Canon Discussion Post: The Sign of the Four, Chapters 7-12

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

It's canon discussion time, everybody! What did you think about the conclusion of The Sign of the Four, Chapters 7-12? As always, I've written up a few of my own random thoughts and questions, which are behind the jump. Add your own in the comments!

Granada TV adaptation discussion is available in the Granada discussion post.


- For sheer enjoyment of an exciting investigation, The Sign of the Four can't be beaten. It has Holmes and Watson at some of their active detective work finest. They're busting down doors; they're the first to the murder scene. Holmes is out on the roof (barefoot!) and down the side of a building. They're both tearing through the streets at 3 a.m. chasing a crazy dog. And there's still time after all that for an interlude with the Irregulars, a disguise and reveal, and a high-speed boat chase complete with an exchange of deadly fire. Whew!

- The treasure as described by Jonathan Small includes nearly a thousand gems along with a "great quantity" of other stones. That's an incredibly haul lying at the bottom of the Thames. Did anyone ever go looking for it, you think? Would the current pull it all out to sea, or would it be scattered through the mud? Is it possible it could have accumulated somewhere, like gold accumulates at the bottom of a waterfall? I wonder about the physics of that. At any rate, it seems to me treasure hunters would be trying to think of some way to salvage that fortune, even if it was just a futile attempt with a diving bell.

- This may be the slash goggles talking, but it feels to me that as soon as Holmes realizes he's threatened in his place in Watson's affections (platonic or otherwise), he tries to court him back. In a variety of ways, he tries to show him what's good about being with him. They have an investigative adventure together. On their long walk, Holmes worries several times (in his somewhat insulting fashion) about Watson's wounded leg. Holmes notices the doctor looks tired and makes sure he gets enough rest, sending him off to dreamland with a personally composed violin lullaby. Later, he brings dinner for Watson and Jones along with several bottles of wine, and he is a marvelous conversationalist as they dine. All his best wooing is for naught, of course.

- Which brings us, inevitably, to the bleak last lines of the novel. Watson and Mary have each other, Jones has the credit, and Sherlock Holmes resigns himself to chemical oblivion. Watson has just announced his departure from the flat and possibly the partnership. Their friendship too? Hopefully not. Either way, Holmes is incredibly alone now and it is entirely his fault, through his circumstances as a detective taking Mary as a client and through his own actions as he drags himself ever deeper into cocaine addiction while trying to blot out the sameness that is existence. As I said: bleak.

Comment away, and don't forget to join us next week for the first half of The Hound of the Baskervilles, chapters 1-7!

Comments

[hisietari.livejournal.com]

I hated the end of this novel, I guess I still do. Couldn't bring myself to read those lines again, they ring too large a bell.

Treasure sounds like a good clue... I'll see what I can make of that, thanks!

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I really like the story and that Watson and Mary end up together. Had ACD not written more stories then I think this would have been a great and happy ending, Holmes essentially fading back into the background of his cocaine bliss.

[tazlet.livejournal.com]

Not just your slash goggles - Holmes' unsuccessful attempt to woo Watson away from Mary in SOTF has been commented on, particularly in Graham Robb's Strangers and Rosenberg's Naked is the Best Disguise.

I think the treasure - depending on time, tide and circumstance could a catalyst for any number of stories - a Victorian/Edwardian mudlark finds a jewel in the river mud, and...I need to go make some notes.