The Red-Headed League Group

Question:

pinki
pinki
Student
High School - 9th Grade

How does Arthur Conan Doyle explore the genre of the Victorian detective story in his Sherlock Holmes stories?

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Posted by pinki on Sunday March 2, 2008 at 9:31 AM and tagged with detective stories, genre, the red-headed league, victorian.

Answers:

  1. mark1966
    mark1966 Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    There are certain conventions that Conan Doyle uses to effect in a genre of story that was developing. The first true detective story was 'Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins, but Doyle begins to establish some of the 'rules.' The detective is a clever and astute character often in the 'know' more than anyone else. The Dr Watson character represents us as the reader, asking questions, having information concealed from him and basically impressed at the end when the truth is revealed. Small clues are given to the reader, but never enough for us to make the whole story up. Holmes is also 'eccentric' and is made interesting for his addictions, personality and the way in which he uses disguises. Also Doyle uses the tactic of having crimes come to Holmes as people consult him. He is not the police and therefore he can often operate outside the law; in an era when people were still uncertain about the relatively new police forces, he thus kept readers behind the hero.

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    Posted by mark1966 on Saturday October 4, 2008 at 1:28 AM