Unexpected...
Helloooo insomnia....
Thought I might be a bit productive this time instead of sulking so I wrote a response to an essay by Barbara Roden entitled 'Canonical Misconceptions III: Holmes and the Ladies' (published originally in The Ritual No18, 1996)
Barbara Roden's 1996 essay 'Canonical Misconceptions III: Holmes and the Ladies' gives those of us who struggling to write a coherent essay much hope. She successfully manages to argue that Holmes does indeed like and trust women whilst not only discarding the material that tells us otherwise but gleeful missing out two very important alternatives.
1. Irene Alder
Watson tells us in no certain manner that Holmes was not attracted or interested in a sexual relationship with Irene Alder. In fact Holmes only meets Miss Alder twice in the story and both times very much disguised, his time spent alone with her was short and he was pretending to be an unconscious/concussed clergyman. Whilst I don't dispute that his brain could have been thinking "Wow, she's attractive.", I do dispute that he fell madly in love with her and spent the rest of his life pinning after her.
We do a lot of disservice to poor Irene. We paint her as a woman only to keen to leave her new husband to embark upon a frantic love affair with a man who was paid to essentially retrieve a photograph by any means necessary. Holmes first did a reconnaissance to find out more about the enigmatic opera singer that so troubles the King of Bohemia, he hears from his sources that Irene Alder is a 'lovely woman' (note he does not say she is a lovely woman) and that there is a man in her life (which Holmes describes in detail to the listening Watson). Practically knocking him for six, Irene marries her solicitor and to remember the occasion Holmes decides to keep the sovereign she gave him. He does this because it was completely unexpected, he hadn't factored in the possibility of marriage. Realising that time is short he devises an elaborate distraction to find out where she keeps the photograph (essentially, he deceives her), unfortunately during the deception Irene (who is a very clever woman) cottons onto the whole game and realises that she has been duped. At the end of the case, Holmes asks to keep her photograph - not for a keepsake to remind him of the lovely woman who captured his heart, but as a reminder not to underestimate anyone, let alone a woman, again.
Watson is not "protesting too much", nor "trying to make things easier for his friend by warning off potentially amorous clients" with his famous opening. No, he is simply telling us not to look at Irene Alder as a love interest because the tale is not about that, the story is about how Sherlock Holmes underestimated a case and did not factor in all the elements essentially reminding us of that Sherlock Holmes is a human being and is not all powerful or all seeing.
2. Holmes's manners
You can both dislike and distrust someone but still act with remarkable gentleness and courtesy towards them. We are forgetting that Victorian manners and decorum would mean that Holmes would be the perfect gentleman around women, after all one thing we all agree on is that he wasn't born in a barn and did have at least some manners. I take issue that Mary Sutherland is "the most infuriatingly dense woman in the canon" - she is a young woman who is an state over her missing fiancé. The case has some very interesting elements, seemingly random elements that would certainly capture Holmes's imagination, he realises very quickly the solution and is disgusted, again you don't have to like or trust someone to be angered by what has been done to them. It was a cruel trick that James Windibank played, and Holmes has a strong sense of justice, since no actual crime had been committed he could not haul the loathsome Mr Windibank down to Scotland Yard but instead quickly showed his temper. Ms Roden states: "I doubt that a man who disliked women would have felt so deeply for her that he was prepared to take a hunting crop to the man who had treated her in a manner so 'cruel, and selfish,and heartless'" I don't think I need to refer anyone to Ms Roden's own quotation of Holmes's reaction. Holmes has a deep sense of justice and his justice is blind to gender and even criminal acts.
"We are instead presented with a man who conversed easily, pleasantly, and naturally to women; made them feel comfortable and at home; was considered and solicitous when the occasion demanded it..."
Yes, in essence a Victorian gentleman. Holmes knows he can be charming towards women, he is a natural actor and he knows that women find him attractive, thus he makes uses of these 'skills' to ensure that the women coming to him who might just have an interesting problem to tantalise his brain are relaxed and feel comfortable enough to tell him the full facts. I refer you to the situation of 'The Cooper Beeches', Holmes is uncomfortable about the situation, his comments drawing speculation that something could have happened to his sister who was in such a vulnerable position, it bothers him. During the case he is courteous, pleasant and gentle with Violet Hunter, to the point it seems where Watson sees a possible relationship for Holmes but alas... once the case is over, Holmes is no longer interested.
3. Holmes's attraction to women
"Holmes shows that he is able to appreciate an attractive woman as much as his friend does." Of course, anyone can appreciate a beautiful painting without having to actually trust or like it. It is a myth amongst heterosexuals that homosexuals do not find the opposite gender attractive, we do and there are many men out there I find pleasing to look at, I appreciate them but that is all. It is an unpopular theory that Sherlock Holmes may have been a homosexual but it is a theory one cannot dismiss when writing an essay about Holmes and the ladies. You cannot use the theory that Holmes was attracted to women to the point where he was willing to play the lover without speculating that it was all an act. Holmes is a good actor, a 'rare actor', and to suggest that he may have gone too far by proposing marriage to Agatha (Milverton's housemaid) is by no means a stretch of the imagination to see that he was willing to break a young woman's heart to get at his means. Surely if he trusted her and liked her it would have pained him more to do this to her? Yet he doesn't seem to care when Watson is understandably angry, and rejoices to tell him that there is a rival. If he truly cared for her feelings would the enigmatic Escott have disappeared from her life in such a way?
He of course acknowledges Violet Smith's 'spirituality', but I cannot agree with those who say his line: 'It is part of the settled order of Nature that such a girl should have followers.' is concerning her looks. I don't think he is talking about her physical appearance, from what we see of Miss Smith she is a level headed girl with an even temperament - someone Holmes can admire for being strong and quite able to take care of herself.
The same could be said for the young woman in 'The Lion's Mane' who so interests Holmes, but as there is a even bigger debate concerning who the narrator actually is I think anything to do with 'The Lion's Mane' could have it's very own essay.
After the incident of Irene Alder he had to rethink his attitude towards women, he still disliked and distrusted them but he learned to respect them and to respect them for who they are. To give Holmes romantic thoughts or actions would be to go against the very character that has been established, to see Holmes in a romantic entanglement of his own design would mean that he has been willing to trust someone other than himself or Watson. I don't think that his lack of trust is confined solely to women, things have happened in Holmes's life that taught him not to trust or open himself up.
The ultimate fact is, Holmes is a Victorian gentleman who has been raised to view women a certain way. Women were long from acceptance and equality in society and for centuries men humoured their wives and you could argue with success that all Holmes does with the women who consult him is humour them and if such a woman is able to bring him an interesting case then that is a bonus.
no_need_in was talking about a English band called 'tindersticks', and I mentioned this in passing to my co-worker who has a band called Amp (which some of you may have heard of) and it turned out that Karine is quite a fan and even went to the concert they had at Her Majestey's Theatre a few years back. She has loaned me one of their CDs which is currently what's playing on my computer. It's... odd, strange in a good way. Very different to what I'm normally listening to (which yesterday was The Zutons).
Life is getting progressively dull - just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, scientists announce that there could be links between oral sex and throat cancer. Indian men must be quite open, I don't think you'd ever get English men saying that they thought condoms were too big for them. (Just me or is the news quite sexual lately?)
Hooray, Hammer Horror Films are going to return to the big screen! I've always wanted to watch a Hammer Horror Film in a cinema :D!
Joking with skylockee about whether Mrs Hudson would at cat to keep Holmes company... Possible Holmes torture may ensue.