A hearty hello readers,
I’ll give it to you straight: I love Sir ACD and Sherlock Holmes. But as much as I love Holmes, I’m not here to talk about him (as if his ego needs any more boosting). I’m here to talk about Irene Adler or THE woman who is just 100 times more intriguing. To do so, I implore the help of another text I read for a different class which is the 2018 scholarly short article “Performative Sherlock Holmes: Male Direction and Female Digression in ‘ A Scandal in Bohemia’ “ by Younghee Kho.
In her article “Performative Sherlock Holmes: Male Direction and Female Digression in ‘ A Scandal in Bohemia’ “, Younghee Kho asks us to look at how “A Scandal in Bohemia” presents gender performativity as both an example of the identity culture established by Victorian society and a means of overcoming gender expectations. So, how does this story written by a Victorian man do this?
Put simply, gender performativity is a performance put on by someone who repeatedly behaves in a way that shapes their gender or sexual orientation. Readers, we are being asked to recognize and dissect this theory of gender through the interactions of Holmes, most notably those with Irene Adler, as Holmes is depicted to be the model of masculinity due to his superior intellect and great success as a male detective. In doing so, Kho allows us to acknowledge factors of class, gender stereotypes, and natural instincts that structure gender as a social construct.
Kho first tackles gender performativity in the lens of class by pointing out how the King acts when he explains to Holmes that the compromising photos need to be taken away from Irene Adler. The king is from European society where feudal order of gender and class define status. So in the eyes of the king, Irene Adler having these compromising photos and refusing to hand them over gives her power she shouldn’t have as a woman of lower class standing. Therefore, according to Kho, the king sees this as an undesirable defiance to the order he’s accustomed to and “attempt(s) to control and regulate Adler’s actions as she does not conform to the feminine gender expectations of society”.
What’s even more interesting is when Holmes orchestrates the fire in Adler’s house. Holmes literally states that women will act on instinct to reach for their most valuable item when there is a fire in their house, stereotyping feminine impulse that is supposed to show less self-control than men.
Is he proven right?
Well yeah but also not really…
Is it crazy to propose that Adler takes advantage of this awareness of gender performativity when she cross-dresses as a man to listen to Sherlock planning to approach her after the house fire?
Lets think about it: Sherlock is under the notion that no one can best him.
That’s one of the first things any reader lists when asked how to characterize Sherlock.
More importantly, he has no suspicion that a woman would have the intellectual capacity to think of going as far as cross-dressing. After all, that’s the thought process he used for the house fire.
So does Irene Adler, the deliciously intelligent woman she is, know Sherlock won’t recognize her for these exact reasons?
As we see in Kho’s argument, Adler behaves outside her gender by outperforming Sherlock with her intellect that is supposed to be seen in only men since men were traditionally seen as smarter than women. Interestingly enough, however, both the king and Watson serve as inferiors to Irene Adler when discussing intellect. The reason being is on p.4 of “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Watson admits: “ ‘the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled, until you explain your process. And yet I believe my eyes are as good as yours.’ “ Here we have a man, Watson, acknowledging he is incapable of the same keen inference and naturalistic observation skills as Sherlock yet here comes Irene Adler who is a woman that can do what no man has: Beating Sherlock at his own game of wit and intellect.
You go girl! Or should I say, you go THE woman!
Sincerely,
Alucard
I really like they way that you used Younghee Kho and there theory on gender performativity and your applicaiton of that to ‘A Scandal in Bohemia.” I’d like to add another instance that adds to how Sherlock and the King regard Irene Adler. Even when Irene has bested both the King and Shkerock by going beyond there expectations they still find themselves being allured by her. When it is revealed that the cross-dressing woman had fled the country with her new lover the King when he still wishes that could be his and even Sherlock only wanted her photo when offered to get anything. I think that fact is very interesting and shows how they desire a women who is on there same level (or even above them) and this would be sometimes interesting to look into.
First of all, I love this writing style SO MUCH. I also have a deep appreciation for how you put the two texts in conversation with each other. As much as I love the texts next to each other, I would equally like to hear your opinion and your claim throughout these texts. Maybe a point where you disagree with either author/claim, I feel could entice readers to want to read more about you, and less about the texts directly.