Short Stories Adventure

The Adventures of
Sherlock Holmes
Author Year Published Original Language
Arthur Conan Doyle 1892 English

THEMES

The Truth Set in the soot-soaked alleyways of late 1800s London, The Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes stories detail the many cases of London’s most gifted
Will Out private detective. Told through the memoirs of Holmes’s friend and
colleague, Dr. John Watson, each case pits the sleuth’s discerning mind
and exacting eye against villains bent on evading justice.

Reasoning

Great things can be accomplished

through rational thought and the

Camaraderie observation of oft-missed details.

Watson is more than just Holmes’s

personal historian; he’s also his
friend, sounding board,
and accomplice.

Justice

Once employed by a client,

Holmes does everything in his
Mystery power to right any wrong.

Things that are difficult to

understand are Holmes’s
true enemy.

Main Characters
Friendship Helps

Associates Dupes

Dr. John Watson

Educated and well traveled;
admires and helps Holmes

Lestrade Clients
Oft-foiled police officer; Impetus for each story; often
annoyed by Holmes’s brilliance shocked at Holmes’s abilities

Sherlock Holmes
Wildly observant and logical but
cold; favors justice over legality

Irene Adler
Beautiful and intelligent
woman; earns Holmes’s
respect

Motifs

Deception

Lies abound in the world of

Sherlock Holmes, as the
detective employs disguises
The Adventures of and cases take twists and turns.
Sherlock Holmes
by the Numbers

Travel

60 In late 19th-century England, the

proliferation of carriages and
trains meant that a single
Sherlock Holmes stories
detective could cover distances
written by Doyle
faster than ever before.

1887
Year Doyle introduced
the Sherlock Holmes
character in A Study
in Scarlet
Author
Born in Scotland, Doyle

1899 discovered his talent for

storytelling at the University of
Edinburgh, alongside famous
Year actor William Gillette
author classmates such as J.M.
introduced Sherlock
Barrie and Robert Louis
Holmes’s iconic pipe,
Stevenson. He based the
hat, and cloak
character of Sherlock Holmes on SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
his professor, Dr. James Bell. 1859–1930
A knighted field surgeon, Doyle
himself was the basis for Watson.

>100
Award nominations for
Sherlock, the BBC modern
adaptation of the Sherlock
Holmes story

t is, of course, a trifle, but there is

nothing so important as trifles.
Sherlock Holmes, “The Man with the Twisted Lip”

Sources: ArthurConanDoyle.com, Connecticut History, Encyclopaedia

Britannica, Guinness, IMDb, PBS, Victorian Web

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