Discussion Post: The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

It occurred to me this week as I posted my 60 for CHAS that we've been reading these excellent canon stories, but haven't had any place to discuss our thoughts about them. So here we go with our first official discussion post. In weeks to come, I'll post these on Sunday instead.

What did you think of The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton? Any thoughts/speculation on why Holmes finds blackmailers to be the most repulsive of criminals? Why was he willing to both break the law and potentially a woman's heart to achieve his ends? And how about the excitement in this one? "I assure you that I am armed to the teeth." And, oh, the entire break-in itself, from the discussion leading up to it, to Holmes leading Watson by the hand in the dark, to the great escape at the end and throwing Lestrade off the trail with the truth.

Just a bounty of wonderful stuff! So, what did you think?

Comments

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

A couple of thoughts right off hand:

- I think Holmes hates blackmailers the most because they are torturers. In Victorian society, a fall from grace was a fate worse than death in many ways. And what Milverton did that is even more repulsive is make it about personal enjoyment. He didn't need the money, and it really had nothing to do with that. He simply wanted his prey's abject humiliation before him. He wanted them reduced to groveling and begging him for mercy. He is a pure sadist, relishing other people's pain and glorying in it, and I think that is what appalls Holmes the most.

- The incident with the engagement is a serious sticking point to me. It seems difficult to deal with, even if Holmes is right and he's the pawn here, not the other way around. Feels like a step too far to the other side. "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster." Holmes spends his life dealing with the most reprehensible of society. He walks the razor's edge of acceptable behavior himself all the time. Here, I feel he falls hard on the wrong side of it.

- One last small thing: Watson says during their heist, "I could have laughed when I realised that it was the cat." Could this be the origin of the thriller trope of "it was only a cat"?!

[darkest-alchemy.livejournal.com]

Mostly I think Holmes hates blackmailers so much because blackmail destroys lives and causes prolonged suffering in a way often a murder even doesn't, and in a way it's also rather a cowardly thing to do. I don't think he approves of anything that involves someone abusing their power over someone weaker than they are, whether it's blackmail or a husband abusing his wife or any other situation with a great power imbalance between the tormentor and the victim.

But I think there's possibly a small element too that he just can't understand Milverton or relate to him at all. I think Holmes can understand the motives of most 'commonplace' murderers and thieves and the like and even criminals like Moran and Moriarty - people who do immoral and illegal things to remove a problem or get money or even just to show how clever they are. But Milverton seems to be much more of a sadist who seems to ruin lives simply because he can and because he enjoys it, and Holmes can't relate to that or understand that, and he doesn't like not understanding things.

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

Excellent point about the power imbalance. That is something Holmes regularly rails against, you're absolutely right. You see it in any number of cases. For him, it's a matter of justice.

[sabrinaphynn.livejournal.com]

Totally random thing I always enjoy about this story, and nothing especially deep.
WATSON WEARS SNEAKERS for um... Sneaking. Rubber soled tennis shoes, to be exact.
No matter how many times I read this, I still find it amusing.
(Shrug. I am odd that way, I guess.)

[spacemutineer.livejournal.com]

You know, I read that and didn't even think of it. Cute!

[shouldboverthis.livejournal.com]

Recently watched the Grenada of this and the housemaid is played by a round-faced, wide-eyed actress who often plays characters who get hurt by something she can't understand.

We see a great deal of her and we also see her face when Holmes lets himself into Milverton's house (not in the story) as Holmes. It's heartbreaking and I hated Holmes in that moment because he spares her barely a glance.

But yes--on the rubber soled tennis shoes--looked it up because it stuck with us after viewing.