An examination of how Sherlock Holmes abilities and techniques, :: English Literature

An examination of how Sherlock Holmes abilities and techniques,allied to his personal characteristics, enable him to solve crimesThere are many reasons to explain why Sherlock Holmes is peerless of theworlds most famous fictional detectives. However, the main reason forthis is that not only are the stories complex, but the actualcharacter of Sherlock Holmes has extreme depth, with some sharpelements of his character only becoming apparent when he is in certainsituations. This is why Sherlock Holmes is one of the most, if not themost interesting fictional characters to study. star of Holmes most famous professional characteristics is his powerof observation. An example of this is where Holmes is examining a roomWhy, its a dummyit is fastened to a hook (The Speckled Band). Thisis a precise unlikely thing for a normal person to observe but not forSherlock HolmesHowever, Holmes powers of observation would be worth nothing withouthis excellent ratiocination and deduction abilities. An example of this isconnected to the quote above (from The Speckled Band). After Holmesdisc everywhereed that the bell pull (rope) was a dummy, and taking intoaccount only facts that may be considered, by lesser men,insignificant he solved the mystery of a womans death. It wouldcrawl down the rope.... sooner or later she must settle down victim (TheSpeckled Band).It is by Holmes use of reasoning and deduction that one of his mostfamous personal characteristics also fuck offs to light. This is hischaracteristic of making people somewhat him feel beneath him, in otherwords, Holmes has a high level of self-esteem. He astounds people withhis intelligence. He pretends that he does not mean to do this I donot wish to make a mystery (A Scandal in Bohemia). There is but onecase that I have come across in which Sherlock Holmes is outwitted bysomeone, and when he realises that he has been outwitted, he is amazedHolmes staggered back, white with chagrin and surprise (A Scandal inBohemia). H e is curiously amazed that it is a woman that hasoutwitted him. This has some, but only a slight, effect on hisbelittling characteristic He used to make merry over the clevernessof women, but I have not heard him do it of late (A Scandal inBohemia).Holmes has a great store of knowledge that he has acquired over manyyears at his disposal, and this helps him greatly in his cases myspecial knowledge of tobacco ashes enabled me to pronounce as anIndian cigar (The Boscombe Valley Mystery). This yet over again provesjust how intelligent Sherlock Holmes is.