Across three different versions of Sherlock, Irene remains sexual, wielding power over others and a danger to society.<\/p>\n
The Irene in the original Conan Doyle story A Scandal in Bohemia <\/em>is an American, \u201cborn in New Jersey,\u201d and an opera singer \u201cretired from operatic stage\u201d (Doyle, 7). As mentioned in class, Adler is a Jewish last name. Immediately Irene is set up as other: female, a foreigner, Jewish and, because actresses and singers were often prostitutes on the side, associated with sexual favors in a time of very strict sexual morals.<\/p>\n Her crime is keeping proof of her dalliance with the King of Bohemia (a picture, letters) when he is about to be married and cannot afford any hint of scandal. Sherlock is asked to retrieve these materials, and uses sympathy to gain access to her house and a fake fire to trick Irene into revealing where the materials are hidden \u2013 but in doing so, alerts Irene that he is interested in taking the materials. She disguises herself in \u201cmale costume\u201d (incredibly scandalous at the time) and follows Holmes back, to assure herself that her suspicions are correct (18). When they are confirmed, she and her new husband flee and leave Holmes a letter explaining the situation. Holmes has been outwitted, and by a foreign woman no less.<\/p>\n Holmes\u2019 defeat rose from the fact that Irene was able to let her thoughts overcome her feelings \u2013 she let logic overrule her emotions, and as such was able to outthink the logical Holmes. This is the opposite of the later Irene incarnations, who instead let their hearts rule their heads.<\/p>\n In the BBC Sherlock episode A Scandal in Belgravia,<\/em> Irene Adler is not American, but a dominatrix who has involved herself with a female relative of the Queen\u2019s and taken incriminating photographs. However, unlike the original Irene who was manipulated by Holmes into letting him inside the house, this Irene is warned of his coming (presumably by Moriarty) and plans herself for his appearance. We are given a peek at her preparations: a closet<\/a> full of costumes,\u00a0and she decides to wear her \u201cbattle suit\u201d \u2013 revealed to be wearing nothing at all<\/a>.\u00a0Both of the outfits Irene wears are considered scandalous.<\/p>\n On the other hand, completely contrarily to the Bohemia<\/em> Irene whose male costume minimizes her femininity, the Belgravia<\/em> Irene\u2019s \u201cbattle suit\u201d maximizes her femininity. In Bohemia<\/em>, Irene is attempting to assess the situation subtly, and thus wants to avoid detection; in Belgravia<\/em>, Irene seems to be trying to overwhelm Sherlock and render him unable to concentrate \u2013 which does work: he is unable<\/a> to deduce anything about her.<\/p>\n However, Irene\u2019s downfall lies in the fact that during the course of her interactions with Sherlock, he falls in love with him. She makes the password for her phone \u2013 which she cannot allow to fall into anyone else\u2019s hands \u2013 one easily deduced once Sherlock discovers her feelings (I AM SHERLOCKED). When Sherlock makes this discovery, he berates her: \u201cThis [phone] is your heart, and you should never let it rule your head<\/a>.”\u00a0Irene is defeated due to her feelings for Sherlock, her emotions clouding her judgment and allowing his logic to triumph.<\/p>\n In Elementary\u2019s Season 1 finale The Woman\/Heroine,<\/em> in flashbacks Sherlock meets the love of his life, Irene Adler, and discovers her corpse. However, it is also revealed real-time that Irene Adler is actually a persona crafted by Jaime Moriarty in order to judge Sherlock\u2019s worth as an adversary; when she finds him lacking, \u201cIrene\u201d is murdered and Jaime continues with her crime spree. But in spending so much time with Sherlock, Jaime creates her Achilles heel: her love toward Sherlock. Joan Watson is able to deduce these feelings, and use them against Jaime, manipulating her into admitting her crimes and thus defeating herself<\/a>.<\/p>\n In both Belgravia<\/em> and The Woman\/Heroine<\/em>, Irene is a predatory, sexual being armed with more knowledge than Sherlock and uses it to manipulate him, yet in the end she is ruled by her emotions \u2013 specifically, her emotions for him \u2013 and thus is defeated.<\/p>\n In the Victorian era, Irene defeats Sherlock; yet in both modern incarnations, Irene is defeated by her own emotions and a logical mind (Sherlock\u2019s in Belgravia<\/em>, Watson\u2019s in The Woman\/Heroine<\/em>). There is a pattern of the importance of logic ruling emotions and a sexual and powerful Irene in all three versions. From Victorian England all the way to modern day, logic is prized as superior to emotion and sexualized, powerful women remain dangerous to society no matter the era.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Across three different versions of Sherlock, Irene remains sexual, wielding power over others and a danger to society. The Irene in the original Conan Doyle story A Scandal in Bohemia is an American, \u201cborn in New Jersey,\u201d and an opera singer \u201cretired from operatic stage\u201d (Doyle, 7). As mentioned in class, Adler is a Jewish … Continue reading Irene Adler: Eternally Sexy, Powerful and Dangerous<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2255,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[123782,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2016-blog-post","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2255"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}