Characters from the Sherlock Holmes stories

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This article introduces characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories .

Sherlock Holmes

Dr. Watson

Mary Morstan

Mary Morstan consulted Holmes in The Sign of Four (The Sign of Four) , after receiving a mysterious invitation to an unknown person. She is described as a small and petite young woman with blonde hair who works as a governess in the household of Mrs. Cecil Forrester, an elderly lady. Holmes companion Dr. Watson falls madly in love with Mrs. Morstan's arrival in Holmes' rooms on Baker Street and gets closer and closer to her as the plot progresses. However, he initially avoids telling her his love, since if the case is solved she has half of a huge oriental treasure in prospect, which would make her inaccessible to him.

Mary Morstan's mother died shortly after she was born and her father, a captain of an Indian regiment, disappeared in 1878 under mysterious circumstances that are clarified in the novel The Mark of Four . At the end of the detective novel, a heavy old chest that is supposed to contain jewels is actually placed in front of her. However, it turns out that the person who previously illegally obtained the treasure emptied the box into the Thames shortly before it was captured by Holmes and the police . With this obstacle removed between the two, Dr. Watson expressed his feelings to his beloved and even married her around 1888. After the wedding, the two move into their own apartment. In later stories, Mary Watson appears only rarely and as an unimportant supporting character. After her untimely death, Watson moves back to Baker Street.

Professor Moriarty

Professor Moriarty is Holmes' most determined rival, who is intellectually in no way inferior, but  uses his abilities - as a brilliant criminal - to the detriment of humanity ("black mirror image"). The detective can't get to Moriarty because he foresees every step of his opponents in good time.

Sebastian Moran

Colonel Sebastian Moran comes from the circle of Professor James Moriarty . After this he is the "second most dangerous man in London". The character appears more in pastiche stories and in Sherlock Holmes films than in the actual Holmes novels.

The capture of Col. Sebastian Moran by Sherlock Holmes, illustration by Sidney Paget

Colonel Sebastian Moran was present when Moriarty fell down the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland , apparently killing Sherlock Holmes as well. He tried in vain to avenge Moriarty's death. Moran was Sherlock Holmes after his "resurrection" in the novel The Empty House ( The Empty House captured, 1903). He had tried to murder Holmes from across the street from 221b Baker Street with a special air rifle (called a wind gun ). Holmes had foreseen the attack and was waiting for Moran with Dr. Watson and policemen in the empty house where Moran had only shot a mannequin.

As a result, The Empty Hearse (The empty coffin) from the TV series Sherlock acts as an antagonist to a certain Lord Moran, who is planning an attack on the British Parliament, but is stopped by Holmes and can then be arrested.

Sherlock Holmes films with Colonel Moran

  • The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1929), with Donald Crisp as Colonel Moran, Clive Brook as Sherlock Holmes and H. Reeves-Smith as Dr. Watson
  • The Sleeping Cardinal (1931), with Louis Goodrich as Colonel Sebastian Moran, Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming as Dr. John H. Watson (this is not the Bond writer Ian Fleming, but an actor of the same name)
  • The Triumph of Sherlock Holmes (1935), with Wilfrid Caithness as Col. Sebastian Moran, Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming as Dr. John H. Watson
  • Silver Blaze (1937), with Arthur Goullet as Col. Sebastian Moran, Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes and Ian Fleming as Dr. John H. Watson
  • Sherlock Holmes - Terror by Night (Jewel Robbery) (1946), with Alan Mowbray as Moran (aka "Maj. Duncan-Bleek"), Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Dr. John H. Watson
  • Sherlock Holmes (2011), with Paul Anderson as Col. Sebastian Moran, Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. John H. Watson

Mycroft Holmes

Mycroft Holmes, illustration by Sidney Paget

Mycroft Holmes is the older brother of Sherlock Holmes . Mycroft is a gifted policy advisor in the UK service. According to Holmes, he should master the "method of deduction " even better than his younger brother, who describes himself as a master in this field, even if Mycroft often restricts himself to more convenient and uncomplicated solutions to a case. Mycroft is a phlegmatic , lazy character and has no ambitions to be a detective. Mycroft is a founding member of the Diogenes Club , which Sherlock Holmes calls the "least social men in London" club.

Mycroft Holmes is often described as a medium-sized man with a decreasing hairline and a somewhat full build. In the film adaptations, he is often portrayed as simple-minded, haughty, greedy and gullible.

Mycroft Holmes appears in addition to Doyle in the Holmes parody The private life of Sherlock Holmes from 1970 in the role of the (governmental) opponent. In Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , Mycroft Holmes appears as the head of the British intelligence service. In Brian D. McCredie's The Bee-keeper's Tale: Mr Holmes' Curious Odyssey , Mycroft Holmes acts as the first-person narrator and at the same time Sherlock's contact with the government in another adventure.

Mycroft Holmes as namesake

In allusion to Mycroft Holmes, the search plugins for Mozilla -based web browsers are also called Mycroft plugins. This is also an allusion to the search technology programmed by Apple called Sherlock .

Robert A. Heinlein names in his novel Revolte auf Luna (Original: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ) after Holmes a computer Mycroft or Mike.

Mycroft Holmes in film adaptations

Irene Adler

Irene Adler marries Godfrey Norton, illustration from A Scandal in Bohemia by Sidney Paget

“For Sherlock Holmes she is always only the woman. I have seldom heard him speak of her in other words. In his eyes, she dwarfs all others of her sex. It wasn't as if he felt anything like love for her ... and yet there was only one woman for him, and that was Irene Adler. "

Irene Adler, born in New Jersey in 1858 , is an American opera singer, actress, and well-known adventurer. Sherlock Holmes describes her as "the most graceful person on the planet" and "a delightful woman with a face a man could die for," but she also has a mind of steel and "the mind of the most determined man." According to her own statement, she often takes advantage of the freedom that comes with dressing up as a man.

Although she only appears in a single story, Irene Adler is considered an important supporting character, as she brings Holmes one of his four defeats through her considered actions. In A Scandal in Bohemia , Adler had an intimate relationship with the King of Bohemia a few years earlier . She manages to get a compromising photo, which she uses to coerce the king and which the detective is supposed to retrieve on his behalf, to safety and to deport herself abroad.

Such a success by an intelligent woman is particularly noteworthy as it contradicts the role model prevailing at the time. This outstanding female figure in the canon of works often provided the opportunity to add a love story to the plot in later adaptations. Conan Doyle's original story does not contain an explicit declaration of love, although Watson reports that Holmes asks the King of Bohemia for a portrait of Irene Adler and often looks at it with fascination.

In the Sherlock Holmes series of the 80s, Irene Adler is played by Gayle Hunnicutt . She is played by Lara Pulver in the BBC series Sherlock (since 2010) .

Inspector G. Lestrade

Inspector G. Lestrade ( listen to [ lɛˈstreɪd ] ? / I or listen to [ lɛˈstrɑːd ] ? / I ) is Scotland Yard’s most frequent inspector . He is noted as the investigative inspector in the first story, A Scarlet Study , and he also saw Holmes z. B. solved the falls of Boscombe Valley and Dartmoor . He openly admits to Holmes that he is the better investigator, but he could never tell in front of a third party. His colleagues are u. a. Stanley Hopkins, Tobias Gregson and Athelney Jones. Audio file / audio sample Audio file / audio sample

Lestrade is played by Dennis Hoey in the 1940s crime series . Lestrade is portrayed by Hans Schellbach in the German television series Sherlock Holmes from 1967/68 . In the BBC series Sherlock (since 2010), Lestrade is played by Rupert Graves . In the course of the series, his first name is given as "Greg".

literature

  • AC Doyle, Zeus Weinstein (Ed.): Sherlock Holmes Companion. Haffmans Verlag, Zurich.
    • Volume 1. Michael u. Mollie Hardwick: Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson. Portrait of a Friendship, pp. 7–40; Zeus Weinstein: Small Conan Doyle Chronicle, pp. 41–68; Appendix: The Scenes of Sherlock Holmes, Bibliography. Pp. 69-85. 1984, ISBN 3-251-20014-3 .
    • Volume 2. Michael u. Mollie Hardwick: The Plots of All Stories, pp. 7–54; Zeus Weinstein: Sherlock Holmes in contour, pp. 55-78. 1985, ISBN 3-251-20017-8 .
  • Zeus Weinstein (Ed.): Sherlock Holmes Handbook. Haffmans Verlag, Zurich 2001, ISBN 3-251-60000-1 .
  • Jamyang * AC Doyle: The Return of Sherlock Holmes - "The Empty House". No & But, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0369-5149-0 . Norbu: Sherlock Holmes: The Mandala of the Dalai Lama. Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-404-15128-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AC Doyle: The Return of Sherlock Holmes - "The Empty House", No & But 2005 - ISBN 3-0369-5149-0
  2. Arthur Conan Doyle: A Scandal in Bohemia