This is Lillie Langtry, a possible model from Irene Adler to Conan Doyle. She was the lover of the Prince of Wales and was rumored to have countless other affairs with other men of high status. She was also a friend of Conan Doyle and was quite intelligent as told by her peers. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309965/Edward-VIIs-mistress-pictures-woman-royal-affair-auction.html) |
Considering that Sherlock Holmes Series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was written in the Victorian Era, its no surprise that most of the time women are seen as very 'emotional' in these stories. There are a few exceptions like the infamous Irene Adler who outsmarted the great detective. Sherlock Holmes does treat women with respect when he encounters them, but he does consider them as children it seems.
In A Case of Identity, Holmes' client is Mary Sutherland, a woman whose stepfather disguises himself as her lover then ditches her, heartbroken, at the altar in order to keep the money she would take with her if she got married. After Miss Sutherland tells her woes and leaves, Sherlock does make the comment, " I found her more interesting then her little problem," (Conan Doyle 47) which means that she seemed like a very well rounded women to him who is getting cause up in this problem that he sees often.
At the end of this tale, when Sherlock and John do confront the stepfather about his wrongdoings and he escapes, Holmes says that he will not tell Mary Sutherland the truth because " You may remember the old Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman" (Conan Doyle 52). This saying means that even if maternal instinct is ferocious, it does not compare to how a woman will fight for what she believes in which is wrong. Not only is this offensive for women, it also adds salt to the wound for Mary Sutherland because she probably will spend the rest of her life waiting for her nonexistent lover and still living with her cruel guardian. Sure she might not believe them at first because it is a shocking discovery but it's better to tell her than to just insult her dignity.
In A Case of Identity, Holmes' client is Mary Sutherland, a woman whose stepfather disguises himself as her lover then ditches her, heartbroken, at the altar in order to keep the money she would take with her if she got married. After Miss Sutherland tells her woes and leaves, Sherlock does make the comment, " I found her more interesting then her little problem," (Conan Doyle 47) which means that she seemed like a very well rounded women to him who is getting cause up in this problem that he sees often.
At the end of this tale, when Sherlock and John do confront the stepfather about his wrongdoings and he escapes, Holmes says that he will not tell Mary Sutherland the truth because " You may remember the old Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman" (Conan Doyle 52). This saying means that even if maternal instinct is ferocious, it does not compare to how a woman will fight for what she believes in which is wrong. Not only is this offensive for women, it also adds salt to the wound for Mary Sutherland because she probably will spend the rest of her life waiting for her nonexistent lover and still living with her cruel guardian. Sure she might not believe them at first because it is a shocking discovery but it's better to tell her than to just insult her dignity.
This is a scene from the hit show Sherlock based on the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The episode it's from is called A Scandal in Belgravia which mirrors A Scandal in Bohemia in plot and characters. This scene is important because it shows Irene Adler outwitting Sherlock Holmes by being completely naked (i swear they don't show anything at all) which makes it incapable for him to analyze her. This does end differently than the original version (but I'm not spoiling anything) and since this is taken place in present day, they had to make Irene Adler into something that would be considered scandalous in our time.
Irene Adler has been a timeless Sherlock Holmes character and has been put into many adaptions of Sherlock Holmes, but she has only been in one story of the official Sherlock Holmes Series. She is such a memorable character because she is known as the woman who outsmarted Sherlock Holmes. The story that she is a character in is A Scandal in Bohemia where Holmes and Watson are approached by the king of Bohemia who is engaged and has risque photos of him and Irene Adler in Adler's possession that could compromise his future marriage. He assigns Holmes to retrieve the photos, in which Holmes proceeds to follow her to find the photos and while doing this he is caught in the whirlwind life of Irene Adler.
As he follows her he accidentally becomes a witness in her elopement and gets in a fight with all of her admirers waiting in her lawn. Once he figures out were the photos are he returns and finds Adler gone with a note from her saying how she figured out his plan and that she only keeps the photos, "to safeguard myself" (Conan Doyle 24). This is when Sherlock realizes that she was the victim all along because of what the king might do to her if he did manage to get the photos and it also illustrates to him how she is as cunning as he is. He calls her The Woman because, "In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex" (Conan Doyle 1). To Sherlock she is the best woman compared to all others and not in a sexual way but in an intelligent way.
The theme of women is common throughout the series because there is a mixture of women and men coming to him as clients. Sometimes the women have these fantastic lives that are so out of the ordinary for Sherlock Holmes that they are described in very explanatory diction as to give a sense why they are so out of the box and they intrigue him so much because of how they don't go with the normal flow of English society back then. Sometimes there are those women who act just like they're supposed to, usually soft spoken and a conformist. He treats them like he normally would, very cordial and attentive, but he always questions whether he should trust their side of the story or not.