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"?!