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Class System in Sherlock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories raise questions and commentary about the class system in Victorian England. The issue of class is pertinent to the mysteries and adventures of Sherlock Holmes because the English society at that time was highly segregated according to caste systems. While Doyle depicts this segregation in his stories, he still criticizes the system for its fickleness and unrealistic standards. In The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle uses Watson to illustrate how fanatics of the system behaved. In contrast, Holmes is not impressed by prestige and class. Therefore, Arthur Conan Doyle primarily criticizes the class system for its inconsistency and advocates for social equality through the sentiments of Sherlock Holmes.

Conan Doyle uses Sherlock Holmes to demystify the idea that crime can only be committed by a specific social class. In Victorian England, there was an ideology that the poor were most likely to commit crimes. Doyle spends a great deal of time establishing the criminal class, which is a group of people that are more predisposed to commit crime. Expectedly, this group consisted of the working and lower classes. While the inclusion of the supposed criminal class would imply that Doyle believed that the poor were more likely to commit crimes, the author uses Sherlock Holmes to dismantle these beliefs. Hence, Sherlock Holmes becomes the voice of reason in questioning the social inequality in England. For instance, in The Adventure of the Empty House, Sherlock Holmes comes back from the dead to deal with the criminals that were on Professor Moriarty’s payroll. One of these men is a former soldier who previously worked with the British government called Colonel Moran (Doyle (a) 10). On top of attempting to kill Holmes, the detective discovers that Colonel Moran had succeeded in killing a governor of one of the Australian colonies. This story shows that someone as respectable as Colonel Moran is equally capable of committing a crime as any other person from the lower castes. This trend resurfaces in Holmes’ adventures, and he believes that criminals do not belong to a solitary class. In this way, Holmes does not seek to restore the social order because his main focus is solving crime.

Doyle uses the stark contrast between Watson and Holmes to represent the differing ideologies of the class system in England. On the one hand, Watson seems impressed by members from higher classes and even treats them differently. On the other hand, Holmes is not as impressed with class when doing his detective work. This contrast is highlighted in The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor, where Holmes’ client is a wealthy member of the aristocrat (Doyle (b) 1). In their conversation about the client, whose name is Lord St. Simon, Watson congratulates Holmes for scoring a client from a noble class. Holmes responds to Watson’s congratulatory remarks by saying, “I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of this case” (Doyle (b) 1). This response shows that Holmes does not let the class system determine how he handles clients or solves cases. Holmes even goes on to say that he is more intrigued by the problems of his less prestigious clients. The detective’s knowledge of the different classes helps him in his cases. However, he does not treat his clients differently, regardless of their social status. Hence, Doyle maintains a balance in his view of the class system. He uses Watson to show how most people in England considered the castes. On the other hand, the uses Holmes to highlight that social status is irrelevant, especially when it comes to crime and the justice system.

One might argue that Doyle aimed to maintain the status quo of the Victorian era due to his depiction of the different classes in the Sherlock Holmes stories. However, a deeper look into the stories shows that Doyle was simply presenting the facts according to how society was set up at the time. In fact, in some stories, Doyle seems to indicate that class stereotypes are simply illusions because, at the end of the day, all human beings are inherently equal. The Man with the Twisted Lip is a great example of how fickle the class system was in the Victorian era. For one, the story compares the lower class and the middle class through the characters Hugh Boone and Neville St. Clair, respectively (Doyle (c) 6). Interestingly, the end of the story reveals that these two characters are the same. Holmes and Watson’s perception of the man is significant because their opinions change when dealing with Hugh and Neville. This story provides the stereotypes and beliefs about poor people and beggars. For instance, society associates these groups of people with a lack of intelligence and drug use (Doyle (c) 2). The story shows that beggars are considered dirty, animal-like, and lacking in human characteristics (Doyle (c) 9). In contrast, people from the middle class are refined-looking and respectable. The end of The Man with the Twisted Lip reveals that Neville St. Clair, who is from the bourgeois, has been disguising helmet as a beggar to earn money from this “profession.” this revelation shows just how blurred class lines can be and that it is ridiculous for members of society to discriminate against others according to castes. Hence, in this instance, Doyle criticizes the hypocrisy that comes with the class system in the Victorian era.

Doyle further sheds light on how social class functions in Victorian England, whereby people would try to pass as members of certain groups. Passing is a term used to identify members of a category of group-based factors, including ethnicity, race, and class. In The Man with the Twisted Lip, Neville St. Clair presents an interesting case of passing for social class. One might argue that this character is in limbo in terms of the caste system. For the most part, he presents himself as a well-to-do man from the middle class when, in fact, he is a professional beggar (Doyler (c) 10). This story is ironic because Neville strives to remain in the middle class and make money by posing as a member of the lower class. In fact, he poses as a member of the lowest class by pretending to be a beggar. The Man with the Twisted Lip highlights the expectations of a middle-class man in his thirties. The story also explores the lengths that people were willing to go to stay in the good graces that come with the higher castes. Hence, Doyle further criticizes the class system for creating class standards that only a few members of society can attain. At the same time, Neville St. Clair’s mission to become a beggar sheds light on the harsh treatment that people in the lower and working classes hope to leave behind. In the quest to be socially acceptable, characters like Neville go to extremes to maintain their status in society.

In conclusion, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories capture the true nature of the class systems in Victorian England. The author establishes the different classes in the stories by including characters from the aristocracy, the middle class, and the lower class. Doyle balances the warped perspective of the class by using contrasting lead characters. While Watson is impressed by class, this element is a non-factor in Holmes’ work. Doyle also criticizes the class system for upholding overwhelming standards for the classes. The case of Neville St. Claire exemplifies the lengths that some people were willing to go to maintain their social standing. All in all, Doyle mostly criticizes the class system by pointing out how fickle it can be. He instead advocates for equality through Holmes’ character.

Works Cited

Doyle, Arthur Conan (a). The Adventure Of The Empty House. Modernista, 2024.https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/empt.pdf

Doyle, Arthur Conan(b). The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor. Modernista, 2024https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/nobl.pdf

Doyle, Arthur Conan (c). The Man with the Twisted Lip. Modernista, 2024https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/twis.pdf

 

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