The Case Study of Sherlock Holmes (2009) - Scholarly Commons ...

the common image of a cocaine user. Holmes states in The Sign of Four (1890/2001)
that he is “the last and highest court of appeal in detection” (Doyle, 1890/2001, p. 6).
He prides himself on his clinical profession and in turn carries the mantle of justice.
Similarly, his consistent logical detachment contradicts the stereotypical image of a man
who indulges in cocaine. Holmes in The Sign of Four (1890/2001) believes that
“whatever is emotional is opposed to that true cold reason which [he] place[s] above all
things” (Doyle, 1890/2001, p. 117). While rejecting emotions, Holmes remains
representative of society‟s most idealistic tenets and through The Sign of Four‟s
(1890/2001) imagery and ideology, audiences are cultivated, and contradictions are
reconciled, by his enchantment:
Because Holmes represented the values of modernity in ways that addressed the
criticisms of the cultural pessimists, he spoke to the dissatisfactions and hopes of
adults as well as to the imaginations of children. Like many of his readers,
Holmes yearned for enchantment. (Saler, 2003, p. 603)
Original product: Study in Scarlet images and ideology
A Study in Scarlet (1887/2006a) is the first Holmes novel and first Holmes story in the
canon. When originally published in 1887, “detective stories [had not] been fully
invented [and] this first Sherlock Holmes novel [did] not follow what [are now] the
conventions” (Redmond, 2009, p. 13). It was however my third Holmes novel and was
read when I was well into my ethnographic journey as a fan. At that stage, having
become acquainted with various television and film adaptations, I sought to go back to
the original canon and fill in the gaps of my Holmes knowledge. However, A Study in
Scarlet (1887/2006a) generates more questions then answers. Doyle, through the
character of Stamford, an old medical colleague of Watson‟s, warns The Good Doctor
and his readers: “You don‟t know Sherlock Holmes yet . . . [and] perhaps you would
not care for him as a constant companion” (Doyle, 1887/2006a, p. 18). Stamford
continues to describe Holmes as being “too scientific . . . it approaches to cold-
bloodedness” (Doyle, 1887/2006a, p. 19). However when Watson finally meets the man
in question, Holmes contradicts his cultivated image and defies any reference to Doyle
and Crowder‟s (2010) “common picture” (p. 10):
There was only one student in the room, who was bending over a distant table
absorbed in his work. At the sound of our steps he glanced round and sprang to
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