Canon Discussion: The Naval Treaty

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week we’re having a look at The Naval Treaty. I’ve typed up a few thoughts to get the discussion going—please leave your own ideas in the comments!

The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable by three cases of interest… Any thoughts on "The Adventure of the Tired Captain”? Or indeed on "The Adventure of the Second Stain”? From the way Watson describes the latter, it doesn’t appear to be the same case he later relates under that title. Apparently there was a second second stain… (And I’ve just realised I’ve been reading ‘succeeded’ as ‘preceded’ all these years...)

During my school-days I had been intimately associated with a lad named Percy Phelps… Were Watson and Phelps ever truly friends do you think? Watson does seem to have taken delight in bullying him, and they haven’t made any effort to stay in touch.

"That is of enormous importance," said Holmes, making a note upon his shirt-cuff. Any thoughts on why Holmes does this? I realise Victorian cuffs were detachable and it’s probable he was using pencil rather than ink, but still… After all, it is implied he has a notebook with him that day: He handed over a sheet torn from a note-book.

“The suspicions of the police then rested upon young Gorot…” I wonder how Holmes feels about Gorot being suspected purely because of his ancestry. We know Holmes himself is at least a quarter French.

“What a lovely thing a rose is!" ...It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show any keen interest in natural objects. What the heck is going on here? It seems to be nothing to do with the case—Holmes really is just suddenly indulging in a bit of philosophy. Could he indirectly be trying to offer comfort to Phelps and Miss Harrison because he already suspects the culprit is Joseph Harrison? Though just afterwards he does get rather sentimentally philosophical about children too, when only Watson is there: "Light-houses, my boy! Beacons of the future! Capsules with hundreds of bright little seeds in each, out of which will spring the wise, better England of the future.”

“He got engaged to her when travelling last winter…” Phelps and Miss Harrison seem to have very different personalities. Any thoughts on their courtship, and why they both decided to marry?

“Mr. Phelps can have the spare bedroom to-night…” Interesting way of putting it. Does Holmes mean that Phelps can have Watson’s old room, and Watson can sleep in Holmes’? Or is there another bedroom in 221B?

"Her cuisine is a little limited, but she has as good an idea of breakfast as a Scotch-woman.” Any thoughts on Holmes’ experiences with Scottish breakfasts..? But also, it appears Mrs. Hudson has agreed to be part of Holmes’ little ‘joke’. She’s the one who actually brings in the hidden treaty. I do wonder what she must have thought...

"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." Holmes’ choice of reveal seems bizarre. It’s odd that he wasn’t able to use observation, imagination and deduction to work out that Phelps was likely to react badly to it.

"And Joseph! Joseph a villain and a thief!" Do Phelps and Miss Harrison go on to have a happy marriage after this? Or does the knowledge that Miss Harrison’s brother was responsible for the theft cause their engagement to break down?

(NB I earlier had "Harrison" as "Morrison". My apologies, and thank you to thesmallhobbit for the tactful correction.)

Next Sunday, 19th July, we’ll be having a look at The Final Problem. (Oh, dear God…) But we just have to get past that, and then there’s The Hound of the Baskervilles to look forward to.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Miss Harrison seems to be far more capable than Phelps, who despite his intelligence appears to rely on family rather than his own abilities. If she wishes the engagement to continue I am sure it will.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Miss Harrison does appear to have a very strong personality. To be honest, I think Phelps has made a very good choice in becoming engaged to her - with her behind him, he'll probably go on to even greater things ^^

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Interesting thoughts and questions! I'm very fond of Naval Treaty, I think it's one of the better mysteries, where you honestly are given enough clues to figure it out for yourself, and yet inevitably (if you are me) you don't, and so can be honestly impressed at Holmes's perspicacity.

I didn't get the impression that Watson and Phelps were close friends, but I assumed there was a sort of "we were at school together" bond that grew in nostalgic and social importance once they were both grown men. I think of school ties in that era as having a greater power than they tend to carry in modern life. Even Holmes, when discussing his college experience, says he had little in common with "the men of my year" and yet also thinks of them as a group and relies on them for his early casework.

I quite adore that rose interlude. And to me it doesn't seem particularly out of character for Holmes, although the timing of it is odd. But then, Watson has remarked before that Holmes has a startling and prodigious power of throwing his mind out of a case once he has decided there is no more useful work that can be done on it at the moment (I think he made that observation in Red-Headed League, when Holmes took a break from the case to go off to violin-land.)

I have always had the impression that Holmes by and large believed in God, though when confronted with horrible suffering he certainly questioned and feared. "If there is not some compensation hereafter, then the world is a cruel jest," he says later. He appears to be opposed to suicide, I assume on religious grounds ("Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off it," he says in Veiled Lodger). I don't think he practices any organized form of religion, but I could see him dabbling in philosophy and theology in much the same way he dabbles in the polyphonic motets of Lassus or the roots of the Chaldean language. He likes abstruse conundrums, and when feeling introspective or whimsical I am sure his mind turned to the problem of whether and how to apply reason and logic to questions of ethics and spirituality. I've never seen any contradiction in that endeavor, which has a long academic history, but then maybe that's because my father is a theologian :) And I think it is rather sweet that Holmes seems so profoundly affected by nature and finds it fulfilling to contemplate -- without little moments like this, his ultimate beekeeping retirement to Sussex really comes out of nowhere.

It’s odd that he wasn’t able to use observation, imagination and deduction to work out that Phelps was likely to react badly to it.

Ha! Other people reacting badly has stopped Holmes's drama exactly never! Watson can attest. The surprise is its own reward, it seems.

Oh, I do hope that Miss Harrison and Phelps make it. I think perhaps it's a bit hard to judge Phelps's real character, given that we see him in such a disturbed state. I don't believe he is without strength of character or of heart. But he suffers from extreme anxiety, and he's been through a crisis in his work and his health both mental and physical. It's really nice to see that portrayed as something that doesn't disqualify him from being a good man who deserves the love and respect of an extraordinary woman. And I like to think that he would not blame Annie for the actions of her brother, and that she would not blame him for being Joseph's victim. I hope they stick with each other! :)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply to your comment. I was trying to wait until I was feeling a little less tired and a little more intellectually alert, but I think that ship has sailed ^_^

I would agree that Watson and Phelps were never close friends. And I would agree that school ties would have greater importance then. But I would say the bond between them had completely disappeared rather than growing in "nostalgic and social importance". Watson says that Phelps had passed out of his mind, and I don't think he'd ever use his connection with Phelps to gain any advantage. And I suppose Phelps just needed Watson's connection with Holmes, and will probably never contact him ever again. I don't look down on Phelps for doing this though. And actually I would be interested in how exactly Holmes' fellow students viewed him. From what Holmes says, they were interested in his methods but I wonder was there a certain amount of pride in the fact they attended the same college as him, even if they didn't consider him a friend.

You're quite right about REDH - that's another story in which Holmes abruptly does something that seems significant but hasn't anything to do with the case. (I remember that bit about Watson saying Holmes can stop thinking about the case when there's nothing further he can do at that point but I don't think it's from REDH. I don't think any explanation at all is given as to why he wants to go to a concert.) I would agree that the rose interlude isn't out of character for Holmes but would also agree it's oddly out of the blue - and an odd thing to do in front of the clients ^^" And taking a step back, it always feels it must be significant to the plot - but it isn't.

I would also agree that from what Holmes says in various stories he's a believer in some form - I think that's pretty clear. He's not an atheist certainly. I don't pretend to have any profound understanding of theology (though my late elder brother was a Catholic priest ^^) but I think your description of Holmes' attitude to this area makes a lot of sense. And how interesting that your father is a theologian ^^

The beekeeping would come out of nowhere if we didn't have moments like this but it has to be said that the rose moment itself comes out of nowhere. Watson is completely surprised by Holmes' interest in nature even though they must have known each other for about 8 years at this point. It's just a puzzling little moment that can never be entirely explained.

Other people reacting badly has stopped Holmes's drama exactly never! Yeah, I'll go with that ^__^

Yes, you're right - we don't really know Phelps well enough to judge what he's like. We only have Watson's memories of him from when they were boys, and this extreme and horribly stressful situation. I hope they stick together too - they seem like a devoted couple.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hello! Sorry to be ages late in replying, myself, I guess we've all got a lot going on lately :) But thanks so much for your lovely and thoughtful reply, I really enjoyed it.

But I would say the bond between them had completely disappeared rather than growing in "nostalgic and social importance". Watson says that Phelps had passed out of his mind, and I don't think he'd ever use his connection with Phelps to gain any advantage. And I suppose Phelps just needed Watson's connection with Holmes, and will probably never contact him ever again. I don't look down on Phelps for doing this though.

Oh, I completely agree. Sorry, my phrasing was not clear in my original post, but what I meant was that I think it was socially acceptable to network for certain kinds of favors (an introduction to an influential friend, a recommendation for a job, a reference for a landlord, that kind of thing) based on school ties, even if as individuals you had not cared all that much for each other while in school. The "intimacy" was in sharing a school identity, similar to the way that family members could be considered 'intimate' relations and legitimate sources of favors even if personally they were not close. That's my guess, anyway.

I always got the impression, by the way, that Stamford basically fell into this category for both Holmes and Watson. He makes the fateful introduction and then disappears forever, and it's pretty clear that neither Holmes nor Watson are particularly close to him. Watson says, I think, that Stamford 'was a dresser under me at Barts' or something like that, which is not really the way I would have referred to a personal friend. But they were in school together, in this case university, and Watson thus did not feel bad about networking for a flatmate through this not-very-close former acquaintance. It was socially acceptable, and not a shameful kind of charity seeking, from his point of view, I think.

In fact, perhaps when he heard from Phelps he remembered being similarly desperate, ill, and friendless not so long ago, and how he had been saved by just such a serendipitous old school mate. Maybe he decided to pay it forward and offer the same help he himself had received, in introducing a poor wretch to Sherlock Holmes :)

And yes, you're right that the nature-loving side of Holmes does generally swoop in out of nowhere and then vanish again until it reappears in retirement. Much of the time it feels like Watson has to drag him kicking and screaming out of London - I don't remember what story it's in, but Holmes has that chilling little monologue about how when he looks out at picturesque little country villages all he can think of is their isolation and the horrible things that probably go undiscovered and unpunished out there. He does seem very divided and swings between hatred and love for the more pastoral side of England -- I wonder if it has anything to do with his childhood or the family history of those almost-never-mentioned country squires?

Hee! For the sake of clarity, I should add that my father's paying job was working with computers -- in theology, he has been a lifelong gifted amateur, and thus reminiscent of a dear fictional detective :)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I have the greatest of respect for the gifted amateur ^^ I have been delighted in recent years to meet online many authors who write just for the pleasure of writing but who write at a professional level - yourself included ^_^