SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE HE WAS A BRITISH NOVELIST, SHORT STORY WRITER, POET AND DOCTOR OF MEDICINE. HE WAS BORN IN 1858 IN EDINBURGH. HE TRAINED AS A DOCTOR AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDIMBOURGH S MEDICAL SCHOOL WHERE HE MET DR. JOSEPH BELL.
DR. JOSEPH BELL THE DOCTOR LEFT AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION UPON THE YOUNG STUDENT. ARTHUR SAW THAT HIS TEACHER DR. JOSEPH BELL WAS VERY CLEVER AT DEDUCING HIS PATIENTS ILLNESSES BY NOTICING EVERY TINY DETAIL. BOTH THE ASPECT OF THIS MAN AND HIS PARTICULAR ABILITY INFLUENCED THE CREATION OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.
DETECTIVE HOLMES HE IS PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS FICTIONAL DETECTIVE OF ALL TIME HE WAS GIFTED AT OBSERVATION, LOGIC, DEDUCTION, AND DIAGNOSIS HE LIVED AT 221B BAKER STREET, LONDON MANY READERS THOUGHT HOLMES WAS.REAL! Corageus Clever Insightful Eccentric
THE CHARACTER DOYLE FIRST INTRODUCED TO THE WORLD HIS MOST FAMOUS CHARACTER, SHERLOCK HOLMES IN AN ADVENTURE ENTITLED A STUDY IN SCARLET. THERE WE ALSO MEET HIS FRIEND AND ASSISTANT DR. WATSON WHO IS THE NARRATOR OF ALL HIS STORIES. THEREFORE WE ALWAYS MEET SHERLOCK THROUGH WATSON S EYES. HERE IS WHAT HE TELLS US ABOUT HIM:
Holmes was certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his habits were regular. It was rare for him to be up after ten at night, and he had invariably breakfasted and gone out before I rose in the morning. Sometimes he spent his day at the chemical laboratory, sometimes in the dissectingrooms, and occasionally in long walks, which appeared to take him into the lowest portions of the City.
As the weeks went by, my interest in him and my curiosity as to his aims in life, gradually deepened and increased. His very person and appearance were such as to strike the attention of the most casual observer. In height he was rather over six feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller. His eyes were sharp and piercing, save during those intervals of torpor to which I have alluded; and his thin, hawklike nose gave his whole expression an air of alertness and decision. His chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of determination. His hands were invariably blotted with ink and stained with chemicals, yet he was possessed of extraordinary delicacy of touch, as I frequently had occasion to observe when I watched him manipulating his fragile philosophical instruments."
His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Watson is so astonished by this man and his strange knowledge that he makes a list. 1. Knowledge of Literature: Nil. 8. Knowledge of Anatomy: Accurate but 2. Knowledge of Philosophy: Nil. unsystematic. 3. Knowledge of Astronomy: Nil. 9. Knowledge of Sensational 4. Knowledge of Politics: Feeble. Literature: Immense. 5. Knowledge of Botany: Variable. 10. Plays the violin well. 6. Knowledge of Geology: Practical but 11. Is an expert singlestick player, limited. boxer, and swordsman. 7. Knowledge of Chemistry: Profound. 12. Has a good practical knowledge of British law.
DR. JOHN WATSON WATSON IS SHERLOCK HOLMES' FRIEND, ASSISTANT AND SOMETIME FLATMATE. HE IS THE FIRST PERSON NARRATOR OF THE STORIES. HE IS DESCRIBED AS THE TYPICAL VICTORIAN-ERA GENTLEMAN, UNLIKE THE MORE ECCENTRIC HOLMES. HE IS ASTUTE, ALTHOUGH HE CAN NEVER MATCH HIS FRIEND'S DEDUCTIVE SKILLS.
THE VICTORIAN AGE IN 1837 VICTORIA BECAME QUEEN. SHE SERVED FOR A PERIOD OF 64 YEARS UNTIL HER DEATH IN 1901. IT IS ONE OF THE LONGEST REIGNS IN THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
THE PERIOD WAS MARKED BY MANY IMPORTANT SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CHANGES THAT ALTERED THE NATION IN MANY WAYS: THE POPULATION NEARLY DOUBLED THE BRITISH EMPIRE EXPANDED EXPONENTIALLY TECHNOLOGICAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS HELPED BRITAIN BECOME THE MOST POWERFUL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
VICTORIAN WRITERS VICTORIAN ERA IS THE LINK BETWEEN ROMANTICISM OF THE 18TH CENTURY AND THE REALISM OF THE 20TH CENTURY. Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe Charles Dickens Oliver Twist A Christmas Carol Oscar Wilde The picture of Dorian Gray The importance of being Ernest