The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle Chapter 7 from Romantics and the Victorians Dr. Banan Al-Daraiseh AOU, A230B

The Sign of Four (1890) could be seen as a domestic novel since we are taken on a tour of a number of London interiors as part of the story, especially the home at 221B Baker Street Describe the interior of Sherlock Holmes’ and Dr. Watson’s bachelor home at 221B Baker Street. The level of domestic detail is to “flesh out” the character of Holmes and make him a realistic and believable character. Clutter of objects described in the domestic interior trains the reader to see and read the text in a particular way. The Victorian readers were provided with visual cues to aid their reading of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Sidney Paget provided Illustrations of Holmes that accompanied the stories when they were first published in The Strand Magazine, starting 1891

The illustrations of the stories served both purposes: to make Holmes a “real” person in the reader’s imagination and to reflect a domestic interior that the readers grew to think of as real rather than imaginary. 221B Baker Street embodies much of the coziness that Victorian readers would have known from their own homes. As the story unfolds, 221B Baker Street serves as a maker of domestic security in an unpredictable and sometimes frightening world. Discuss Arthur Doyle’s biography that relates to this idea. High ideas about the perfect home often clashed with the violent realities of the urban life. The threat that the outside world posed to the home is an ever-present theme in The Sign of Four. The domestic space repeatedly doubles as a crime scene.

Detective Fiction: History, reading & publication of Detective Fiction Detective fiction: A predominantly modern genre, from its beginnings, a single criminal case (almost always murder, theft or both) was solved through the concerted action of a consulting detective. Based around the solution of a particular crime that is unraveled through the narrative, detective fiction from the start encouraged the reader to engage with the text in a meticulous way. Look at the history of detective fiction on pg. 418 The earliest use of the term “detective” was in 1843 in an article in the Edinburgh-based Chamber’s Journal referring to the work of the “detective police.” Charles Dickens in the journal, Household Words, first applied the term in its modern sense, making a distinction between a detective investigator and an ordinary policeman. Pg 418-419

Central to the plot of detective fiction: 1 Central to the plot of detective fiction: 1. the ability of the detective to amass data from the case 2. distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information 3. eliminate scenarios that are illogical or implausible 4. draw to the correct conclusion– only one conclusion. Sherlock Holmes uses a scientific method of investigation and that is “the science of deduction.” discuss the importance of this method according to Holmes. Pg 419 Detective fiction is evidence based, thus it abounds in significant and insignificant details, where insignificant details help us form our opinions while significant details form evidence. Empirical evidence is useful to a detective case. In detective fiction some of the significant details come across as insignificant , and vice versa to raise suspense and readers’ satisfaction. Readers of detective fiction participate in the deduction method to work their way through the story.

Look at Activity 2, pg 420. The first of the Holmes and Watson stories, A Study in Scarlet, appeared in the 1887 edition of Beeton’s Christmas Annual. The second Holmes and Watson story, The Sign of Four, first published in 1890 in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine. The third of the H&W stories, A Scandal in Bohemia, which appeared in The Strand Magazine in 1891, established Doyle as the famous writer of Detective Fiction. The Strand (1851-1910)was a lavishly illustrated standard size monthly magazine featuring a combination of new fiction—short stories-- and journalism. The Strand had millions of readers and many bought the magazine simply to enjoy the next Holmes and Watson case. In total, 56 short stories and 2 novels featuring Holmes and Watson appeared on the pages of The Strand between 1891-1927.

For the bulk of its readers, The Strand Magazine was synonymous with Sherlock Holmes. The stories constructed a vast reading community with shared taste. The appeal of detective fiction was that the structure is repetitive, and it was driven by the resolution of the plot. The Holmes and Watson stories were serialized and published in popular magazines and circulation newspapers. They appealed to readers who inhabited a newly industrialized urban world, stuffed with the new wealth of commerce, wrecked with social inequality and filled with anxiety about crime. Consuming the Holmes stories in a bite-sized, regular chunks provided readers with a sense of engagement with the threat of crime and offered them comforting reassurance that all was well eventually. See Activity 3, pg 424

The Victorians and Abroad: India in London India looms large in the narrative of The Sign of Four as it did in the imagination of the Victorian readers. Activity 4 pg 426: Mention & discuss the references to India. Holmes is aware of the importance of India to British life and its relation to crime in the metropolitan center of London. Discuss how does this figure in the novel? Importance. Indian servants, who were conspicuous in the London homes, also appear in the novel. How are they depicted? Activity 5 pg 427 What is Dr. Watson’s relation to abroad and India? If London is depicted as the comfortable world of domestic interiors, conviviality, and emotional order, India is depicted as the polar opposite: A land of extremes of wealth and poverty, danger, lawlessness, and financial opportunity. Both the wealth and danger of India threaten to destabilize London life.

The Mutiny Historical Facts The Indian Mutiny is a historical event that shapes the narrative of The Sign of Four. The Mutiny is the outbreak on 10 May 1857 of the violent rebellion of Indian soldiers and civilians against the British East Indian Company rule. It lasted until 8 July 1858 and was the first serious challenge to British control in India. Reasons: resentment about pay, status, working conditions, missionary attempts to convert, lack of promotion at the Bengal regiments, and the issue of new paper cartridge greased with animal (pork lard or beef tallow) fat forbidden to both Muslims and Hindus. This led to rumors about the East Indian Company having a secret policy to convert its soldiers to Christianity.

The mutiny broke out in Meerut, north-east of Delhi while the British were at church. And soon after, it spread across a wide area of Northern and central India. More than 200,000 Indian sepoys turned against their officers—killing officers and families. Shortly, the sepoy’s were joined by peasants, feudal landowners, member of the former Mughal elites who had their own grievance against the British East India Company. Jonathan Small in the novel is the only survivor of the massacre at the Mathura indigo plantation. In Agra, Kanpur, Bibighar, Lucknow, massacres against the British took place: 2,000 British men, women & children took refuge in the Agra Fort. Agra fort is depicted in the novel. By July, 1857, the Mutiny had been crushed, the execution of rebels, looting of the wealth of the rebels by British and Indian allies took place. How is this depicted in the novel? Pg. 430

Literary Responses to the Mutiny Political impact of the Mutiny: British rule in India from indirect authority of the East Indian Company to the direct rule of the Crown as a colony with an appointed Governor General representing the monarchy—Queen Victory announced the Empress of India in 1877. Literary Responses to the Mutiny Dozens of novels/memoirs/scores of histories/paintings/poetry were written and published on the theme of the Mutiny. Magazines and newspapers fed the British public information about the events in India, raising the publics excitement about the Mutiny-- a series of literary reinterpretations that turned historical fact into popular mythology. Writers during the Victorian era shaped the Mutiny in the British Consciousness. Pg 431

Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Alfred Tennyson all contributed in offering literary reinterpretations of the Mutiny. Visual representations of the massacres of British civilians during the Mutiny were both graphic and common place in the journalism, art &paintings of the time. These depictions shaped the British understanding of the Mutiny as much as written accounts. There were discrepancies between literary depictions and historical facts. See Figure 7.4 illustration pg 433& Rossetti poem pg 432. Activity 7, pg 434. How is the Mutiny and its consequences described in The Sign of Four by the character, Jonathan Small? Discuss Small’s account aimed at British readers/depicts the rebels as demonic/graphic description/chaotic/Small expects the readers to know about the Mutiny from other accounts/these accounts put to question the legitimacy of the British rule over India. The novel depicts the chaos brought about by the Mutiny, as well as the individual greed, treachery and criminality of British colonialists, such as Small, Captain Morstan, Major Sholto, etc.