“Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill. What does Dr. James Mortimer, the man of science, ask of Sherlock Holmes, the specialist in crime? Come in!” (pg 7)
This passage hints at the relationship between science and crime which are incredibly strong themes throughout the book and throughout many other novels written around the same time because of the industrial revolution and the ripple effect that technology and new ideas seemed to cause. In Wednesday’s class we discussed the standardisation of education and the rise in literacy rates which sparked interest in people to gain knowledge and information in all things new and exciting which, at the time, revolved massively around science and medicine. In 1901 when the book was set, a year prior to it being written, Queen Victoria died at the ripe old age of 81, which caused a massive negative reaction in the public as it was common folklore and believed by the English of that period, that if Queen Victoria died before the age of 101, God would be angered and as punishment, the common people of England would suffer. God wasn’t angered and therefore no Englishmen were punished, however, because of the amount of belief people had in this folklore, many turned to and were influenced by recent scientific discoveries and scientific explanations instead of immediately turning to God.
Referring back to the passage when Holmes says, ‘Now is the dramatic moment of fate, Watson, when you hear a step upon the stair which is walking into your life, and you know not whether for good or ill.’, I feel as though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was using his character of Sherlock Holmes to ask the questions he would be asking. Specifically questions regarding modern technology, were they to be trusted? Were they safe? Were they reliable? What were their purpose? Especially in 1901, when God and religion as sturdy pillars in society were being doubted and criticised, people wanted something to believe in and someone to answer their questions. Without any other way to release his opinions into the public, Doyle might have, in a sense, used his characters as a communication device between himself and his readers.
What you have to say is very insightful, particularly Conan Doyle’s use of Sherlock Holmes as a communicative device with his audience. Although it is easier to believe that Conan Doyle, and by default Holmes, would grow into a more rational and scientific thinker as technology developed, the opposite happened to the man himself. By the time of his death in 1930, Conan Doyle was a renown spiritualist. A series of personal tragedies during the Great War pushed Conan Doyle to believe in spiritualism and all it entailed. After his son’s death, Conan Doyle tried to communicate with the “spirit” of his dead son through seances and mediums. Ultimately, he came to believe in a living soul but not in a traditional Judaeo-Christian way. Although you can easily debate the validity of spiritualism, Conan Doyle’s infatuation with it is understandable. For all the innovations and answers offered by modern technology and science, the mystery surrounding death remained. While science still lacked an answer spiritualism presented not only a solution, but a means to communicate with the departed.
I really like your analysis and can see the connection between science and religion. The world was changing at such a break-neck speed that those effected would have major doubts about the true nature of things, as they have always known them to be. Fundamental religious beliefs were being called into question, and there were heated debates on a global scale. Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution shook the very foundation of christianity, and that is still true among fundamentalists today. If we evolved from Primates, then where was God’s hand in our creation? Will those living at the turn of the 20th century see the world as a better place because of technological advances, or do some fear a greater evil will befall humankind because the need for reliance on a spiritual deity no longer exists to the same degree? Will God’s wrath condemn humankind for its haughtiness? Some thought that was the reason behind WWI.
This shows one of the major changes in Victorian society. As the scientific method became more prevalent, people, especially in times of doubt or uncertainty, became more likely to seek a scientific explanation instead of a religious one. With this passage, Arthur Conan Doyle shows the new Victorian man, educated and innovative, instead of ignorant. Sherlock Holmes may be a representation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s ideal man, who can use intellectual, scientific methods to think his way through life, and in the process, making the world a better place by solving crimes that had been deemed unsolvable.
This is a really interesting observation when we take into account everything we have learned about religion from both Lady Audley’s Secret and The Age of Doubt chapter that we read. Lady Audley’s Secret, being several decades earlier than The Hound of the Baskervilles, is far more tentative and respectful when talking about religion. By the time of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is clearly much more comfortable discussing the theme of religion and it’s relationship to science. By this point we are in the full swing of the industrial revolution which in and of itself devalues religion in the eyes of some people. The advances in the science and the scientific method give Sherlock the utmost that he is right all the time.