Chen 1

Mike Chen

WR 39B, Winter 2017

Dr. Lynda Hass

Febuary 28, 2017

The changes in Sherlocks personality and appearance

In recent days, when mentioned Sherlock Holmes, most people would

shape Benedict Cumberbatchs appearance in their mind. Indeed, watching

Sherlock episode is much more popular than reading Conan Doyles novel

about Sherlock Holmes. It is not only because television show are more

favorable in todays life, but also, the character of Sherlock Holmes in

Sherlock episode, shaped by director Paul McGuigan, is more attractive and

acceptable for todays audience. In fact, from 1780 to 21st century, Holmes

appearance and characteristic kept changing over time to satisfy the

audience. The Sherlock Holmes we see on the screen, changing most of his

appearance and nature from the original ones, is the special product of this

era.

Thanks to the movie technique, we can see what Sherlock Holmes does

in the episode. We can see where he lives, what he says, and how he solves

the cases. This change helps Holmes jump out of the text. He is a real person

in the episode rather than a mystery lives in Watsons word. Sherlock Holmes

character becomes more realistic and detailed in modern Sherlock episode.

Every actions and expression he shows are recorded in camera. In the middle

of the Sherlock episode The Sign of Three, when Holmes in his apartment
 Chen 2

hears that a complex case is needed to be solved, a weird smile is shown on

his face. The smile on his face is so horrifying, like a hungry monster finds a

harmless rabbit. These kinds of expression can be hardly shown in Doyles

novel, while showing the facial expression in front of the camera is a piece of

cake. Sherlock episode makes Holmes character visual and vivid, by

showing a real Sherlock Holmes in front of us.

Why didnt Doyle depict Holmes in this way? He couldnt. The stories

Doyle wrote were all in the first-person narrative, while the narrator is

Holmes best friend, Watson. This expression quite restricted the present of

Holmes: Holmes has to work with Watson to show his intelligence, chat with

Watson to express his identity, and live with Watson to reveal his character.

In the novel, Holmes does not exist if there is no Watson, and he is an

incomplete if his action is not observed by Watson. In Doyles novel The Final

Problem, Watson hears a series of adventurous stories from Holmes, that

how Holmes escaped several assaults from Professor Moriarty, from saving

himself from a horse van to fighting with a rough with a bludgeon. Readers

are fascinated by these adventures when using their imagination. However,

some audience may feel unsatisfied since they can never see the scenes

happened on Holmes, and how he breaks the troubles. In the stories,

Holmes characteristics are represented mostly from his talk to Watson, and

this form limits a contact expression of Holmes personality.

 Chen 3

Other problems also occurred in Doyles novel, when the whole scene

is based on Watsons description. We can only imagine the roles in the story

in one persons word. And that is the reason why the most character in

Holmes story, except for Sherlock Holmes, remain flat personalities. Their

words are plain, their behaviors are regular and easily to guess, and their

functions in the story are simple. Mrs. Hudson always helps prepare the

breakfast in the novel. Mr. Lestrade is an incompetent police who often

shows up but does nothing useful. Those secondary roles shouldnt be that

unitary. Their life would be more meaningful, but they only show one side of

their personality to Watson, and thats why they are portrayed as one-

dimensional persons. Watsons narration also brings personal emotion. With

his admiration to Sherlock Holmes, he beautifies the figure of Holmes in

some level. When he is describing Mrs. Morstan, his wife, the emotion

influence comes to the top:

Her face had neither regularity of feature nor beauty of complexion,

but her expression was sweet and amiable, and her large blue eyes were

singularly spiritual and sympathetic(TSOF chapter 2).

It is clear that Watsons love for Mrs. Morstan covers the whole excerpt.

This love leads to a subjective description for Morstans beauty. We can

hardly uncover a real Morstan from Watsons post, because everything Mrs.

Morstan did is embellished by Watsons mind.

 Chen 4

The novel has an obvious shortage on describing grand scenes than

the movie does. The writer needs to spend numerous words describing every

place in the scene, while the movie can show up the scene in a few seconds.

In The Final Problem, the cliff scene where Holmes fights with Moriarty is

described by Watson using a whole paragraph:

It is indeed, a fearful place. The torrent, swollen by the melting snow,

plunges into a tremendous abyss, from which the spray rolls up like the

smoke from a burning house. The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an

immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black rock, and narrowing into a

creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the

stream onward over its jagged lip. The long sweep of green water roaring

forever down, and the thick flickering curtain of spray hissing forever

upward, turn a man giddy with their constant whirl and clamor. We stood

near the edge peering down at the gleam of the breaking water far below us

against the black rocks, and listening to the half-human shout which cam

booming up with the spray out of the abyss.

When reading a novel, readers may feel bored when reading a long

paragraph with no plot. And this problem disappears in forms of the movie.

At the end of episode The Great Game, Holmes, Watson are confronting

with Moriarty and his conspiracy. Their guns point to each other, while

different facial expressions are shown on each of them. This kind of the
 Chen 5

grand scene can not be represented by a sentence or two, and that

information is exactly what Doyles novel can not convey.

Recent movie techniques make the representation of a spectacular

scene or shocking action easier. On the other hand, the audience today has a

higher standard to the plot, which means a gentleman-like Holmes who has

the Victorian manner and old-fashion etiquette can not attract the audience

eyes anymore. In order to shape a unique Holmes character in Sherlock

episode, the scriptwriter creates a Holmes with more extremeness: he goes

insane easily, more cold-blooded than the one in the novel, and despise

anyone around him. At the start of The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes feels

extreme boring because there is no case for him to solve, so he injects

cocaine into his body to keep him excited. When the similar scene occurs in

The Great Game, instead of injecting cocaine, he starts shooting the wall.

The behavior there is considered as crazy in our common life, and it is this

crazy which can brand his personality into every audiences mind. Holmes

conversation with his clients also indicates the modern writer magnified his

strangeness. In A Scandal In Bohemia, Holmes treated the king with

impatience: I was also aware of that, murmured Holmes, settling himself

down in his armchair and closing his eyes If your Majesty would

condescend to state your case, he remarked, I should be better able to

advise you. Though Holmes feels adverse to the king, he still shows the

minimum polite and respect to his client. However, when it comes to the
 Chen 6

episode The Great Game, Holmes shows the extreme despise to his client

through the dialogue between him and his client.

(Sherlock sighs out a deliberate and noisy breath.)

BERWICK: She was always gettin at me, sayin I werent a real man.

SHERLOCK: Wasnt a real man.

BERWICK: What?

SHERLOCK: Its not werent; its wasnt.

After abrupting the Berwicks statement several times in a minute,

Sherlock successfully drives Berwick into madness. This excerpt indicates an

extreme characteristic in Sherlock Holmes in TV shows. And that character

results in a more popular episode.

It seems like the new Sherlock episodes are much better than the

original novels in any details. It is not. On the contrary, in the field of

literature, Doyles novel takes an important place throughout the Victorian

era, and they are still popular in recent days. Conan Doyle is a skillful writer

with marvelous imagination. His creation of character Sherlock Holmes is

popular all over the world. Doyles writing style is full of blank of imagination,

which gives us enough space to create our scene in mind. In The Final

Problem, Holmes left a letter to Watson, telling him how he fights the villain

Moriarty and what he did at the end of his life, leaving Watson and us infinite

imagination the fought on the cliff near the waterfall. No one knows the
 Chen 7

ending, neither Doyle himself. But that is indeed a great ending of the story.

And the open ending provides the field of self-creation, which inspires many

fan works after the publication. On the other hand, it is unfair to compare a

novel in the Victorian era with a 21st centurys episode by judging their

qualities because the historical context is completely different. After all, if

there is no Doyles work, there cant be the success of Sherlock episode.

The conversion of Sherlocks style will follow the change of era.

However, no matter in which version of Sherlock Holmess production, some

of his personalities remain intact, such as his magic trick at every

beginning of the story, his ability to deduct the cases using special method,

his extreme smartness which helps him comes out question faster than

anyone else, and also, Watson. Those characteristic build the basic structure

of Sherlocks personality. Indeed, so many things changed in Sherlock

episode compared to Doyles story. We can still easily identify that this man

is Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is still called Sherlock. And his core personality

will show up in every era of Sherlock Holmes works.

Work Cited

Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. 1887.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. 1890.

 Chen 8

Wikepedia: The Great Game (Sherlock) website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game_(Sherlock) Access on 2/21/17

Gatiss, Mark, and Steven, Moffat. Sherlock The Great Game. Sherlock, BBC One.

Kongkova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. "Adventure 11: The Final Problem." The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

1894.