Daydreaming is an activity that many of us complete while procrastinating our homework, while on the phone with customer service, even sometimes in the classroom. While mostly harmless, there are those who believe in the danger that fantasizing reveals one’s unhappiness, according to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. When these unfulfilled fantasies hold too much sway over the happiness of the individual, psychoanalytic treatment may be sought (Freud 146). Freud states in his article Writers and Day-Dreaming that children move from playing with real objects to daydreaming otherwise known as fantasizing. Adults do this as well, he claims, but hide their fantasies for fear of ridicule. Feeling unique in creating fantasies is more akin to feeling like a pariah for one’s thoughts, so individuals are reticent to share their deepest desires (144). In the Sherlock Holmes story, The Red-headed League, the victim of the crime, Jabez Wilson, is also guilty himself of a fantasy. He is guilty of fantasizing and believing that he is someone special.
Jabez Wilson is a struggling pawnbroker whose most distinctive feature is his “fiery red hair” but is otherwise ordinary (Doyle 20). He has received news of a vacancy in the Red-headed League, which promises a salary of £4 a week for menial labor (Doyle 22). From the initial observations made by Sherlock, including that Mr. Wilson is a Freemason and has done hard labor on a ship, class and ethnic undertones to this story become clear (Doyle 22). Freemasons were usually individuals who aspired to achieve social mobility, while Mr. Wilson’s past careers point to a poor background, one from which he has not escaped as he can barely afford one assistant. Therefore, the vacancy notice for the Red-headed League appeals greatly to him despite its ludicrousness. The fact that it is a league for those with red hair is another hint to the ethnic backgrounds of the men who desire to be a part of the league. The implication is not only that they are Irish, but also that they are greedy and lazy because they are Irish and desire to be paid for menial labor in lieu of hard labor.
These men share this desire, Freud would argue, because they feel unsatisfied with life (146). They fantasize about an easier life because they are not satisfied with the one they currently have. Whether this is due to laziness or a genuine feeling of stigmatization due to their ethnic heritage is never made clear in the story as Conan Doyle prefers subtle implications over outright statements on race, class, and religion. Regardless, Mr. Wilson and the other applicants to the Red-headed League have “ambitious wishes… to elevate [their] personality” through fantasizing of a better life for themselves (Freud 147). I would argue that this offer was likely appealing to many Londoners, despite ethnic heritage and current socioeconomic status.
Many of the Sherlock Holmes stories feature a victim of a crime who was either tricked into a situation due to a desire for more money, like in The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb, or a villain whose sole motive is financial, like in The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Obviously, money and wealth were ever-present desires at the fin de siècle and everyone, regardless of class level, wanted to be richer. This desire, or fantasy, was communal and not limited to one individual or one group, which suggests that almost everyone in Victorian society desired more out of life. The scientific advancements and sociopolitical changes in society shown Victorians the larger realm of possibilities that the future brought. Furthermore, even the rich (or formerly rich) desired more wealth and some turned to crime, like John Clay, the duke’s grandson and villain in The Red-headed League. Thus the desire for wealth is seen among both the poor and wealthy and the fantasy of being wealthier is not unique to the individual, in spite of the belief that one’s fantasies are unique (Freud 145).