For Wednesday: Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, “The Red-Headed League” and “The Five Orange Pips”

An exhibit from the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London: http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/

Group “A” should answer TWO of the following:

Q1: In “The Five Orange Pips,” Watson recalls a list he once made (in an earlier Holmes novella, The Sign of Scarlet), of Holmes’ skills and defects, admitting that he knows only a little Botany, random Chemistry, but everything possible about criminal literature. We also see Holmes resorting to an encyclopedia to learn about the Klu Klux Klan. Why do you think Doyle is demystifying Sherlock Holmes’ skills and omnipotence? Has even Watson lost a little of his initial awe in Sherlock’s presence?

Q2: In “The Red-Headed League,” Holmes tells Watson, “the more bizarre a thing is the less mysterious is proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the most difficult to identify.” Does this theory hold up in the mystery of the “Red-Headed League?” If so, what might this suggest about the psychology of criminals—and the reason they often get away?

Q3: In many ways, “The Five Orange Pips” could almost be a ghost story in the vein of “The Mark of the Beast” or “The Monkey’s Paw.” What does it have in common with these stories, and do you think Doyle ‘shifts’ the story away from the uncanny elements? Or does he affirm it by the end of the story? Consider, too, that this is one of Holmes’ rare failures—at least in the sense of bringing the criminals to justice.

Q4: At the end of “The Red-Headed League,” Watson calls Holmes a “benefactor of the race.” But he waves this off, saying merely that “man is nothing, work is everything” (to translate from the French). What do you think he means by this? How might this reveal an important aspect of Holmes’ character, particularly if we consider him a precursor to the modern-day superhero?