Sherlock motherfucking Holmes, or: This is not a primer. Well, not really.

Jan 23, 2010 15:50


Sherlock motherfucking Holmes!
(or: This is not a primer. Well, not really. Maybe a little.)

So, maybe you are like me and vaguely remember Sherlock Holmes from your childhood or early teens. If that is the case, you probably remember him as this genius detective, very precise, more than a little conceited yet rightfully so, and maybe you ( Read more... )

holmes, holmes&squee

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cognomen January 23 2010, 15:18:24 UTC
An excellent primer, and if I may continue on the points of the books - of which there are more than just the ones Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, of course. I will try to limit myself to within the scope of original canon, but as I have read so many sherlock holmes stories I may occasionally stray and I apologize for that. (I will gladly accept correction.)

1. Holmes, even quite early in their career (their very second documented adventure, in fact) is an addict. When he is not on a case, he turns quite readily to cocaine, morphine, and it is suspected opium at some points (I am a bit foggier on the last.) Watson, while he obviously disapproves, is unwavering in his loyalties. He does try to encourage Holmes along the correct path, but never abandons him when it seems like Holmes is slipping further again down into his self destructive ways. This is covered quite excellently in the opening part of The Sign of Four. (Ironically, when pressed on the subject, both Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. could only reference having read three Holmes stories between them. Study in Scarlet, Sign of the Four, and Scandal in Bohemia.)

"In this case, it is certainly so," I replied, after a little thought. "The thing, however, is, as you say, of the simplest. Would you think me impertinent if I were to put your theories to a more severe test?"

"On the contrary," he answered, "it would prevent me from taking a second dose of cocaine."

2. Watson makes several attempts to bring Holmes out of his funks with things he enjoys or finds cheerful. I am of course put to mind of the one or two vacations to the country which Watson seems to think should probably do Holmes good, but Holmes stubbornly drags his feet the entire way to, and then finds that he does enjoy it, at least a little. For example, the Musgrave Ritual, they go away together for some time to the country. This is I believe firmly within the realm of Watson's marriage - and while that wasn't as uncommon as it is now, it's still a bit like a fellow going 'I'm off to have a lovely vacation in the country, dear, you're not invited. I'll be going with my cocaine fiend of a friend. See you on tuesday, ta!' He keeps in good cheer all through Holmes' moping and heeldragging, which I really think kind of sums them up overall, because as much as Holmes verbally dramatizes, he still goes along with it because it's what Watson would like.

This is getting so long, and now I have to go to work. Anyway, I enjoyed your points. I may return with more book related stuff later, if that's not horribly off topic.

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zarah5 January 23 2010, 21:36:38 UTC
Please elaborate for as long and as much as you like, for this is brilliant! I've read the books when I was much, much younger, and have only started to reread, so there is so much I don't remember.

They show Holmes abusing medicine for eye surgery in the movie, so the addict part may definitely be of some relevance. (And he also appears drugged in other instances, like when he solves the puzzle.)

I am of course put to mind of the one or two vacations to the country which Watson seems to think should probably do Holmes good, but Holmes stubbornly drags his feet the entire way to, and then finds that he does enjoy it, at least a little.
I do not remember there being vacations! But Watson would so totally do this; he cannot abandon Holmes when he's small and needy and his genius is spiralling out of control. Although in the movie, it's interesting that the one to suggest the vacation is Holmes, and partly to get him away from Mary. In many ways, they've taken the usual dynamic and twisted it around.

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cognomen January 24 2010, 03:16:36 UTC
Hahaha, the 'medicine for eye surgery' is cocaine, in fact. That was one of it's (many) original uses, as well as being the 'cure' for alcoholism. As an aside, Holmes' line in the movie, 'My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work...' is a direct line from the Sign of Four.

A lot of the movie plot seems to be a rehash (albeit something of a strange one, since in the books, Watson is married fairly early on) of the plots from the Holmes novels up to The Final Problem. I have never read or watched any interpretation of that particular short story, even though I've even gone beyond the original canon into the Adrian Conan Doyle stories, and such offshoots as the Seven Percent Solution - I just do not have the heart for it.

As to the vacations, they are in, if I correctly recall, the Musgrave Ritual as I mentioned, and also in the Devil's foot, set in 1897 though written well after The Empty House. Basically, when Holmes' health begins to fail, a doctor insists that he is overstressed and must put down all work and take a vacation. Watson also doubly insists, and they away to a cottage on the seaside together. Not entirely unheard of for the time, I suppose, but even in most period literature I have read one steals away to the seaside for a romantic getaway with a member of the opposite gender rather than even a very close friend. Of course this is interrupted by a case, or else Watson would never have taken it down at all, but his defensiveness in light of Holmes being sick and attempting to ward off the people who come to him with a mystery to solve is pretty... cute, I would call it.

I glared at the intrusive vicar with no friendly eyes; but Holmes took his pipe from his lips and sat up in his chair like an old hound who hears the view-halloa. [...]

I had hoped that in some way I could coax my companion back into the quiet which had been the object of our journey; but one glance at his intense face and contracted eyebrows told me how vain was now the expectation.

Watson really is a Mother Hen in a lot of ways, but not to the point of smothering Holmes. He understands the man, in a very unique way. Of course the case concludes with Holmes managing to talk Watson into experimenting with a dangerous powder that seems to cause complete insanity or death - Holmes intends to test the effects of the evidence he's found on himself, but Watson refuses to let him do it alone. They both wind up tripping off their asses, with Watson managing to save them both when he sees how badly Holmes is suffering.

"Upon my word, Watson!" said Holmes at last with an unsteady voice, "I owe you both my thanks and an apology. It was an unjustifiable experiment even for one's self, and doubly so for a friend. I am really very sorry."

"You know," I answered with some emotion, for I had never seen so much of Holmes's heart before, "That it is my greatest joy and privilege to help you."

In fact what they seemed to add for the movie was just a single serious flaw to Watson - his gambling, which was only very vaguely touched upon in the texts, possibly due to his narration of them - so that Holmes would have equally some way to support his friend and add an area where Watson was not the sole provider of a manner of stability to the relationship. It was more of a mutual partnership with that flaw added, and not just that Watson was the sane, stable one who actually remembered to eat food all the time and spent many hours attempting to keep Holmes from self destructing - here, Holmes too has some manner of helping his friend. It's mutually beneficial, a real partnership of the sort that tends to happen when two people of great strengths find a way to help each other with their weaknesses.

Next time on Cognomen talks too much...

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meredyth_13 January 24 2010, 05:38:28 UTC
This is all, frankly, rather brilliant. Thank you so much for adding this to Zarah's already wonderful post. :)

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