The Red Headed League Plot

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As always, it is Holmes that finally manages to deduce how the crime happened and swiftly wants to test his “little theory”. The use of the word “little theory” tells us that Holmes believes that this case is not one of great importance or magnificence, only a small affair with, what Holmes thinks is an obvious answer.

“The Man with the Twisted Lip” has a different ending from most of the other Sherlock Holmes’s books as no one is arrested or blamed for the crime.

In this story, it is simply because the crime did not happen and Neville St. Clair was still alive, although he was disguised as Hugh Boone. St. Clair just gets a warning to stop disguising himself as a beggar and then he leaves to go home.

This is unusual for a detective story as in the majority of them, an actual crime has happened. In “The Five Orange Pips”, the culprits of the crime, the Ku Klux Klan, are never brought to justice for the murders they have committed, but, most probably, die on their sinking ship.

Another story in which the police are involved in the catching of the criminal is ‘The Red Headed League’. This story is set completely in London and at first shows no sign of a crime, when Jabez Wilson comes to see Holmes about the fact his good-paying second job has ended.

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Nevertheless, Holmes decides to investigate the case, perhaps with a slight suspicion about the considerable pay-off he will ask from the bank. This story shows us of Victorian culture and Holmes’s love of music, when Holmes and Watson go and see Pablo Sarasate at St.

Red Headed League Story

James’ Hall. In other Holmes’ stories, we see Holmes, himself, playing a violin, the instrument Sarasate played. Also, the story is based around the colour of Jabez Wilson’s hair, whilst “The Five Orange Pips” is based around a family. Both crimes appear to have no reason for happening, until later in the story when the crime and the suspects are revealed. In “The Five Orange Pips”, the identity of the Ku Klux Klan is not revealed until the very last moment, when it is too late for Holmes to save John Openshaw.

In “The Red-Headed League”, the true nature of the crime is not revealed to the audience until the end, and even though Holmes knows sooner than the reader, it is unusual as he cannot realise what is happening until nearer the end of the story. Gypsies are a recurring theme in Sherlock Holmes’s stories. In Holmes’ times, they were not thought fondly of, as we know from both “The Red-Headed League” and “The Speckled Band”, in which they are called vagabonds. In every story, Holmes uses his amazing powers of deduction to be able to tell something about his clients, and their homes.

In “The Red-Headed League”, he notices the fact that Jabez Wilson has done a lot of writing and that he has been to China. Although the clients are usually astonished at his level of accuracy, he often explains how he came to his conclusion. Holmes sees deduction as a fine art that only a few have the power of, and so often gets vexed when people, such as Jabez Wilson say, “I thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see that there was nothing in it, after all. ” Holmes is a secretive man, and often will not tell Watson how he worked out the case until the end of the story.

He will often have worked out how the crime was committed long before he captures the criminal. In “The Red-Headed League”, he goes to Jabez Wilson’s shop and beats the ground outside with his stick two or three times. When Watson asks why he has done this peculiar thing, he simply answers with, “My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. ” Watson only finds out that he beat the pavement to find which way the tunnel was leading in the last chapters of the story. In “The Red-Headed League”, the story involves tunnelling from the pawnbroker’s shop to the bank.

Jabez Wilson is sent to the Red Headed League so that John Clay can secretly make the tunnel under the ground. “The Speckled Band” also involves tunnelling, but in that story, the tunnel was through a small vent above the ground. This story also uses accomplices twice: once with Duncan Ross, who leads the Red Headed League; and then with ‘Archie’ who helps John Clay break into the bank. In “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, Neville St. Clair uses a Lascar and a Dane to keep his wife out whilst he quickly changes into Hugh Boone, the beggar.

Another key part of “The Red Headed League’s” plot is the notes, first the one in the newspaper and then the note telling of the disbandment of the League. Notes play a big part in “The Five Orange Pips”, in which each member of the family of John Openshaw each get a note, with five orange pips, telling them to put the papers on the sundial. Holmes prides himself in knowing nearly everything about everything. In “The Red-Headed League”, he navigates himself around London without struggle and easily tells Watson the surrounding buildings of Saxe-Coburg Street.

In “A Scandal in Bohemia”, we find out that he keeps an index of people, most of the information he will never need to know. For example, around Irene Adler’s profile are the profiles of a Hebrew Rabbi and a commander who wrote about fish. Clay believes himself to be a Royal, though he isn’t officially recognised by the Royal Family. He asks to be called “Sir” and will only cooperate with the police when Peter Jones, sarcastically, says, “Well, would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station? ”

When Jabez is describing his assistant to Holmes, Holmes already has a very good guess of what crime could be committed. When Jabez comments on a splash of acid on his forehead: “Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. “I thought as much,” said he. ” This shows us the excitement that Holmes gets from working something out. Holmes says that deduction is his stimulus, but when he is without that stimulus he resorts to cocaine, cigarettes and pipes to make his brain work. Although Watson constantly tells him about the dangers of this habit, Holmes continues nonetheless.