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Mike Chen

WR 39B, Winter 2017

Dr. Lynda Hass

March 12, 2017

The changes in Sherlocks personality and appearance

In todays life, when mentioned Sherlock Holmes, most people will form

Benedict Cumberbatchs face in their mind, while few of them will think

about the Sherlock Holmes story written by Author Conan Doyle. Watching

Sherlock episode is much more popular than reading Sherlock Holmes story

in recent days. According to the research on Trends, only 8% of respondents

who knows Sherlock Holmes have read Doyles original work. It is not only

because a television show is more favorable in todays life, but also, todays

Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock episode having changed his appearance and

character is more attractive and acceptable for todays audience. From the

19th century to the 21st century, Holmes appearance and characteristic kept

changing over time to satisfy the contemporary audience. Shaped by director

Paul McGuigan, Sherlock Holmes we saw on the screen is the special product

of this era.

In 19th Doyles story, Sherlock Holmes has a noticeable appearance in

Watsons description in A Study in Scarlet: In height, he was rather over six

feet, and so excessively lean that he seemed to be considerably taller His

chin, too, had the prominence and squareness which mark the man of
determination. Holmes has the dynamic gait, narrow nose, gray eyes and

angled chin. And those particular appearance shows that the prototype of

Holmes is Doyles college professor, Joseph Bell. According to Revati, a

British historian, Sherlocks way of thinking and his physique reflected the

professorDoyle always sincerely undertook that the

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great detective had been largely inspired by his university teacher. Dr. Bell

knew about it and he was very proud of the fact though sometimes he felt

the author sensationalized his abilities.(Dr. Joseph Bell the real Sherlock

Holmes) Most parts of Holmes appearance are similar to Professor Bell, and

Doyle even gave Holmes the clothes that Dr. Bell used to wear: the long coat

and deerstalker. The suit Holmes wears is remarkable in the Victorian era and

impressed the readers at that time the special dressing. Because of his long

coat, he is the first modern hero having a robe.

In Sherlock episode, Holmes figure becomes detailed and clear,

because the episode form visualized the character. His appearance is the

same as actor Benedict Cumberbatch. He has azure eyes, a Greek nose, a

horsey face and a signature curly hair. His suit is the modern shirt and

symbolic long jacket. The series' costume designer of Sherlock episode,

Sarah Arthur, explained how she achieved the detective's look: "Holmes

wouldn't have any interest in fashion, so I went for classic suits with a

modern twist: narrow-leg trousers and a two-button, slim-cut jacket. I also

looks great against the London skyline." In the episode, Holmes costume

becomes more fashion and modern compared to the original ones to satisfied

the taste of the day. The todays audience will have an anachronistic feeling

when seeing modern Sherlock Holmes is wearing a 19th century clothes. On

the other hand, the retro design and changeless dress collocation in every

episode indicate Holmes personality that he has no interest in fashion.

Thanks to the movie technique, we can see a lively Sherlock Holmes in

the episode. We can see where he lives, what he says, and how he solves the

cases. His personality becomes more

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detailed and actual, and he becomes a real person in the episode rather than

a mystery lives in Watsons word. The original Holmes character is mostly

vague, with some recognizable feature. In Doyle's story, Holmes shows

extreme happiness when he finds out something new or has solved a case.

When he discovers a material which can detect the blood in the diluted

solution, he shouts Ive found it! and claps his hands like a child with a new

toy(A Study in Scarlet). The readers can form a childish detective in their

mind, while having nothing about his appearance. The limitation of the first-

person narration novel comes up when Doyle wanted to depict the

personality elaborately: Holmes has to work with Watson to show his

intelligence, chat with Watson to express his identity, and live with Watson to
reveal his character. In other words, Holmes only existed in Watsons

narration. In The Final Problem, Watson hears a series of adventurous stories

from Holmes, that how Holmes escaped several assaults from Professor

Moriarty, from saving himself from a horse van to fighting with a rough with a

bludgeon. The audiences cant see the scenes Doyles created directly, and

have to imagine the adventures by themselves. Therefore, Conan Doyle told

a little about Holmes personality, and readers in the Victorian era may

create their own Holmes in their mind. The recent Sherlock Holmes

character becomes more realistic and detailed in Sherlock episode because

every actions and expression he shows are recorded in camera. In the The

Sign of Three, when Holmes in his apartment hears that a complex case is

needed to be solved, a weird smile is shown on his face. The smile is so

horrifying like a hungry monster finds a harmless rabbit. The expression

indicates his happiness without a word but clearly shows that he has few

human nature that wants to save peoples live. All he wants is to solve the

case. The scene can never be shown in Doyles novel because the audience

can never see his face. Todays TV shows audience expect an intricate

character

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instead of the imagined personality in Doyles story. By showing the deeper

layer of Holmes mental process, Sherlock episode creates a more

complicated Holmes personality than the original work.

of a spectacular scene easier. More and more scenes which existed only in

imagination come true and show up on the screen. At the same time, the

audience today has a higher standard of the TV show, which means a flat

story plot and a common roles character will hardly move the audience.

Therefore, following by a common phenomenon in recent TV shows called

character exaggeration, Holmes personality undergoes the conversion of

exaggeration and extremization to attract the audience and to shape a

unique Holmes character in Sherlock episode. The difference between can be

found by comparing the similar scene in Doyles story and Sherlock episode.

At the start of The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes feels extreme boring

because there is no case for him to solve, so he injects cocaine into his body

to keep him excited. When the similar scene occurs in The Great Game,

instead of injecting cocaine, he starts shooting the wall to release his

bored. The behavior there is considered as crazy in our common life, and it

is this craziness which can brand his personality into every audiences mind.

Sherlock Holmes is described by Watson in A Study in Scarlet as

certainly not a difficult man to live with. He was quiet in his ways, and his

habits were regular.. In 19th centurys story, though Holmes has some

eccentric habits, he is still a man who is easy to get along with. He

sometimes expresses the impatience to magnates, as his talk with King of

Bohemia: I was also aware of that, murmured Holmes, settling himself

down in his armchair and closing his eyes

If your Majesty would condescend to state your case, he remarked, I should

be better able to advise you(A Scandal In Bohemia). Though Holmes feels

adverse to the kings behavior that he hides himself behind the mask, he still

shows the minimum polite and respect to his client. His behavior satisfied

the normal persons expectation. On the other hand, Holmes behaves

harshly and meanly to his colleague, Molly many times in Sherlock episode.

In A Study in Pink, Molly asks Holmes if he would like a coffee with her

which he then interprets as her simply giving him a cup. She is obviously

hurt by his lack of polite in her. And in A Scandal in Belgravia, Molly dresses

up nicely and appears at the Christmas party, while Holmes embarrasses her

by deducing that she has a present for her new boyfriend whom she will

meet later at that night. Molly becomes visibly upset about that. We can see

Holmes behave in a more extreme way in Sherlock episode than in Doyles

story, and it is mainly because the eccentric behavior can mostly attract

audiences attention.

The conversion of Sherlocks style will follow the change of era.

However, no matter in which version of Sherlock Holmess production, some

of his personalities remain intact. For example, his method of deduction is

popular in both 19th century and recent days. The symbolic deduction

processes arise in every form of Sherlock Holmes production. In Doyles

story, the process is shown in Holmes talk with Watson. In The Sign of Four,
when he is deducing that the watch belongs to Watsons careless brother, he

says: When you observe the lower part of that watch-case you notice that it

is not only dinted in two places, but it is cut and marked all over from the

habit of keeping other hard objects it is no great feat to assume that a man

who treats a fifty-guinea watch so cavalierly must be a careless man. In the

21st century, Holmes thinking process is expressed in a modern way. His

deduction is visualized by the camera. In The

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Scandal in Belgravia, when Holmes is looking at Watson and naked Irene

Adler, the camera magnifies the several parts on Watsons suit, and the

related text shows his discovery on Watson. While the camera turns to Irene

Adler, the camera freezes on her body and the texts show ?????? to

express that Holmes can find no clue through her naked body. The real

images and accessory texts are more favorable than the dialogue between

Holmes and Watson for todays audience. Therefore, the director switches

the way to express Holmes analyzing process.

The personalities and appearances which didnt change throughout the

century form the basic structure of Sherlock Holmes, such as his magic

trick, his ability to deduct the cases using the special method and his

extreme smartness which helps him comes out question faster than anyone

else. Maria Konnicova, the author of New York Times bestseller, wrote in her

book: When Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes, he didnt think much of
his hero. Its doubtful that he set out intentionally to create a model for

thought, for decision making, for how to structure, layout, and solve

problems in our minds. And yet that is precisely what he did.(How to think

like Sherlock Holmes) The personalities Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes

unintentionally is exactly the things we love so far. Whatever the forms of

creation, we can easily identify that this man is Sherlock Holmes because

those core elements are branded in Sherlock Holmes character. And I

believe that his core personality will show up and shine in every era of

Sherlock Holmes creations.

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Work Cited

Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. 1887.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four. 1890.

Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Scandal In Bohemia. 1890.

Wikipedia: The Great Game (Sherlock) website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Game_(Sherlock) Access on 2/21/17

Wikipedia: Exaggeration website:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exaggeration#Character_assassination Access on 3/11/17

"Molly Hooper." Baker Street Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017.

<http://bakerstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Molly_Hooper>
Gatiss, Mark, and Steven, Moffat. Sherlock The Great Game. Sherlock, BBC One.

Gatiss, Mark, and Steven, Moffat. Sherlock A Scandal in Belgravia. Sherlock, BBC One.

Gatiss, Mark, and Steven, Moffat. Sherlock A Study in Pink.' Sherlock, BBC One.

Kongkova, Maria. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.

www.sherlockian-sherlock.com. "DR. JOSEPH BELL - THE REAL SHERLOCK HOLMES."

Sherlockian Sherlock Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2017. Website:

http://www.sherlockian-sherlock.com/dr-joseph-bell-the-real-sherlock-holmes.php