Red Headed League Symbolism

Arthur Conan Doyle’s symbolism in “The Red-Headed League” divulges the unusual in the mundane.

Mind-numbing, humdrum and uninteresting best suits the physical appearance and personality of Mr. Wilson. Yet despite his utter tedium, he manages to discover himself in the middle of a massive crime. While bringing Sherlock an unusual case, Watson’s verbalizes his first impression of poor Mr. Wilson as, “[A] very stout, florid-faced man, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair [,]” and mentions, “Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red hair, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.’ “*Doyle 1*” Without his red hair, Mr. Wilson symbolizes the epitome of a completely

Wilson’s red hair, along with the entirety of the organization of The Red-Headed League act as a red herring to both the intricate plot of the story. Frenziedly, Mr. Wilson proposes an unusual case to Sherlock. He is, “[A] very stout, florid-faced man, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair [,]” (Page 1) and “Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save his blazing red hair, and the expression of extreme chagrin and discontent upon his features.” (Page 1) Also, when Mr. Wilson meets the man who interviews him for The Red-Headed League, he comments, “There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was even redder than mine.” (Page 3) The fact that a wealthy League only has wooden chairs and a deal table should arouse suspicion from Wilson, but he lacks the deductive detective skills of his partner, Sherlock Holmes. Interestingly enough, one of the sneakiest aspects about this whole story surrounds the subtle pun Sir Arthur Conan Doyle makes on the term red herring, because the Red-Headed League only accepts those of a certain hair color and it draws the suspicion of the reader to this mysterious organization, which in and of itself presents a red herring, instead of the culprit of the crimes. The pun delicately makes the association that the “red” themed decoys drag the attention away from the real crime, and toward the trivially non-existent mystery Sherlock gets paid to decipher. Fundamentally, the overall purpose of the Red-Headed League exploits the opportunity to masquerade the crime. The League undertakes a distracting ploy expect something to come from the dispelling of The Red-Headed