The Red-Headed League | Sherlock Holmes and "The Red-Headed League": A Symbolic Paradigm for the Teaching of Plot
In the following essay, Atkinson discusses "The Red-Headed League" as a supreme example of the nature of plot, in which a "sequence of events" becomes "a structure of revelation."
Most Sherlock Holmes stories begin with someone coming to visit the famous detective. The master sleuth listens judiciously as the hapless visitor spells out the details of his story, a confusing sequence of events uninformed by a clear meaning, a chain of mysterious occurrences of which the visitor feels himself somehow to be the victim, and thus now turns to the renowned intellect in the hope he can illuminate the puzzle—in short, the kind of encounter familiar to any English teacher who has ever held office hours the day before a major essay came due.
But this moment in which...
[The entire page is 2426 words long]
Join eNotes
The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:
Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
Related Topics
Tell a friend about The Red-Headed League at eNotes.
