1. Sherlock Holmes

2. Sherlock Holmes statue
Famous actors who have played the part….

3. Basil Rathbone
Thought to be the best actor to play the part (1939-)

4. Jeremy Brett as Holmes
Jeremy Brett: very popular actor/also played in My Fair Lady ( )

5. Background
Name: originally Sherrinford but Doyle changed it to Sherlock; Holmes is perhaps from Oliver Wendell Holmes.
Family: brother Mycroft

6. Realistic Character: Combination of Poe’s Dupin and Dr. Joseph Bell
Noted for his eccentric traits
nervous energy
encyclopedic knowledge of minutiae such as rare tobacco and Oriental tattooing methods
skill in music=violin
background in foreign languages

7. Realistic Character: Smoker different pipes for different moods
cherry pipe=argumentative moods
before breakfast pipe=for reading the paper
clay pipe=deep thinking
studies tobacco: can recognize the ash of any brand of tobacco

8. Realistic Character: swimming fishing fencing
Sports:
swimming
fishing
fencing
knowledge of Japanese wrestling
Avid reader

9. Realistic Character: patron of the opera (especially German music)
Enjoys chemistry and experiments
Loves music
patron of the opera (especially German music)
plays the violin to express his moods and for solace

10. Realistic Character:
Drugs: use of drugs was widespread (made illegal in the first decades of the 20th century
opium: available in England since the 14th century
Early 19th century, people began to notice the withdrawal symptoms when not taking opium continually

11. Realistic Character: Drugs cont.
1822: Thomas De Quincey published Confessions of an Opium Eater outlining the joys and sorrows of opium use
S.T. Coleridge: opium addict; struggled with it for most of his life
Cocaine is a stimulant and Holmes used it for excitement. Freud was a champion of cocaine as a medicine.

12. Watson
John H. Watson named after one of Doyle’s doctor friends, James Watson.
Characteristics:
doctor: dealt with internal problems (surgeons lower in status dealt with the external)
absolutely trustworthy

13. Watson reliable patient
the norm (narrator’s point of view) character—we reach the same conclusions that he does.

14. Sherlock Holmes Societies:
First: Baker Street Irregulars (U.S.) until 1991
Sherlock Holmes Society of London
Largest: Japanese Sherlock Holmes Club (1200+ members)

15. Hound of the Baskervilles
First published in The Strand Magazine from August 1901-April 1902
Written after Holmes plunged over the Reichenbach Falls
Most famous and beloved of all the Sherlock Holmes stories