WAS SHERLOCK HOLMES A CRIMINAL ?

Was Sherlock Holmes a criminal?

By Arun Roy Mukherjee.

Part - I

Sherlock Holmes – a criminal ? Preposterous – absurd – a conjecture of a crooked mind. Madness – plain and simple. That is what the normal reaction should be and is expected from our readers..

Sherlock Holmes, the detective, the immortal creation in the history of detection of crimes, is possibly the most popular over the world. The readers are mesmerized, rather bewitched by his super-intelligence, power of observation, deduction and logic and ultimately in his superb skill in solving mysteries. His magnanimity under certain circumstances, makes him a man to our hearts. Any elucidation to prove his great qualities and his popularity is unnecessary. These are established facts.

And yet, do we truly know Sherlock Holmes ? Dr. Watson, one of his admirers, by dint of his narrative style takes us away from our own critical self and also makes us equally naïve to admire Holmes’activities. We close the analytical part of our minds and fail to make a fair judgment of the person named Sherlock Holmes. While reading, rather devouring THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, do we not admirably watch his methods in solving the mysteries and do we not totally forget to read between the lines to find out the real character of the person?

Applying the same method of observation, deduction, logic and intelligence, as were the qualities of the subject matter of this article, we come to the shocking revelation that the man, Sherlock Holmes, had different and contradictory traits of character, a man with two different faces. One, of course, was the detective as we all know him. But the other ?

Before going into the detailed examination of a few cases and before drawing any conclusions, we may take note of certain basic facts to make a fair assessment of the person. While carrying on our probe or investigation, we should take recourse to the facts from the text alone and should rely on the same materials as was presented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and should not take into account any material other than what is found in THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES. We promise that we shall not invent anything out of our own imagination and shall not resort to any outside material not found in the book mentioned above.

( to be continued…)