardy, a teenage girl who lives with her uncle at Brompton. Holmes is mentored by Professor Rathe, the fencing instructor at the school, and Rupert T. Waxflatter, a retired professor and inventor who is also Elizabeth’s uncle. The mystery revolves around questionable suicides that Holmes believes are connected. Upon investigation, it is determined that the suicides are the result of the murderer shooting the victims with a dart coated with a hallucinogenic substance in order to cover up a secret cult.

While not considered Holmesian canon as it was not written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Young Sherlock Holmes captures the feel and charm of the stories, while adding new elements to the lore. Though the movie is American, it captures Victorian-era England well, as this was a primary concern of Steven Spielberg, whose production company (Amblin Productions) produced the film. The initial screenplay was written by American writer, soon to be director, Chris Columbus with additional notes and edits provided by Sherlockian scholar John Bennet Shaw and English novelist Jeffery Archer. It was directed by up and coming American director Barry Levinson . To get the English feel, English actors were brought in for the various roles, except for Sherlock Holmes who was played by a Scottish actor. The filming was done at various locations within England , notably Eton College and Penhurst Place for the exterior and interior of the fictional Brompton Academy, respectively. Outside of the school, much of the action takes place at night during late autumn providing for the chilly atmosphere often associated with England and invoked throughout Sherlock Holmes stories and interpretations.

The film makes enough nods to the Holmes stories to add charm without overdoing it. It includes the minor character of Inspector Lestrade, the fourth most remembered character from Holmes’ stories after Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty. Much like in the stories, Lestrade is portrayed as a semi-intelligent Scotland Yard inspector that is doubtful of Holmes’ theories at first. Wisely, the film does not try to include other minor characters like Mycroft, Holmes’ older brother, Mrs. Hudson, Holmes’ landlady, or the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of street kids that aid Holmes, as this would crowd the movie and be confusing to the casual viewer who would not understand these references. These characters might have been added in later films if the film had done well at the box office. Also, the film in a few minor scenes shows where Holmes gets some of his famous accoutrements, i.e. his pipe, deerstalker cap, and cloak. The last scene with Sherlock Holmes in the movie shows him dressed in his famous attire to highlight that he has fully developed into the young detective. Finally, there is a treat in a post-credit scene that I will not spoil in this review, but it makes a nod to the stories as well. Overall, the movie pays homage to the Holmes’ stories while building its own unique universe.

Setting the film during Holmes’ teenage years seems a smart choice as it makes his character flaws more relatable. Awkwardness is a common trope in films revolving around adolescence and high schools, and much like in the stories, the film depicts Holmes as being more intelligent than his peers in many academic fields but lacking in social understanding. Holmes is praised one moment by his peers for solving a mystery posed by a rival classmate only to be expelled the next due the rival framing him for cheating. So for all his strengths, Holmes cannot understand how to navigate the social environment of the school completely and thus outcast from the norms of society. Well the opposite is true of Watson, who is the go between Holmes’ world and the rest of society. In the stories this is true as well, as Holmes is an expert in the criminal mind, but not politics, a very social construct, and relies on Watson in this area.

One of the more important deviations from the Doyle stories is the addition of a love interest for Holmes. At first this seems contrived, put in just to increase the appeal to the mass moviegoer. In canon, Holmes is known to have an aversion to women. In contrast, Watson is more of a ladies’ man. Unlike Holmes, Watson eventually marries in the course of the Doyle stories. So, it would make sense for the film to introduce a love interest for Watson instead of Holmes. Also, the major setting of the film is an all-boys academy, so having a young lady around seems unlikely. The plot works around this by making her into the niece of a retired professor who is taking care of her. Upon closer viewing, the love story adds depth to the Holmes character much like some of the other minor touches mentioned. It helps to explain why Holmes later becomes coldhearted, especially toward women. He is deeply affected by his time at Brompton, which includes what appears to be his first and only romantic love interest. In the end, much like the accoutrements, the romance is used to develop the traits of Holmes that were originally depicted in the stories and help to explain them.

Favorite Scene: All of the hallucination scenes are memorable, and I could talk about any of them. At first, I thought this favorite scene slot would go to the hallucinations of the main characters in the cemetery, which I still remember from childhood. After thinking about it, I decided to go with the stained glass knight hallucination scene for its technical feat . The scene involves the murder of Reverend Duncan Nesbitt, who is the second victim. In the film, Nesbitt envisions a knight from a stained-glass window coming alive and attacking him. He is frightened so much by the phantasm, that he runs out into the street and is run over by a horse-drawn carriage. What is amazing about the scene is that the knight is documented as the first fully computer-generated, photorealistic animated character. Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light & Magic and John Lasseter of Pixar fame help to render the creation. To put things in perspective, this film was released a year before Pixar started with the short Luxo Jr. (1986) and ten years before Toy Story (1995) came out. Additionally, the knight is the first computer animated character to be scanned and laser painted directly onto film. The character is so awesome looking with its two-dimensional look against the three-dimensional setting of the gothic church that you believe, much like the reverend, that it is real. The rest of the hallucinations are done through more traditional – for the time – stop-motion animation with clay, making this computer-generated scene stand out more.

No matter how much of a Holmesphile (lover of Sherlock Holmes) you are, Young Sherlock Holmes is worth watching for the fun, mystery adventure aspect as well as the Victorian England ambiance. It is a good family film with older children (pre-teens and teenagers) that everyone can enjoy, especially if you are looking for something similar in tone and feel as the first two Harry Potter movies as Chris Columbus, the director of them, is the writer for this film. I wish the movie had done better so there might have been sequels to expand on Sherlock Holmes’ early life and career, but instead we are left with this one gem. And to end this review, here is a quote from another Sherlock Holmes movie, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), uttered by Robert Stephens as Holmes, “Some of us are cursed with memories like flypaper. Stuck there is a staggering amount of miscellaneous data, most of it useless.”

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Sherlock Holmes Essay

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• Word Count 1772
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• Subject English

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The well-known Sherlock Holmes was a detective character in a series of stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle. All the stories go into great detail about life during the Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The specific stories I have been studying are titled ‘The Speckled Band’, ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’, and ‘The Copper Beeches’.

All of these stories have common themes and ideas which I will be discussing in my essay. One theme which is explored in all three stories is the idea of class. Sherlock Holmes often takes on cases which involve members of the upper class, such as in ‘The Speckled Band’, where an upper class woman approaches him for help.

The stories also often feature crime, and the various motivations for why people commit crimes. In ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’, the criminal is driven by poverty, whereas in ‘The Speckled Band’, the criminal is driven by greed.

All three stories also feature detectives, both professional and amateur. Sherlock Holmes is the professional detective in all three stories, and uses his skills of deduction to solve the cases. In ‘The Man with the Twisted Lip’, Neville St Clair is the amateur detective, who uses his knowledge of human nature to help solve the case.

In all of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Sherlock and Watson have play different roles. Usually, Sherlock is more intelligent and able to put together clues faster than we mere mortals can; he’s also quite mysterious and you never know what he’s going to do next. However, even though Watson is less intuitive than Sherlock, his role in the story is still important because he represents us normal folk who wouldn’t be able to connect all the dots like our great detective friend.

Another big difference between Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson is that Doctor Watson is always getting himself into trouble and Sherlock Holmes always has to save him.

For example in “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”, Doctor Watson nearly gets himself killed a few times if it wasn’t for Sherlock Holmes he would have been dead.

This story is also a good example of how Sherlock Holmes is more intelligent than Doctor Watson he works out what is going on a lot quicker than Doctor Watson does.

Even though Doctor Watson doesn’t always understand what is going on he still helps Sherlock Holmes solve the mystery.

I think that Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to make Doctor Watson more like us so we could understand the stories better.

Another difference between these two characters is that Sherlock Holmes never really shows his feelings but Doctor Watson does, for example in “The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor” when Miss Hatty Doran got married and ran off with another man, Doctor Watson showed his feelings by saying “I never saw a woman so completely carried away by love” but Sherlock Holmes didn’t really say anything he just kept on talking about the case.

I think that Arthur Conan Doyle wanted us to see that even though Sherlock Holmes is more intelligent than Doctor Watson, Doctor Watson is still a very important character in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Arthur Conan Doyle is splendid at characterization, as he painted personalities of his characters with words in great detail. For instance, “Carriage driver: ‘he is a man of immense strength and absolute uncontrolled anger…” This quote was taken from ‘The Speckled Band’ describing Dr. Roylott. I think the author gave us a general sense of what kind personification the character has without delving too much into it so we can have a better understanding before going more in-depth about them later on.

Sherlock Holmes is the main character in the book and he is a very interesting character, he is what you would call a ‘high functioning sociopath’. He doesn’t seem to feel emotions like other people do and this makes him very good at his job, which is solving crimes. He is also extremely intelligent and can deduce things that other people wouldn’t be able to.

One of the things that I really like about Sherlock Holmes is that even though he isn’t a very emotional person, he does have a sense of justice and he will always try to help people who are in need.

For example, each story starts with an introduction that gets to the core of the plot. This is followed by development, where the story progresses and Sherlock narrows down his list of suspects. Finally, there is the denouement in which the crime is solved and everyone gets their just desserts. I think that how a story is structured can make or break it because some people might like knowing how it will end while others may not want to know that crimes always get solved in these stories.

The stories of Sherlock Holmes are all very similar in structure. They all start with an introduction, followed by the development of the story, and then the denouement where the crime is solved. This makes them very predictable, but some people may enjoy knowing that the crime will always be solved in the end.

What really makes or breaks these stories is the characters. Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective, and his sidekick Watson is always there to help him solve the case. The two of them have a great rapport, and their adventures are always interesting to read about.

If you’re looking for a good mystery story, then you can’t go wrong with Sherlock Holmes. With intriguing characters and exciting plots, these stories are sure to keep you entertained.

Descriptive writing allows the reader to see what the place, people, or object is like. For example, in “The Speckled Band,” one quote describing the house they are approaching says it was of gray stone with curling wings looking like claws of a crab. This particular description is great because not only can readers visualize what the house looks like, but also feel trapped–giving them a sense of how aggressive it may be.

Another example of description from the same story is “the window was closed and barred by heavy wooden shutters,” This again is another way of showing that the house looks aggressive because it has bars on the windows.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Great Gatsby — Sherlock Holmes: a Study of His Characteristics

Sherlock Holmes: a Study of His Characteristics

• Categories: The Great Gatsby

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Intellectual brilliance, eccentricity and quirks, morality and integrity.

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• General Sherlock Holmes Discussion

Sherlock Holmes: Fact or Fiction? (My Essay)

By nozarinvestigative February 12, 2013 in General Sherlock Holmes Discussion

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Sherlock Holmes: Fact or Fiction

Arguably, the most iconic character in the entire world is the British detective Sherlock Holmes. He’s appeared in 56 short stories and 4 novels, all of them penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Then there are the numerous books, plays, films, radio dramas, and video games based off of this famed sleuth. The Sherlock Holmes stories shaped the mystery genre. Think about symbols you usually associate with mystery or detectives. You probably think of a clay pipe, or a deerstalker hat. You might even think of a silhouette of Holmes himself.

Sherlock Holmes not only shaped crime solving in fiction, but in real life as well. Detectives are now using more lateral thinking to solve a case. Lateral thinking is using a creative approach to solving a problem. Detectives look at clues and consider them as they are, but rarely do they take them at face value. Sometimes, the solution to a problem isn’t the most obvious of choices, and detectives look for this, all because of Sherlock Holmes.

“You see, but you do not observe”, Sherlock Holmes is famous for telling his partner, Doctor John Watson. Watson can clearly see the issue or his surroundings, but he does not completely understand them. He does not notice everything that goes on. Forensic scientists and detectives are trained to view the whole picture, not just a small piece of the corner.

The character of Holmes is so brilliant and so developed, that people all over the world believe he once lived. In fact, in a survey done in 2008 by UKTV Gold, 58% of the participants believed Holmes actually lived. That’s more than half, and this is just in Britain. This many people can’t be wrong, right? Sherlock Holmes had to have existed.

How can Holmes exist, you might ask? He was a creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This may not be true. In fact, it isn’t. Holmes lived and solved cases, just like the cases in our beloved tales.

Conan Doyle is said to have based his famous detective on a professor from his college, Professor Joseph Bell. Bell had a lot in common with Holmes. He physically looked like him, tall and thin, with a hawk like nose and a thin face. They even shared a passion for deductive reasoning. This type of thinking was heavily taught by Professor Bell.

Anybody who reads the Sherlock Holmes stories can tell you that Holmes was a master of disguise and costume. It was probably this talent that gave us Professor Bell. Bell really is Sherlock Holmes. But why would Holmes wish to pass off as a mathematics professor at some college? This question is rather easy to answer. Holmes had a large intellect. His mind was always moving, always deducing, always thinking. The best way to satisfy his mind’s thirst for data and information would be to teach at a university. As a bonus, Holmes would be able to pass off his knowledge to the next generation, so that they might employ his methods in their everyday lives, thus creating hundreds of Holmeses wandering the planet. It was this college where Bell met Conan Doyle.

Who tells the stories of Holmes? Most of the time, it’s John Watson, a doctor from the army. Though, there are a few third person stories and a couple tales narrated by Holmes. However, a majority of the stories are told by Watson. Conan Doyle does this for a good reason: to keep the reader from witnessing Holmes’s thought process. This keeps the reader in suspense, and blows them away when he concludes the case. But have you seen pictures of Conan Doyle? He looks eerily similar to how Watson is portrayed in the earlier films and TV shows.

So, what am I trying to say? Conan Doyle is actually Watson. That’s right. The fictional writer of the Sherlock Holmes stories is in fact the real writer of the books. Conan Doyle was an actual doctor. He went to medical school and got his degree. Now, some may say that he was only drawing from his own life to write the character of Watson, but that wouldn’t make sense.

Now, let me ask you. If Sherlock Holmes never existed, where did Conan Doyle get his fascinating thought processes for the character? If Conan Doyle created Holmes, that would mean he was just as clever as the detective, right? So if that were true, why was Conan Doyle never consulted for a crime to be solved? Why didn’t he ever become a detective? He certainly could have made some money doing it! The answer is simple: Holmes wasn’t a creation. Holmes was real, and Conan Doyle really was Watson. Conan Doyle used the name “Watson” as a pseudonym, so that he would only be connected to Holmes as the author of his adventures. Perhaps he didn’t want to be hounded by fans, inquiring whether or not they could meet Sherlock Holmes. 22b Baker Street is indeed a made up address. Why? It’s simple. “Watson” didn’t want anyone pestering him and Sherlock in the privacy of their own home. With the popularity Holmes gained after Conan Doyle published his first work, A Study in Scarlet, Sherlock must have been wary of the public eye. A man of his caliber would be incredibly famous, and he was.

Some years after the first story was published, Conan Doyle was getting sick of the Sherlock Holmes tales. He decided that he would kill Holmes off and be rid of him forever. Then he could move on to more serious work. He went with Holmes to the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, knowing that this would be the last case he ever went on with the detective. They were tracking Professor James Moriarty, Holmes’s arch nemesis. They found Moriarty at the top of the falls. There was a brawl between Holmes and Moriarty, ending with them both plunging to their deaths.

This worked out perfectly for Conan Doyle. He wouldn’t have to worry about the tales anymore. He could move on to better things. He held no funeral for Holmes, as that would attract attention from the public. Soon, he began drawing ideas for a kind of horror story. He realized this tale would be the perfect Holmes story to ever be told. This story was of course, The Hound of the Baskervilles. This is probably he only fictional story written about Holmes by Conan Doyle.

Soon, Holmes revealed to Conan Doyle that he wasn’t dead. He had managed to survive the plunge from the falls. I won’t reveal how he did it, you’ll have to read The Adventure of the Empty House for the explanation.

This allowed for thirty four more cases to be solved. Afterward, both of them most likely retired from solving crimes. Of course, Sherlock Holmes solved over seventy cases with Watson, so it really can’t be clear when they both retired. It would have to have been around 1930, the year Conan Doyle passed away of a heart attack. Did he die? Was he pulling a Sherlock Holmes on us? He was a medical doctor. He did have access to medicines that could bring on the physical effects of a heart attack, but wouldn’t be fatal. Perhaps he faked his death so that he could escape London and move somewhere that would give him peace and quiet after numerous years of solving crimes.

Sherlock Holmes really walked among us in Victorian era England. “You see, but you do not observe.” The evidence is there before us. We can see it. But we do not fully comprehend it. The fact that he really existed is, well, elementary.

(I am truly thankful for The Complete Sherlock Holmes published by Barnes and Noble. The introduction by Christopher and Barbara Roden really helped with my research. Also, I am grateful to the internet, for helping me clear up some points in my essay, and for the two pictures above. For more information on Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson, I recommend the books penned by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I would also recommend the numerous movies, especially the ones with Robert Downey JR. as Holmes. I hope you enrich your lives with these fascinating stories. They will stay with you always!)

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Carol the Dabbler

OK, so you're proposing that Holmes wasn't merely based on Bell, he actually was Bell (or Bell actually was Holmes), and similarly for Watson and Conan Doyle. That would indeed have been a nice cover. And at this late date, who can say? It's an interesting thought to chew on.

(By the way it looks like your fingers had a mind of their own at one point, where Bell is described as a mathematics professor -- like Moriarty! -- instead of a medical professor.)

Yeah. That's exactly what i was proposing.

and sorry about that. I got the two of them mixed up.

I hope you believe my crazy ramblings though.

"Believe" might be too strong a word, but yeah, I think it's all quite plausible.

You know the old saying, "Great minds run in the same channel"? Some of the forum's other Conan Doyle buffs may have been thinking similar logical thoughts, and may be able to propose a few corollaries.

Bakerstreet Irregular

Actually, Doyle did help the Scottish police solve more then one crime. He and Bell also tried to solve the case of a murdered follow student, one of the first women to be allowed into the medical college. Sadly, it was one of the few cases Doyle looked into that was never solved.

http://scheong.wordpress.com/2009/11/30/come-watson-come-the-game-is-afoot-the-elementary-fame-of-sherlock-holmes/

An article from my blog I thought you fellows might be interested in reading about. It seemed pertinent to the subject at hand.

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179 Words Short Essay on My Favourite Author – Arthur Conan Doyle

My favourite author is Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes is a great detective, and Dr. Watson, his assistant, takes the readers to various places and situations, and introduces them to numerous strange characters and interesting plots.

The author knows very well how to tell a story to his readers. When I read his books, it seems to me that I already know most of the places and almost all the people as described in the stories. The style of his writing is so vivid, so touching and so realistic that one forgets that they are not mere stories but facts of real lives. There remains his great art of story telling.

Of his numerous stories, I like his book entitled, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes”. It is a thrilling experience that charms my mind greatly. I like to read his books again and again whenever I get little time to read books, other than the text books.

When I grow up, I have a plan to read the complete works of Arthur Conan Doyle.

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