Sherlock Holmes: A Case Study
Abstract
I intend to prove that while a psycho-social analysis of a human being could be quite helpful, it can also be used for one to gain a deeper understanding of literary characters. Using David Gadd and Tony Jefferson's methodology I plan on fully analyzing the character Sherlock Holmes. I begin with a pen portrait of Sherlock Holmes and then using the information in the pen portrait I create a psycho-social analysis. I feel I have proven that a psycho-social analysis on a literary character is quite useful in gaining a deeper understanding of not only the character one is analyzing, but also the author themselves.
Introduction
Mostly when one creates a psycho-social profile they normally use it to find out more about criminals such as serial killers or rapists. In general these profiles are not used on those on the side of the law. Truth be told though, there are probably just as many who have the same type of issues as those criminals that work on the side of the law, or in high places of power.
Using David Gadd and Tony Jefferson's steps of creating a psychosocial profile I intend to show readers how these procedures are not only able to be used on human beings but literary characters as well. My case study for this assignment will be none other than the infamous Sherlock Holmes. But wait- Sherlock Holmes was not a real person. He was created for the amusement of those willing to read his adventures. So how can one do a psychosocial profile on a fictional character?
Simply put, yes, Sherlock was a fictional character, but there has been so much written about him over the years, so much speculated, that he as well have been a real human being. We tend to know more about Sherlock Holmes than we do about most of our real life historical figures. Corresponding to that many have claimed that Jesus Christ was not real, or if he was, what he did was exaggerated, but so much has been said and believed about him that even if he wasn't real, he may as well have been.
Sherlock is known for his eccentricities, his rudeness, his cocaine and opium addiction and his brilliance. For this particular case study we are going to focus on three things. We will be exploring the possibility of Sherlock being a sociopath, but as you see later in the text, that theory is disproven quickly in favor of a stronger case, the case of him having Asperger's Syndrome- a minor form of Autism. The final subject we will be exploring is Sherlock's addiction to cocaine, and the strong case made in Nicholas Meyer's book The Seven Per-Cent Solution, that proves that perhaps even the seemingly cold consulting detective has things he would rather not face, things that he wants to hide even from himself. In order to explore these we must first construct a 'pen portrait', one that will inevitably open our eyes and give us enlightenment to the actions of the enigma known as Sherlock Holmes.
Sherlock Holmes: A Case Study
Pen Portrait
Sherlock Holmes was born on the 6 January, 1854, and was the youngest child of Violet Sherrinford and Sigar Holmes. Sherlock's eldest brother Sherrinford Holmes was born on 30 November, 1845, his middle brother Mycroft, seven years his senior, was born two years later on 12 February, 1847. Sherlock's mother was the daughter of a soldier, naturalist and explorer by the name of Sir Edward Sherrinford; her mother was a daughter of Antoine Charles Horace, more commonly known as Carle, Vernet. Sherlock's father was a lieutenant, and later became a Squire in Mycroft. The family had moved several times in Sherlock's youth, the first being in 1855 when they sailed to Bordeaux, and traveled to Pau.
They stayed in Pau until May of 1859, until Sherlock was of age four. Then Sigar had moved his entire family to Montpellier, where many of Violet Holmes' relatives had settled. All was well until Mrs. Holmes' father Sherrinford had fallen ill, and the family had moved back to England to be near him. He died four months later. In October of 1860 Sigar Holmes whisked his family off to Rotterdam, and two months later they settled in Cologne. As winter faded into spring however, Sigar Holmes became restless, and thus the Holmes family began their continental tour. The family had traveled the entirety of Europe, and it lasted about four years. Sherlock on his travels had learned a very intimate knowledge of Europe, and became very interested in Western ways. It had been said that a great portion of Sherlock's personality was formed during this time. But then, in 1864, the Holmes family stopped their continental trip, and settled down in Kennington, a suburb of London.
Sherlock grew restless in the somewhat mundane suburban landscape, and his father had decided that it was time for the boys to receive a proper education. Sherrinfield being the eldest was sent to Oxford, his position in life already set. He would take after his father and become a Squire in Mycroft. It was decided that Mycroft, would be well fitted as a Politian in Government, and he too was sent to Oxford in 1865. Sherlock, he was different however. His father had wanted him to become an engineer. And so, Sherlock was sent off to a boarding school. The boarding school was described as dim place, with gas lanterns always flickering down the passageways that lead to the classrooms. Hideous in all respects, and without a playing field. Sherlock had spent two years there. The eldest brother never went to school, only college. Mycroft only had one year, and Sherlock himself only three years of preliminary schooling. Not much is known about how they received a preliminary education, but it is speculated that their mother taught them reading, writing and arithmetic.
Sherlock was only a day school child at his boarding school, and he did not do as well as was hoped there. He did however, gain respect for learning. While he did not learn much inside the schools walls, Sherlock's insatiable curiosity had helped him gain knowledge in other means. For instance he had discovered a shoppe in Lambeth that was run by a naturalist, and bird stuffer. Sherlock had learned a lot about poisons and their affects that year, as well as bird anatomy from dissecting them in the shop.
In the winter of 1865 Sherlock fell ill and was forced to spend months in his bedroom. In spring of 1866, when he had finally recovered from his severe illness, Sherlock was taken to the farmstead in Yorkshire . For a year he attended a local grammar school, before he fell seriously ill once again in winter of 1867. Sherlock had been taken to a specialist and was declared to be delicate, and his education was abandoned. Curiously enough, only twice after that incident, and much later in life, did Sherlock ever fall ill again. Sigar, happy with a chance for travel, moved the family to the south of France. To make Sherlock stronger, Sigar had offered to give Sherlock boxing lessons, much to his mother's disdain.
In spring of 1971, the Holmes family returned to Mycroft. In a final effort to make Sherlock a engineer, Sigar Holmes employed the help of Professor James Moriarty. Between Sherlock and Moriarty, there was an instant flare of hatred between them. Moriarty was unable to teach Sherlock anything, and soon he left Mycroft to return to academics. Soon after in 1872 Sherlock took up residence in Oxford.
His hatred for Moriarty had worsened in later years when Moriarty brought Sherlock the news of his parent's death. When Sherlock finds out the reason for both their deaths is because his father had murdered his mother than committed suicide after the news that she was having an affair with Professor Moriarty, Sherlock's hatred for him spread. Ultimately it seemed to have encouraged his line of work later in life as well.
It was not until he entered Oxford had he met anyone that found his observations fascinating. The discovery of this shocked him as he thought all people were able to observe and make deductions as he and his brothers had always done. Mycroft, at the very least, had even sharper observation skills than Sherlock. Everyone's fascination with Sherlock's skill was rather short lived however, and much like his grammar school years, he became ostracized, and ridiculed for his incredibly accurate observations.
He had been very lonely as a child, what with his keen observations, and his family moving about almost constantly, he never truly made any long lasting friends. As he was about as social in his adult life as he was in childhood, Sherlock spent many an hour locked in his room, coming up with chemical equations and whatnot. He had few interests in athletics, and his major being quite different from most other boys also kept him quite distant from them. Sherlock did however, finally make one friend. A Professor by the name of Charles Dodgson. Sherlock had deduced that the man had liked photography, and rather than feel affronted by the sudden question, the man had taken an interest in him. They spent many an hour in the winter and summer of Sherlock's first year at University, arguing over numerous things as both men had very strong opinions. It was during Sherlock's second year that he had made yet another friend. This man was known as Victor Trevor.
Trevor had kept a bull dog on the grounds of the school, and one morning when Sherlock was bitten by him, he had met Trevor. They did not hit it off automatically however, but because the boy had felt so guilty he had taken to showing up at Sherlock's dorm. At first their conversations took no more than a minute, but soon as they discovered similar interests, and by the end of his second semester, Sherlock had made a second friend.
It was after a talk with Trevor's father, that Sherlock had decided that he no longer wished to be an engineer. So he had written to his father, explaining that he wanted to further his study in Chemistry. His father was not pleased, and all but disowned his youngest son. Knowing he could never return home, he contacted his brother Mycroft who was then living in London. It was there that he entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital with the intent of learning Organic Chemistry. Three months later, Sherlock received word of his parent's deaths, and his life changed forever. Soon after his parents deaths Sherlock began to dabble in the use of cocaine, tobacco, and morphine.
Sherlock had taken up residence on Montague Street, jut round the corner from the British Museum. There he spent many an hour studying the various crimes of the century. Not only was he knowledgeable about real life criminal and detectives however, he also knew a great deal about the methods of fictional criminals and detectives as well. While studying assassination in the Reading Room of the museum, Sherlock met a man who introduced him to the Anarchists. The firsthand knowledge he had learned from the Anarchists proved to him invaluable years later when he had been summoned to Odessa in order to solve a murder.
One afternoon, after one of his meetings with the Anarchists, Sherlock had crossed a pawn shop which in the window held a violin. A Stradivarius to be exact. To Sherlock's delight he had been able to purchase the violin for about 200 times less than its original worth. He never treated the violin harshly, except for one time when he was particularly depressed. It had taken him ten years to become an accomplished performer.
When Sherlock was particularly bored he would have his brother Mycroft receive some case files from Scotland Yard with the promise that he would remain anonymous when he sent in tips to help solve their various cases. During his time spent anonymously sending in tips to the police Sherlock was familiarizing himself with the Homeless, in an attempt to create himself a Homeless Network that would help him when he needed clues to a case. His reasoning was that no one saw the homeless, so they were able to get into places that others weren't without being noticed. The homeless saw thing's that others did not see. A special group of children in the Homeless Network were known as the Baker Street Irregulars, but they were not met until 1881 when Sherlock settled into 221B Baker Street with Doctor John Hamish Watson.
Between the years of 1881 and 1886 Sherlock and Watson lived in relative peacefulness. During that time Sherlock and Watson solved some of their more memorable cases, including their very first which Watson had dubbed 'A Study in Scarlet', which in later adaptations is also goes by the name 'A Study in Pink. No one had been close to outwitting the Great Sherlock Holmes, until The Woman. The Woman, known to everyone else as Irene Adler is one of the four people, and the only woman, to ever beat Sherlock at his own game. In the year 1888, the King of Bohemia requests Sherlock to retrieve a photo of him with Irene Adler. As he is married to the princess of Scandinavia if the photo were to get out, his marriage to her would be threatened, as his relationship with Irene Adler would be revealed.
Sherlock followed Irene Adler and learned that the woman herself was to be married. He had involved himself in a fake incident where he claimed to have been the victim of a crime outside of her home. This allowed Sherlock access into the premises and he was able to discover where the photograph was hidden. Adler had of course already known who Sherlock was and merely played along with him, tending to the wounds he had received. When Sherlock had returned to her house later in order to nick the photo, he finds that Adler and her husband had fled the premises, and had taken the photograph with them. Where the photo had been hidden, there was an evening gown and a letter to Sherlock. The letter explained how she had outwitted Sherlock, and talked about how happy she was with her new husband. She also goes to reassure Sherlock that she will in no way use the photo to harm the King of Bohemia in any way as long as there are no attempts made against her in the future. When Sherlock returns with the news to the King, the only payment he asks for in retribution for his findings is a photo of Irene Adler. He keeps her photo as a reminder of her cleverness, and her ability to outwit him. It was from that moment on that Sherlock referred to Irene Adler as the Woman.
Sherlock's next biggest adventure begins in 1891, when Professor Moriarty appears. Sherlock had arrived at Dr. Watson's home in a very restless state, his knuckles bleeding rather badly. He had explained to his friend how he had escaped three attempts at his life during the course of his day after he had a meeting with Professor Moriarty who had warned Sherlock to stay out of his business. Sherlock had been tracking Professor Moriarty and his underlings for months prior to his attack, and Sherlock was hot on their trail, coming very close to taking down Moriarty's entire operation. Professor Moriarty was a consulting criminal genius who was behind most of the crimes in London, and around the world. Sherlock considered Professor Moriarty his equal, and would consider bringing Moriarty and his operation down to be the crowning achievement of his career.
Sherlock requests that Dr. Watson travel with him on his quest to search for Moriarty. In Strasbourg Sherlock receives a message from Scotland Yard that many of Moriarty's underlings have been caught and are in police custody. Moriarty himself had escaped them. Sherlock requests that Watson leave him and return to his wife in London, as he feels that things were about to get more dangerous, but Watson refused, wanting to stay by his friend's side. They two made their way to Switzerland where they take a visit to Reichenbach Falls. Once they had arrived there however a local boy appeared and gave Dr. Watson a message about him being needed at the hotel he and Sherlock were staying at. While Sherlock soon realizes that it was merely a ruse, he allowed Watson to go. When he arrives at the hotel he realizes that he had been deceived and hurries back to the falls in search of Sherlock.
When Watson arrives back at the falls neither Moriarty or Sherlock are there. All there was were a set of foot prints leading down a path. Watson found a note from Sherlock which explained how Sherlock realized that the message had been a fake one to get Watson out of the way, and explained how he had gone to fight Moriarty. Dr. Watson walks down the path following the foot prints in the mud, and as he went further in he noticed more signs of a struggle. At the end of the path, signs of a very violent struggle had been shown, and it had become clear to Watson that both Sherlock and Moriarty had fallen to their deaths over the falls during their fight. Dr. Watson returned to England with a heavy heart.
In April of 1894 Dr. Watson, who had then lost his wife, went to a crime scene where a gambler had been shot in a closed room a day earlier. While investigating he bumps into an old book collector who follows him home and then reveals himself to be Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock apologizes to Watson for the hurt he had caused his friend explaining that the reason he had deceived him was the need to outwit the remaining underlings in Moriarty's web, and begins to describe his three years away from London. The one person that knew of his deceit was Sherlock's brother Mycroft, who he had told because he was in need of funds.
After Sherlock's return his life becomes quite calm and eventually in October of 1903 he retires. Sherlock becomes a beekeeper and resided about five miles from East Bourne. After Sherlock retired he did not see much of his friend Watson save an occasional weekend visit here and there. Sherlock stayed there until he passed away on 6 January, 1957, the name Irene passing one last time through his lips.
A Psychosocial Analysis of Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes was a man who always had difficulty with social interactions, a person of many words, and many more insults. Unchallenged by everyone, and everything except for two people; Professor James Moriarty and Irene Adler, both as disturbingly intelligent as he, and perhaps even as dangerous. Eccentric, stoic, sociopathic, psychopath, drug addict, genius, asexual, chemist, are merely a few terms that have been used to describe the infamous Sherlock Holmes. While one can openly admit that it is hard to pin point the exact personality traits of Sherlock, as he is the most portrayed fictional character in the world, there are some key characteristics from the original that tend to come up time and time again in his reincarnations.
One of the more popular beliefs is that Sherlock Holmes exudes the characteristics of a Sociopath. Thinking of Sherlock Holmes as a sociopath gives the term a more romantic feel rather than the disturbing feel it normally would represent, because when one thinks of a sociopath they usually they think of a villain, not a beloved main character in a story. Traits of a sociopath include a lack of empathy, a cold calculating nature, shallow emotions, narcissism, grandiose self image; they may be charming, have a high IQ, manipulative, very secretive, sexually deviant, can be quite sensitive to criticism, have a low tolerance to boredom, conduct impulsive behavior, and are known for being compulsive liars. They were likely to be considered a problem child, and were probably quite difficult to handle when they were younger. As they grow a sociopath is likely to be extremely successful as they wish to be better than those around them. They are more likely to be in very high positions such as CEOs or a Politian. Sherlock's brother Mycroft could be used as an example of this.
While sociopaths could also live on the fringes of society, and have little to no interest in other people. They could be seen as eccentric, and independently wealthy. They either completely immerse themselves into societal government, as Mycroft, or avoid it completely, as Sherlock was known to do. They tend to have few close friends, Dr. Watson, Mrs. Hudson and DI. Lestrade being Sherlock's friends, sociopaths are more likely to make contacts with those they can use- in Sherlock's case Mycroft, the Baker Street Irregulars and the Homeless Network, or those they admire or see as their equals – Professor James Moriarty and Irene Adler. Sociopaths tend to be very cold and manipulative in their relationships, and have the potential to be emotionally abusive to those around them- however it is to be noted that they may not be purposely vindictive.
While Sherlock shows a lack of emotion, has a calculating nature, a high IQ, a very low tolerance for boredom –he shot his living room wall once using Watson's gun, very impulsive in his ways, and at times can see himself superior to those around him, there are reasons to show that he is not one. Sherlock risked his life on several occasions to save Mrs. Hudson and Dr. Watson's lives, showing that he cared about them quite deeply. This show of emotion suggests that he is akin to him having Asperger's Syndrome, rather than him being a sociopath.
As mentioned above Sherlock may be more akin to one that suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, and that had not been lost on the authors of numerous Sherlock Holmes stories throughout the years. The symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome, known as a minor form of Autism, are common characteristics that are found in many Sherlock Holmes renditions. Sherlock is known for his trivial knowledge, and lack of common knowledge. This is shown in The Study in Scarlet, when Watson finds out Sherlock did not know that the Earth revolved around the Sun. When asked how it was possible that he did not to know something that was common knowledge Sherlock went on to explain that the information was useless to him. If he had learned it he had purposely forgot it as it was meaningless to him. Sherlock also appeared to have no idea how to act in social interactions, often saying things inappropriate and hurtful. It is that cold hearted persona that he exuded that had perhaps kept him having friends other than Dr. Watson, DI Lestrade, and his brother Mycroft.
Ami Klin, the director of the autism programme taking place at the Yale Child Study Center, says that the quality that is present in all that suffer from Autism is something known as 'mental blindness'. Mental Blindness is known as the difficulty to understand how others feel, or think. This makes it difficult for those that suffer from the syndrome to form relationships. Those that suffer from the lighter form of Autism, commonly known as Asperger's Syndrome, are unable to perceive how others see them; they tend to act eccentrically as a result. Those that suffer also tend to have very deep knowledge in a very narrow spectrum of subjects. Sherlock Holmes exhibits all of these traits at one point or another, his interactions with others have described as rude at best, and completely inappropriate at worse. Even when dealing with his closest friends his compliments tend to be thinly veiled insults. For instance in The Hound of Baskerville Watson reports to Sherlock what he had discovered, quite please with himself at his own investigative work, Sherlock called him a mere conductor of light.
As mentioned before Sherlock's interests were narrow but deeply focused. He is shown many times bragging about his extensive knowledge on strange, and curious subjects. Sherlock shows signs of what is known as autistic intelligence. Autistic intelligence is defined by Hans Asperger as an ability to see the world from a different perspective than most others; often they are able to focus on details that are commonly overlooked. That particular trait is something that Sherlock boasted about constantly, calling it his method in unraveling the mysteries in his cases.
One issue Sherlock Holmes had that most would readily agree with was his cocaine addiction. First evident in A Study in Scarlet where John Watson explained that Sherlock would lie blankly on the soda in their living room, and when in that state he would not speak or move. Watson claimed to notice a dreamy vacant look in his roommate's eyes. Watson had dismissed the idea of an addiction to the narcotic because the rest of Sherlock's being, and his self control seemed to completely dismiss such a notion. His earlier hypothesis was proven correct however in The Sign of Four which begins with Sherlock taking a bottle of substance from the mantle and a syringe from a morocco case. The scene then goes to describe Sherlock injecting himself with the substance in the bottle, describing how his arm is covered in numerous puncture marks. A later scene in the story has Holmes describing the substance as a seven percent solution of cocaine.
Nowadays we realize the terribly addictive effects cocaine could have on a person, but in the late 1800s when these stories were written, the drug had been a fairly new discovery. In those days cocaine was used as a local anesthetic, and there were traces of cocaine that could be found in candy, wines, and other forms of liquor. Back then it was thought to be a perfectly harmless drug. It is noteworthy that as the years had passed and more had been learned about the dangers of cocaine Conan Doyle made sure to have Holmes change is addictive ways. In The Adventure of the Missing Three Quarter Watson explains how he had been helping Sherlock wean himself off the drug as it had threatened his career. He also goes on to explain that while Sherlock no longer used or craved the drug frequently there was still a chance for his friend to relapse once more.
Probably the greatest rendition of Sherlock's struggle with cocaine is Nicholas Meyer's book The Seven Per-Cent Solution. The story begins by stating that The Final Problem, and The Empty House were fabrications of Sherlock's cocaine infused mind. In the book Watson explains that those stories had been made up to hide what really happened to Sherlock during his three year absence. The beginning starts with Sherlock telling Watson that be believes that Professor Moriarty is what we would call a consulting criminal. It is written in such a way that what is being said is viewed as nothing more than drug induced ramblings, and goes on to explain that Professor Moriarty was a tutor to both Mycroft and Sherlock. When Watson meets Moriarty, the man outright denies being a criminal and threatened to sue if Sherlock's accusations did not stop.
The main plot of the book was Sherlock's plight with his addiction and the recovery. Mycroft and Watson talk Sherlock into going to Vienna where they meet Sigmund Freud. Freud helps Sherlock conquer his addiction by using various methods. The one that he most commonly used with Sherlock was hypnosis. The final session Sherlock has with Freud reveals that Sherlock's father had murdered his mother, and then committed suicide and that it had been Professor Moriarty whom brought Sherlock the news. It is because of that, that Professor Moriarty became the bearer of evil in Sherlock's subconscious mind. Freud concluded that Sherlock was unable to handle the emotions and had pushed them away, while trying to find ways to fight crime, solve cases, and it is probably what caused him to begin his cocaine habit. When Sherlock is declared healthy enough to go home, Watson returns to London and leaves Sherlock to travel by himself. Sherlock had informed Watson that he wanted him to tell everyone in London that he had died.
It is clear that while Sherlock Holmes was cold at times, inappropriate, and had been utterly clueless, he did care about those close to him. It is obvious he put on a cold exterior to try and distance himself from those around him, possibly to protect himself from hurt, another wall he created in addition to his cocaine habit. He craved control when on a case, and in many of his relationships- in many a story he could be seen bossing everyone around not caring who they were. It is because of this that many felt that perhaps merely solving crimes would not be enough for him, that the high he got from them would not be enough, and he would soon become a killer in order to fulfill the high that he could no longer receive.
As you can see we were able to create a psychosocial profile of a literary character. If we were able to do it for Sherlock Holmes then we could do it with any character. This opens the door to really understanding the characters we have grown to love. In doing so we can truly begin to understand not only the characters, but the authors themselves as the characters they create are to an extent a result of the authors own paradigm. By examining these profiles we can truly see the way the author views the world, and perhaps even the role they feel they hold in their paradigm.
References
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp.15-86). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp.89-159). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp.161-175). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp.217-228). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp.469-481). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp. 483-494). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Doyle, A.C. (Ed.). (1992). The complete sherlock holmes (pp. 622-634). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Inc.
Baring-Gould, W.S. (1962). Sherlock holmes of baker street. New York, NY: Bramhall House,
Meyer, N. (1993). The seven per-cent solution: Being a reprint from the reminiscences of john watson, M.D. New York, NY: W.W Norton & Company, Inc.
Sanders, L. (2009, December 4). Diagnosis: Hidden clues. The New York Times. Retrieved from .com
Albrecht, K. (2011, October 13). Did Sherlock Holmes have Asperger Syndrome? Retrieved from blog/brainsnacks/201110/did-sherlock-holmes-have-asperger-syndrome-0
Klin, A. (2006) Autism and Asperger syndrome: an overview. Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr. [online]. vol.28, suppl.1, pp. s3-s11.
Loewen, S. C. (2012) Characteristics of a sociopath. Retrieved from .
20 Sherlock Holmes: A Case Study