Sherlock Holmes Research Paper

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is and was one of the most famous writers of all time and is perhaps, the most influential British writer to date. Through his unique techniques, styles and themes, Doyle constructed one of, if not the most relatable and recognizable protagonists in literature, Sherlock Holmes. By analyzing these three important literary elements, one can come to understand Doyle’s logic behind the immortalization of Holmes as the face of crime fighting and mystery in literature. In order to fully understand Doyle as a writer, one must be able to see into the various techniques that were prevalent in his works of literature. This

This imagery made Holmes very appealing to the common man. Undoubtedly, Doyle had a distinct formula in the creation of Holmes, which contained a number of key elements which culminated into a well refined and polished literary character (Ousby 279-280). Looking further into the technique of Doyle would lead to the societal components of his time as well as what he relied on as fuel for his writing. Doyle, in the words of Nordon was “Anchored to old-fashioned literary tradition.” This means that he did not particularly see the necessity for change in literature during his time period, he was primarily tied to Walter Scott’s, “School of historical novel writing.” His disregard for change and adaptation of Scott’s ideas can only be described as a sort of “neo-conservatism”, during his time period of course. Doyle’s attitude about his addition to Scott’s theories was one of him regarding himself as more of a “disciple than an innovator”, meaning that he did show originality to a degree, but viewed what he did as more of a variant of what Scott did rather than something he created on his own. One element of society that Doyle incorporated into his literary works was the correlation between the distinct social classes existing in the country of England at the time and Doyle’s “careful identification of characters in their respective categories.” This basically means that Doyle

Moving on from the discussion of technique, Doyle’s style was yet another essential element in his writing. The first area of style in would be how his anxiety changed his ability to write through his experiences in the field of medicine. A distinct connection between “medical ethics” and literature was forged through his intense focus on “narrative control” in his medical endeavors. Through his narratives he conveyed his anxious tendencies, due to anxiety that me may have underwent during his life. This anxiousness was developed due to the budding of his newly found career in the medical field. The primary fuel for the fire of nervousness that burned inside of him was a culmination of three categories. These are defined as “anxieties about knowledge, identity, and power.” In his writings Doyle discussed his lack of power by focusing on the incapability of the pupils in his short stories’ to control the situation around them regarding their medical studies. Doyle overcame these anxieties by ditching his medical career for a more attractive and desirable career of a “fiction writer.” Despite his new career path, he did not