Canon Discussion: The Naval Treaty

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week we’re looking at The Naval Treaty. As usual I’ve typed up a few thoughts to get the discussion underway.

The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable by three cases of interest… Looks like Watson was trying to get out of any wedding planning. I do sometimes wonder about Watson and Miss Morstan’s wedding. I assume it would have been a very small affair (Watson apparently has no family in England, and Mary has no family at all) but who would have attended? I can see Holmes making his excuses and not going, and Watson not really being offended by that.

…it seemed rather a piquant thing to us to chevy him about the playground and hit him over the shins with a wicket. I really dislike Watson at this point (and usually on the whole I like him even more than I like Holmes). I never thought of him as a bully. But at least he’s honest enough to mention it. (Though I suspect it’s because he doesn’t think his conduct is anything to be ashamed of. He does give us the information in rather a humorous way.)

I have no doubt that you can remember "Tadpole" Phelps… I wonder what Watson’s nickname was. (I can think of a good few things to call him…) I also wonder if Phelps and Watson were ever truly friends despite Watson saying they were “intimately associated”. Phelps is probably only appealing to Watson in order to be sure of getting Holmes’ attention. Yes, Phelps is intellectually and socially above Watson, but you would have thought the two of them would have made some attempt to keep in touch if there had been affection between them.

“…Percy is to marry my sister Annie… To continue my obsession with Victorian naming systems: I notice Phelps and Harrison refer to each other as Percy and Joseph. I suppose this is because they were going to become brothers-in-law. Would they have started off using each other’s Christian names? Or would there have been a change-over as they became better acquainted?

"That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon his shirt-cuff. He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book. I know that Victorian shirt cuffs were detachable, but still, this seems a bit of an odd thing to do. (I presume he wasn’t using ink at least.) And we know that he appears to have a note book with him on the same day. I suppose he’s being bohemian…

“The suspicions of the police then rested upon young Gorot… his people are of Huguenot extraction, but as English in sympathy and tradition as you and I are.” "The clerk Gorot has been shadowed all these nine weeks, but without result.” I do wonder what’s going through Holmes’ mind when he hears about the suspicion surrounding Gorot – we know that Holmes is at least a quarter French himself.

“What a lovely thing a rose is!" What is going on here? I keep thinking that Holmes is trying to distract his companions from some clue, but this sequence is never referred to again. It appears that Holmes is truly just contemplating the roses and indulging in some philosophy. In the middle of a case.

"Do you see any prospect of solving this mystery, Mr. Holmes?" she asked, with a touch of asperity in her voice. Miss Harrison seems to have the opposite personality to her fiancé. But rather a similar one to her brother’s – bold and without fear. I suppose Joseph Harrison’s personality faces inwards and causes him to think only of himself, to the extent of not even caring about his sister’s future happiness. But Miss Harrison’s “strong character” faces outwards and causes her to protect those she loves.

"Miss Harrison," said Holmes, speaking with the utmost intensity of manner, "you must stay where you are all day.” I don’t know whether it’s my advanced age but I read this and think: all day? From before lunch until a quarter past ten? What about needing… (the facilities?) There must be something in the room for the use of an invalid, but would it be suitable for the non-invalid? Miss Harrison – I salute your bladder control!

"There! there!" said Holmes, soothing, patting him upon the shoulder. "It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic." At this point I think Phelps would have been completely justified in attacking Holmes with a cricket stump. What was Holmes thinking? Here’s a man who’s still recovering from a serious illness (presumably a nervous breakdown), who is under enormous pressure and who has exactly the wrong personality to appreciate a practical joke. Holmes’ theatrics seem hugely misjudged. Perhaps this is evidence that he doesn’t really understand other people.

“…he proceeded to turn back the corner of the carpet in the neighbourhood of the door. Presently he stopped and picked out a square piece of board, such as is usually left to enable plumbers to get at the joints of the gas-pipes.” As the New Annotated points out, it’s surprising Harrison knew about this hiding place. He was a guest in the house, and he must have found the hiding place quickly – he didn’t know he needed one until the night he stole the treaty and he must have discovered it pretty much immediately he got back to Briarbrae.

Next Sunday, 9th March, we’ll be looking at The Norwood Builder. Hope to see you then.

Comments

[vaysh]

Reading the story, I found the rose reference beyond intriguing, as it leads up to this observation by Holmes:

"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion," said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. "It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."

I am wondering whether ACD hinted at this side of Holmes to subtly prepare readers for Holmes' death. "The Naval Treaty" was published in The Strand in October and November 1893, with "The Final Problem" to follow in December of that year. The quote is fascinating, I think, especially in light of the religion vs. science debate of the late 19th century. Sherlock Holmes is stereotypically portrayed as a proponent of the "enlightened" logic of reason and modern science, but here he uses the very same methods to argue for the importance of religion, and makes the argument that it is exactly the superfluous beauty of flowers that is evidence for the "goodness of Providence". I find myself agreeing, actually. :)

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

I agree with your agreement. I love the rose passage, myself.

I do wonder if Doyle was trying to slightly redraft Holmes, or show him as growing from the narrow intellect his readers first met. As scfrankles points out very well, Holmes still has a way to go.

Considering how Holmes later shows a great knowledge of literature etc (music could have always been thought an essential), as opposed to his original stance; perhaps we could see Watson as teaching Holmes? He never vaunts his own knowledge, as opposed to Holmes', but he obviously has a taste for more than one literature.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Doyle does seem to be showing Holmes in a different light, doesn't he? Watson actually comments on this to us. It seems odd that ACD left it so late though, to attempt character development - at this point he thinks he's about to stop writing about Holmes forever.

And I really, really like your thought that Watson is influencing Holmes' education (either overtly or covertly ^^).

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I'm really like your idea that ACD is trying to prepare readers for Holmes' death - that seems very plausible. Hadn't considered that before...

Have to say I find it interesting the way Holmes approaches religion - the way he talks about deduction in religion (which I think is the way ACD approached religion - I know with Spiritualism, he talked about there being evidence and proof of life after death). I personally see no conflict between science and religion (my first chemistry teacher was called Sister Mary Theresa ^^), and though I expect proof for science, it seems wrong to look for that in religion - faith is the thing. It's a very Holmesian outlook - searching for evidence of God ^^

It's pointed out in the New Annotated that the colour and scent of flowers aren't strictly speaking extras - it's the way flowers attract insects for pollination. But I suppose from our point of view it is an extra - there's no biological advantage to human beings having an aesthetic appreciation of flowers.

One last thought - could the reference to flowers be partly Holmes trying, in his way, to be kind and thoughtful to Phelps? Trying to calm him. We know from what he says later on that Holmes suspected Joseph from the start - is Holmes trying to tell Phelps that though someone close to him has betrayed him, he still has Miss Harrison (who is goodness personified and one of the flowers)?

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I have less sympathy for little Tadpole Phelps than some. Watson says that they were all aware of Phelps important relations, despite their young age, and I have the feeling that maybe that was because Phelps himself went on about it. That, together with the fact that he was two classes above the others of his age, which he may well also have gloated about, might well encourage the other boys to show him exactly what they thought of him.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I still feel it was a pretty vicious thing to do though - physically assaulting someone because they're being a show-off. And it wasn't just Watson, it was several boys attacking him, deliberately aiming for the shin. As you know, that's a very painful place to be hurt because there's no fat to protect it.

[chiapetzukamori.livejournal.com]

Not that this justifies it, but wasn't that sort of behavior encouraged in boy's schools back then? Something about toughening the boys up and making them more manly? It just seems like that sort of thing was pretty common, which could explain why Watson doesn't seem particularly shamed by it.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

You're right, of course. A public school in the 19th century probably wasn't a terribly pleasant place to be. I suppose it just grates that Watson lightheartedly tells us about attacking his schoolfriend with a stump - it's not how I think of him ^^"

Btw, lovely to see you round the place again ^_^