Canon Discussion: The Final Problem

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

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

It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. As we’re going in published order this time, it’s perhaps an interesting point to consider: the short stories from SCAN to FINA were all published during the period Watson believed Holmes to be dead.

...the recent letters in which Colonel James Moriarty defends the memory of his brother… Does Colonel Moriarty genuinely believe his brother was innocent of any wrongdoing?

He still came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his investigation, but these occasions grew more and more seldom… Were they drifting apart or did Holmes feel guilty perhaps about taking Watson away from his wife and practice?

“Is Mrs. Watson in?" "She is away upon a visit." Minor thing perhaps but any thoughts on who Mrs. Watson is visiting or where she is?

"You have probably never heard of Professor Moriarty?" said he. "Never." And yet in VALL, which is apparently set before FINA, Watson does know who the professor is.

“...if I could free society of him, I should feel that my own career had reached its summit, and I should be prepared to turn to some more placid line in life.” But when Holmes comes home, and Moran has been arrested, he changes his mind and carries on being a detective. Any thoughts?

“I cannot do better than get away for the few days which remain before the police are at liberty to act.” Any ideas on what exactly it is the police have to wait for?

"They set fire to our rooms last night. No great harm was done." It’s rather specific: “our rooms”. How did the agents manage to set fire just to 221B?

"They have secured the whole gang with the exception of him. He has given them the slip. Of course, when I had left the country there was no one to cope with him.” But Moriarty had left England already in order to follow Holmes... Holmes knows that.

“…you will find me a dangerous companion now. This man's occupation is gone. He is lost if he returns to London. If I read his character right he will devote his whole energies to revenging himself upon me.” From this point on, Holmes appears fatalistic. Before, his trip was in order to keep out of harm’s way until the arrests but after Moriarty escapes the police, it’s no longer clear why Holmes is continuing to travel. To run away from Moriarty? To try and draw him out into the open? He doesn’t seem to be looking for Moriarty.

…he was well convinced that, walk where we would, we could not walk ourselves clear of the danger which was dogging our footsteps. Why is Holmes so fatalistic? As he says earlier: "There cannot be the least doubt that he would have made a murderous attack upon me. It is, however, a game at which two may play.” Instead of just waiting for Moriarty to find him, why doesn’t he try to get the upper hand: start searching for Moriarty, and work out how to trap him and win the game? And it’s odd that Moriarty should physically attack Holmes—he’s the kind of man who hadn’t liked to get his hands dirty. And why is he so fatalistic too? He could have got his revenge and made an attempt on Holmes’ life in a different situation—he didn’t need to wrestle with him at the top of a dangerous waterfall. Yes, his organisation appears to have been dismantled and he’s now a wanted man but I’m sure he could have started again in a different country.

Next Sunday, 26th July, Holmes won’t yet have returned but as compensation while we wait we’ll be having a look at chapters 1-7 of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Hope you can join us then.

Comments

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

When I read it, I did get the impression that Moriarty didn't follow Holmes overseas until later.

I'm not sure of this, but I wonder if Moriarty was as self controlled as we assume. He lost a good academic post through his behaviour, and when you consider what some professors get away with...Facing Holmes in person, too, wasn't very useful. He wasn't all that young, either. Starting a new life in a foreign country might have been just too much.

Watson's more and more seldom does seem to mean they were drifting apart, if not as much as they did at the end of Holmes' career.

Myself, I wonder why Holmes recruited Watson.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Well, we don't know for certain exactly when Moriarty leaves the country, but when Holmes spots him at the station, he assumes Moriarty will follow them. Holmes says: "Moriarty will again do what I should do. He will get on to Paris, mark down our luggage, and wait for two days at the depot." So Holmes seems to think that Moriarty will be travelling on to France that very day.

He lost a good academic post through his behaviour... Well, all we're told is "dark rumours gathered round him". I don't this necessarily meant he had a lack of self-control - just that he hadn't learnt to keep his criminal activities completely hidden yet. Though I would agree that maybe because he was a mature man, starting again from scratch might have seemed very hard. But I'm just not convinced he'd want to throw his life away like this.

Myself, I wonder why Holmes recruited Watson. Yes... At the end, in his note, Holmes seems to give the impression he always thought he might not be coming back - he's sorted out his will and given it to Mycroft. So why then take Watson along with him? If he believed there was no other choice but to die, why not say his goodbyes to Watson in London and leave the doctor safely there?

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

I always think Holmes hoped somehow someone would prevent Moriarty leaving the country, but knew this was unlikely. In the ever rational Holmes might be allowed a little wistful thinking in these circumstances.

I also think Holmes knew he had to draw Moriarty out and probably the only bait was his own life. What is interesting is Moriarty seems to have had no intention on harming Watson and Holmes acquiesces with this. I'm sure if Watson had come between the two it would have been a different matter but Moriarty is very specific in his aims.

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I would agree with you that Holmes was the bait - and that Moriarty would not have approached Holmes if Watson was there. Holmes does emphasise that Moriarty is his intellectual equal - if Holmes had tried to use Watson to help him, Moriarty might have seen through the trap immediately. I suppose Holmes just wasn't prepared to risk Watson's life in any way. He felt he had to deal with Moriarty on his own.

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

He still came to me from time to time when he desired a companion in his investigation, but these occasions grew more and more seldom… Were they drifting apart or did Holmes feel guilty perhaps about taking Watson away from his wife and practice?

Could it have been that Holmes was getting more involved in his investigations of Moriarty's network, and made a conscious choice to keep Watson out of those investigations? Maybe he doesn't want to draw Moriarty's attention to the Watsons?

“Is Mrs. Watson in?" "She is away upon a visit." Minor thing perhaps but any thoughts on who Mrs. Watson is visiting or where she is?

I know that some readers theorize that this marriage was not a happy one because Watson spends so much time running off with Holmes and Mary spends so much time running off on her own on vague 'visits' to who knows where, but my personal headcanon is that this was a wonderful marriage and one of the reasons it worked was that Mary was unconventional in her personal priorities. I think that it didn't bother her that her husband didn't stick to developing his own career and profits at the expense of Holmes's mysteries. I mean, this is a woman who, while working as a governess and without any family resources to fall back on, never sold the luxuriant pearls that were sent to her, even though they could have made her independently wealthy. She was more concerned with the mystery of their origins than with the prospect of immediate riches. This is a woman who was glad, from her heart, to marry a good man of limited means rather than to obtain a treasure that had generated crime and tragedy. I can't believe that money or prestige were major concerns for her.

I like to think that she encouraged Watson to help Holmes because she knew how important the work was, both for their desperate clients, and for Watson himself and the sense of adventure that was so pivotal to his character. And I think she also decided to pursue work outside the home that fed her spirit and gave her a sense of fulfillment. I don't know what it was, but perhaps she upheld her ties to the children she had tutored before her marriage, and wanted to keep teaching or mentoring them as they got older. Perhaps it is the Forresters she visited so often -- maybe she remained in some capacity their governess, despite how unconventional it would have been for a married woman to do so instead of focusing on starting her own family. Perhaps Mary and John's domestic happiness involved sharing the tales of their working lives with each other with joy and mutual respect, even if the cost was more time apart than society judged normal for a married couple and less surety of monetary remuneration.

I think there's not much of an answer about Holmes's fatalism beyond that Doyle wanted to kill him at this point. You're right that it doesn't seem necessary or in character. But at least it's not as completely nonsensical as the story about faking his death that we get in Empty House! But we'll get to that in due time and I will probably spend my whole comment grousing :)

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

Once again, sorry for the late reply ^^”

Yes, I can see Holmes wanting to do the noble thing and keep Watson away from Moriarty - well, we know that he doesn’t even tell Watson about him until Moriarty is on the point of being arrested.

The older I get, the more I love Mary ^^ I too think of the Watsons’ marriage as being a happy one. There is so much longing in SIGN from both sides. I can’t believe they’d ever regret their marriage. And I think of Mary as an exceptional person - that’s the impression ACD gives us initially. It rather saddens me that once she’s Mrs. Watson she becomes a rather shadowy creature, pushed into the background and then abruptly written out. I love your headcanon about her - will we eventually be seeing some fics from you concentrating on Mary..?

I suppose Holmes didn’t want to risk Watson’s life in any kind of confrontation with Moriarty - he felt it was something he had to do on his own. And Moriarty probably wouldn’t have shown himself anyway if Watson was there. Perhaps however Holmes played things out in his head, he saw that his death was likely. Because Moriarty was his intellectual equal and wouldn’t walk into any trap - if there was a final confrontation it would be just the two of them on their own. And oh, crikey… Holmes’ explanation in EMPT for why he let everyone believe he was dead just doesn’t make any sense at all. But as you say - we’ll get to that ^_^

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

will we eventually be seeing some fics from you concentrating on Mary..?

Well, as ever I have lots of headcanon but no actual plots :) But never say never. Thanks for asking!