Quote of the Day: Elementary Justice? Or Not?

 

“Well, I am afraid I can’t help you, Lestrade,” said Holmes. “The fact is that I knew this fellow Milverton, that I considered him one of the most dangerous men in London, and that I think there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge. No, it’s no use arguing. I have made up my mind. My sympathies are with the criminals rather than with the victim, and I will not handle this case.” — The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

Like many another successful author, this one was ambivalent about his relationship with his greatest creation. He found Holmes distracting and annoying, and frequently talked of “slaying” him and “winding him up for good and all.” (His one attempt to do so was, obviously not all that successful. It appeared that publishers would pay any amount for more of the great detective, and the fellow with a difficult, not very well-off life, who hadn’t succeeded at almost anything else he tried, was yoked to Sherlock Holmes for the remainder of his.)

That he seemed unable to ‘make a go’ of his life certainly can’t be laid at the door of a lack of either intelligence or sense of adventure. Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 159 years ago today, on May 22, 1859. His father was a devout alcoholic, and the family separated a few times in Doyle’s early youth, but always came back together, living in what were in those days politely called “reduced circumstances” in Edinburgh and its environs. As with many promising young boys of the time, wealthier family members intervened, and young Arthur was sent to schools in England and Austria, winding up back in Edinburgh where he studied medicine, before becoming a doctor and launching several unsuccessful practices throughout the UK. (One wonders as to the nature of his bedside manner because retaining patients seems to have been a huge problem.) During this time he studied Botany and began writing in an effort to keep the wolf from the door, and was moderately successful at it, even then.

Doyle’s next endeavor was as the ship’s doctor on a whaler off the shores of Greenland, and in 1881, aboard the SS Mayumba as it traveled the coast of West Africa. (He remained a keen explorer for the rest of his life, and his major voyages and expeditions, many taken with his wife, are recorded here.)

Back in Edinburgh in 1885, Doyle completed his medical studies, earning the highest degree possible at the time with a treatise on syphilitic myelopathy, notable not only for its clinical findings (many of which hold up today), but also for its literary style:

“The sufferer is commonly a man of between five and twenty and fifty. In many cases he is of that swarthy neurotic type which furnishes the world with an undue proportion of poets, musicians and madmen. In nine cases out of ten he has had syphilis, possibly a year ago, more probably four, eight, twelve or even twenty years before.”

Lord knows, I might have been a doctor myself if more of my scientific textbooks had been written like that.

Having achieved his final medical degree, Doyle assayed a few more unsuccessful forays into private practice, before moving to Vienna to study ophthalmology. He spoke German poorly, making that difficult, so he toured Europe, ending up with a notable physician in France, studying disorders of the eye. When he returned to London, he again hung up, and then quickly took down, his shingle at 2 Upper Wimpole Street. With the exception of his stint as a volunteer field doctor during the Boer War, thus ended our hero’s illustrious medical career.

Although it’s widely understood that Doyle was a physician, (and also that he became a bit of crackpot spiritualist) other aspects of his life are not so well known. He excelled at sports, particularly football (“proper” football, as Auntie Pat would say), cricket and golf. He made several forays into politics, standing for Parliament twice, and becoming involved in the anti-colonialist movement as a result of publicity surrounding atrocities in the Belgian Congo. (He broke with that group when one of its leaders embraced pacifism after the outbreak of World War I.) In his “down time,” Doyle toyed with architecture, designing a couple of hotels and restaurants in England, and a hotel and golf course in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.

He also did his own turn as an amateur detective, led there by his determination to see justice done in the case of two men he believed had been wrongly convicted of their crimes. As a result of Doyle’s work, both men were exonerated.

Arthur Conan Doyle was married twice, happily both times, it appears. He died of a heart attack in Crowborough, East Sussex, on July 7, 1930. His last words were spoken to his wife. They were, “You are wonderful.”

Sherlock Holmes made his first appearance in A Study in Scarlet in 1886, while Doyle was still trying to make a go of his medical career. He was paid £25 for his efforts, a sequel was commissioned, and three more novels, and more than fifty short stories followed over the next thirty years. (Holmes was indeed missing in action for almost ten of those years after his unfortunate entanglement with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. But, needs must, as they say, and Doyle did need the money, so Holmes was resurrected in 1901.)

Doyle himself credited the inspiration for Sherlock Holmes to a university teacher, Dr. Joseph Bell, and wrote in a letter to him in 1892, “It is most certainly to you that I owe Sherlock Holmes . . . round the centre of deduction and inference and observation which I have heard you inculcate I have tried to build up a man.” But it seems likely that Doyle drew on others, as well, for his portrait of the man who sometimes so distracted and infuriated him, and that underlying the distraction and fury was recognition that, in Holmes, there was a great deal of Doyle himself.

And so (at last!) to today’s quote of the day, which is taken from The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton, and which shows Holmes coloring outside the lines of regular justice and allowing events to take their course with a criminal he despises perhaps more than any other in the canon, a vicious blackmailer of helpless women.

When the perp is about to be shot to death, and then his face stomped on by one of his victims, Watson, who is having his own Polonius moment behind the arras, starts to rush out to prevent the new crime. Holmes restrains him, and Watson writes

I understood the whole argument of that firm, restraining grip — that it was no affair of ours, that justice had overtaken a villain, that we had our own duties and our own objects, which were not to be lost sight of.

And as soon as the woman exits stage left (or whichever side of the room the door was on), Holmes locks that very door, and burns all of Milverton’s incriminating blackmail correspondence so as to protect the victims, before he and Watson depart over the garden wall, one step ahead of the police, and not before the slower Watson is almost apprehended by an under-gardener.

On the following day, Lestrade (unsurprisingly, for the sake of the plot) turns up to ask for Holmes’ help in apprehending the criminals and solving “a most dramatic and remarkable murder.”

“Criminals?” said Holmes. “Plural?”

“Yes, there were two of them. They were as nearly as possible captured red-handed. We have their footmarks, we have their description, it’s ten to one that we trace them. The first fellow was a bit too active, but the second was caught by the under-gardener, and only got away after a struggle. He was a middle-sized, strongly built man — square jaw, thick neck, mustache, a mask over his eyes.”

“That’s rather vague,” said Sherlock Holmes. “My, it might be a description of Watson!”

“It’s true,” said the inspector, with amusement. “It might be a description of Watson.”

And Holmes delivers himself of his dictum, speaks of the sometime need for “private revenge” and refuses to take the case. It’s an unusual moment, perhaps unique in all the Holmes stories.

Was he right? Should Holmes have taken the case and brought the woman to “justice?” Or was the “private revenge” meted out here the best course?

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    She: His father was a devout alcoholic

    I really think you should write more. Phrases like this are fresh and somewhat stupefying when first encountered. “Wait, did she mean to write that?” Yes, yes she did. Love it.

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

     Holmes is right because in his universe, he is always right. 

    • #2
  3. She Member
    She
    @She

    Arahant (View Comment):

    She: His father was a devout alcoholic

    I really think you should write more. Phrases like this are fresh and somewhat stupefying when first encountered. “Wait, did she mean to write that?” Yes, yes she did. Love it.

    Thanks.  That phrase perfectly describes my late father-in-law’s approach to the most important thing in his life.  He was a very, very bright man, and perhaps the best welder Jones and Laughlin Steel has ever employed.  But he was also a hard, and nasty, drunk.  He retired early, and pretty much drank himself to death, acquiring Korsakoff Syndrome along the way.  A sad, sad story, and an object lesson.

    • #3
  4. She Member
    She
    @She

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Holmes is right because in his universe, he is always right.

    I’ve had dreams like that.  Where the most bizarre things happen, but in the course of the dream, everything seems perfectly normal.  Like the time I dreamed that a couple dozen cereal boxes had grown faces, arms and legs, and insisted on putting on a performance of Hamlet in my driveway.

    I saw nothing strange about it at all, while I was dreaming it.  It all seemed perfectly right and proper.

    • #4
  5. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    I came across (maybe in John Dickson Carr’s bio of Doyle?) a story about Doyle sneaking out at night to polish the brass on his medical office door because he was too broke to hire someone to do it and it Wasn’t Done for a professional to be seen doing such things.

    At the time that Doyle was instrumental in exonerating the innocent men @she mentioned, there was no appeals system in Great Britain; the publicity that Doyle’s celebrity brought to the issue was helpful in getting the Court of Criminal Appeals.

    His historical novels, especially The White Company and Sir Nigel, are a lot of fun.

    • #5
  6. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    Thank you for an excellent post. You are stirring my Sherlockian juices; they’ve been taking second place to Nero Wolfe for a few years.

    • #6
  7. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):
    His historical novels, especially The White Company and Sir Nigel, are a lot of fun.

    I rather like his poetry.

    • #7
  8. She Member
    She
    @She

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):

    His historical novels, especially The White Company and Sir Nigel, are a lot of fun.

    Thanks for mentioning those; you’re right, they are.  They are well-researched novel about the Hundred Years’ War, and The White Company was one of my dad’s favorite books.

    • #8
  9. She Member
    She
    @She

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):
    His historical novels, especially The White Company and Sir Nigel, are a lot of fun.

    I rather like his poetry.

    Here’s one from The White Company.  Tale as old as time:

    The Franklin’s Maid Poem

    The franklin he hath gone to roam,
    The franklin’s maid she bides at home;
    But she is cold, and coy, and staid,
    And who may win the franklin’s maid?

    There came a knight of high renown
    In bassinet and ciclatoun;
    On bended knee full long he prayed –
    He might not win the franklin’s maid.

    There came a squire so debonair,
    His dress was rich, his words were fair.
    He sweetly sang, he deftly played –
    He could not win the franklin’s maid.

    There came a mercer wonder-fine,
    With velvet cap and gaberdine;
    For all his ships, for all his trade,
    He could not buy the franklin’s maid.

    There came an archer bold and true,
    With bracer guard and stave of yew;
    His purse was light, his jerkin frayed –
    Haro, alas! the franklin’s maid!

    Oh, some have laughed and some have cried,
    And some have scoured the countryside;
    But off they ride through wood and glade,
    The bowman and the franklin’s maid.

    • #9
  10. Boss Mongo Member
    Boss Mongo
    @BossMongo

    She: Was he right? Should Holmes have taken the case and brought the woman to “justice?” Or was the “private revenge” meted out here the best course?

    I think he was right; he was under no obligation to turn in the woman, and if I remember correctly Holmes’ was an informal arrangement with the police.

    There is a time, place and situation for private revenge.  However, the aspirant vigilante should know the price, and be willing to pay it without whine or whimper.

    • #10
  11. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Ontheleftcoast (View Comment):
    His historical novels, especially The White Company and Sir Nigel, are a lot of fun.

    I rather like his poetry.

    Really? I’m shocked, shocked I say, that you would have preference for that particular literary form.

    • #11
  12. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    She: Was he right? Should Holmes have taken the case and brought the woman to “justice?” Or was the “private revenge” meted out here the best course?

    I think he was right; he was under no obligation to turn in the woman, and if I remember correctly Holmes’ was an informal arrangement with the police.

    There is a time, place and situation for private revenge. However, the aspirant vigilante should know the price, and be willing to pay it without whine or whimper.

    Yea, I bet that guy still doesn’t know how he ended up 200 miles away, at the bottom of that latrine, without the sidearm he stole.

    • #12
  13. She Member
    She
    @She

    Eeyore (View Comment):

    Boss Mongo (View Comment):

    She: Was he right? Should Holmes have taken the case and brought the woman to “justice?” Or was the “private revenge” meted out here the best course?

    I think he was right; he was under no obligation to turn in the woman, and if I remember correctly Holmes’ was an informal arrangement with the police.

    There is a time, place and situation for private revenge. However, the aspirant vigilante should know the price, and be willing to pay it without whine or whimper.

    Yea, I bet that guy still doesn’t know how he ended up 200 miles away, at the bottom of that latrine, without the gun he stole.

    Indeed.  Out here in “shoot, shovel, and shut up” country, we get that. (So far, let me be perfectly clear, I  have only had experiences of this sort with four-legged vermin.)

    • #13
  14. Nick H Coolidge
    Nick H
    @NickH

    She (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Holmes is right because in his universe, he is always right.

    I’ve had dreams like that. Where the most bizarre things happen, but in the course of the dream, everything seems perfectly normal. Like the time I dreamed that a couple dozen cereal boxes had grown faces, arms and legs, and insisted on putting on a performance of Hamlet in my driveway.

    I saw nothing strange about it at all, while I was dreaming it. It all seemed perfectly right and proper.

    That’s a very… unusual dream. Now I’m wondering if Hamlet was played by Alpha-Bits.

    “To B, or not to B. That is the question.”

    • #14
  15. She Member
    She
    @She

    Nick H (View Comment):

    She (View Comment):

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    Holmes is right because in his universe, he is always right.

    I’ve had dreams like that. Where the most bizarre things happen, but in the course of the dream, everything seems perfectly normal. Like the time I dreamed that a couple dozen cereal boxes had grown faces, arms and legs, and insisted on putting on a performance of Hamlet in my driveway.

    I saw nothing strange about it at all, while I was dreaming it. It all seemed perfectly right and proper.

    That’s a very… unusual dream. Now I’m wondering if Hamlet was played by Alpha-Bits.

    “To B, or not to B. That is the question.”

    Holy cow. look at this. My dream was pre-1986. I know that because we were still living in Pittsburgh at the time.

     

     

    • #15
  16. Nanda Pajama-Tantrum Member
    Nanda Pajama-Tantrum
    @

    How wonderful, @she!  Robert Hardy’s portrayal of “CAM” in Granada TV’s version (“The Master Blackmailer”) still sends shivers up my spine…As well, this book and this one explore Holmes’ – and Watson’s – spiritual outlook; a possible corollary to the response described here.

    • #16
  17. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    I rather like Rathbone’s portrayal of Holmes. Don’t know why.

    • #17
  18. She Member
    She
    @She

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    I rather like Rathbone’s portrayal of Holmes. Don’t know why.

    Probably because he, more than any other, actually looks like what you want SH to look like.  At least, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

    • #18
  19. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Doyle killed off Holmes at Reichenbach Falls in mutually mortal combat with Professor Moriarity. But Doyle was in need of funds to complete the house that he was having built, so he dusted off a Holmes play he had written and shopped that around. It needed a rewrite, so it was suggested that he approach the recently retired American actor, director, and playwright William Gillette for his services.

    Their first meeting was epic. Doyle was waiting on the platform of a train station when off the train bounds … Sherlock Holmes. Deerstalker cap, gray ulster, curved meerschaum pipe — the whole nine yards. Holmes (Gillette) strides up to the stunned Doyle, whips out a magnifying glass, gives Doyle a quick once-over, and intones “Clearly an author.”

    The play was a monster hit.

    • #19
  20. Eeyore Member
    Eeyore
    @Eeyore

    She (View Comment):

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    I rather like Rathbone’s portrayal of Holmes. Don’t know why.

    Probably because he, more than any other, actually looks like what you want SH to look like. At least, that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

    Actually, I thought Jeremy Brett’s portrayal had a strong he-would-look-like-that quality, but Basil’s refined, intellectual confidence was more comforting than Brett’s cocaine-induced intensity. 

    • #20
  21. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    As long as we’re on Holmes and Watson, I should mention The Return.

    • #21
  22. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Jeremy Brett was Holmes, the perfect blend of intellect and torture. It was the Grenada series that brought me to the canon.

    Rathbone’s weakness was his partner. Nigel Bruce’s Watson was too much of a bumbler. It was impossible to take him seriously as both a doctor and a military man. Both David Burke and his handpicked successor Edward Hardwicke gave Watson the gravity he deserved. When you’re reading Doyle you’re supposed to be reading Dr. Watson.

    Holmes is also very Victorian. I have no use for the Rathbone films where the great detective takes on the Nazis. Don’t get me started on the current TV versions. Between Benny Cumberbund and the CBS show with the Asian female Watson… *shudder*

    • #22
  23. She Member
    She
    @She

    Annd. . . Robert Downey, Jr., anyone?

    • #23
  24. Nanda Pajama-Tantrum Member
    Nanda Pajama-Tantrum
    @

    She (View Comment):

    Annd. . . Robert Downey, Jr., anyone?

    And…don’t forget Jude Law…The steampunk staging attracted my nephews and nieces to the canon, actually.

    • #24
  25. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    She: . . . Robert Downey, Jr., anyone?

    The only upside of that casting was Stephen Fry as Mycroft.

    • #25
  26. Nanda Pajama-Tantrum Member
    Nanda Pajama-Tantrum
    @

    EJHill (View Comment):

    She: . . . Robert Downey, Jr., anyone?

    The only upside of that casting was Stephen Fry as Mycroft.

    Every generation seems to need its own interpreters, though, doesn’t it? :-)

    • #26
  27. She Member
    She
    @She

    Nanda Pajama-Tantrum (View Comment):

    EJHill (View Comment):

    She: . . . Robert Downey, Jr., anyone?

    The only upside of that casting was Stephen Fry as Mycroft.

    Every generation seems to need its own interpreters, though, doesn’t it? :-)

    Yes.  Although I have personal preferences, and likes and dislikes about some of the portrayals mentioned, and I still think I like the books best of all, I can’t fault modern interpretations that do, at least, draw attention to the canon.  Feel the same way about all but the most iconoclastic and perverse depictions (like the most recent Peter Rabbit excrescence) of great literature across the board.  Anything that gets people to reading it, I think, can’t be all bad.

    • #27
  28. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    There are some things that should simply be left alone. Anybody remember the sequel to Gone With The Wind?

    Timothy Dalton? Really?

    • #28
  29. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    William Gillette made recordings as Holmes.

    • #29
  30. She Member
    She
    @She

    EJHill (View Comment):

    There are some things that should simply be left alone. Anybody remember the sequel to Gone With The Wind?

    Timothy Dalton? Really?

    I didn’t see that, although, truth be told, I’m not much of a fan of the original either.  But Timothy Dalton as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights was a lesson in cognitive disconnection.  Ugh. I think the problem is Timothy Dalton, as much as anything.  His James Bond did nothing for me, and his Mr. Rochester about made me cry.  And not with joy at the end when he and Jane Eyre finally got together.

    In general, I disapprove of “imaginative,” “what happened after?”  sequels though.

     

    • #30
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