Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is one of the most influential books of the 19th century and continues to be popular today. The book enables one to trace many notable aspects of Conan Doyle’s writing. One of such aspects is the author’s conception of gender, which is noticeable in the way he manages the female characters. Essentially, Conan Doyle often makes women in the Sherlock Holmes stories disappear to highlight their cunning nature and ability to escape difficult situations, as opposed to men.
Conan Doyle was one of the first writers in the 19th century to present female characters who did not follow the established gender norms. During the Victorian age, English society was characterized by a high level of conservatism and a clear gender stratification (Kho 238). As a result, women were considered passive individuals who had to adhere to strict social rules. In other words, men and women had defined gender roles which they were expected to perform properly. Women’s role was to be obedient, and therefore, females were not expected to go beyond the gender boundaries. At the same time, Conan Doyle’s female characters were, to a considerable extent, unconventional since he portrayed them as cunning and able to outwit men. One of the main means which Conan Doyle used to highlight the capacity of women to escape predicaments is disappearance. Essentially, Conan Doyle made some of his female characters vanish without a trace which left Sherlock Holmes surprised.
One of the main female characters of Sherlock Holme’s stories is Iren Adler, who first appears in “A Scandal in Bohemia.” Mr. Holmes gets hired by the King of Bohemia to secure a photo of him and Iren Adler, a retired opera singer with whom the King had an affair (Doyle 17). Since the King plans to get married to a Scandinavian princess, Iren Adler threatens to expose the photo to the family of the princess. Although Sherlock Holmes locates the place where Iren Adler keeps the photo, by dressing as a clergyman, he fails to secure it because she disappears the next day. The story shows how a woman manages to escape a difficult situation and outplay a legendary detective. Thus, Conan Doyle portrays Iren Adler as a highly-intelligent female who is the complete oppositive of the conventional woman of the Victorian period. He uses the disappearance as a method which underscores the ability of women to utilize their guile.
Another example of a disappearing woman is Rachel Howells from “The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual.” It presents a story of a secret map which leads Richard Brunton, a butler, to discover a treasure in a cellar on his master’s estate (Doyle 48). Rachel Howells assists Richard Brunton, but while the latter is found dead, the woman disappears completely. One of the ideas of Sherlock Holmes concerning the disappearance of Rachel Howells is that she intentionally left Richard Brunton to die in the cellar. Moreover, although Sherlock Holmes discovers her footprints, he is still unable to find her. Conan Doyle features the characters such as Rachel Howells to once again defy the gender norms and show that women can be extremely cunning and escape crime scenes. Simultaneously, in “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” Conan Doyle shows the disappearance of Mr. St. Clair, a male character who, nevertheless, gets exposed by Sherlock Holmes (Doyle 95). Thus, Conan Doyle offers his conception of gender, implying that both men and women are equally capable of guile acts, and women are often more successful in them.
Conan Doyle uses disappearing female characters as a way to promote his gender conception, which goes against Victorian norms. The women from the stories “The Musgrave Ritual” and “A Scandal in Bohemia” constitute cunning and highly-intelligent women who manage to escape difficult situations for them. By contrast, “The Man with the Twisted Lip” shows a man whose disappearance becomes quickly uncovered by Sherlock Holmes.
Works Cited
Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Arcturus Publishing, 2018.
Kho, Younghee. Performative Sherlock Holmes: Male Direction and Female Digression in “A Scandal in Bohemia.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, vol. 31, no. 4, 2018.