Sherlock Holmes and London’s Significance

This was the first time that I have ever read Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories about Sherlock Holmes. To my surprise, the adventures are from the point of view of Sherlock Holmes’ partner in sleuthing, Watson. The Sherlock Holmes short stories are set in London in the 1890s. London as a setting plays an important part in each storyline. Overall, the setting in a big city creates interesting characters for Sherlock to investigate. When I think of being able to see a bunch of different type of characters, I tend to think of cities before I think of countries or suburbs. From Adventure 2: The Red-Headed League, Sherlock Holmes says: “I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of everyday life.” Another important part of the city compared to any other setting is the way news travels. In this adventure, it was important for the client, Mr. Jabez Wilson, to see the advertisement to be a part of the Red-Headed League. In cities, particularly, it is easier for news to travel. Newspapers are something that everyone in the city is expected to read in the 1890s. Sherlock Holmes being in the city of London plays an important role as well. First would be the economic struggles between the rich and poor and how they treated each other in London. As shown in this adventure, John Clay went to great lengths to satisfy his greed. When I think of the typical criminal, I think of one that just robs stores, however, these criminals realized that they had to get creative in order to gain more money. Another aspect that is specific to London is the way the city is set up. As explained by Arthur Conan Doyle, the city of London seems to be a lot of shops and businesses all close together. In the Red-Headed League adventure, the Cellar of the bank was close enough to the basement of Mr. Wilson’s pawnshop for the criminals to make a whole in 8 weeks that is deep enough to get into the bank. Imagining Sherlock Holmes in a city like Pittsburgh may work for a specific type of adventure, but overall Sherlock Holmes is better in London and adds to the success of the series overall.