Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's A Scandal In Bohemi Character Analysis

The expected role of Victorian women was limited to childbearing and housewife: caring only for the home and family while catering to their husband. The women of the 1890’s in Britain lived a highly restrictive existence, with their life centered around their husband and subsequently their children. However, Irene Alder does not fit into this stereotype because she is an intelligent and powerful female, who is independent and capable of subsisting outside the environment of home and family. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia,” challenges traditional social perceptions and gender assumptions toward Victorian women by creating social tension between female character Irene Alder and the male characters Sherlock Holmes and the King of Bohemia. Doyle’s character, Alder, is incongruent for her time in history. Although Holmes Holmes is the World’s Greatest Detective, Alder may just be the only person, male or female, that has ever defeated Holmes’ machine of a brain. In addition to

She shares with Holmes a complex and subtle intellect with a deep understanding of human behavior, enabling them to create schemes to influence people to end up with the desired outcome. Alder uses her beauty and charm to disarm men and manipulate them for her purposes. She thinks several moves ahead in the game, often setting the stage to embarrass men by showing herself to be superior to them . Irene employs many tactics and schemes similar to Holmes’, including being a master of disguise. For example, one evening, Irene wears a disguise going undetected by Holmes when she walks by him, dressed as a "slim youth in [a cloak]," and bids him “good evening” in a low tone of voice, (p. 17). He has no idea the youth is actually Alder. Later, she admits the following to Holmes: “Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which it gives,” (p. 19)., which makes her even more intriguing to