Sherlock Holmes Character Traits

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In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s excerpt of, “The Adventure of the Cardboard Box,” John Watson recalls a gruesome case that he and his partner Sherlock Holmes worked on. In the excerpt, Holmes is both a protagonist/heroine as well as a flat/static character. Sherlock Holmes is a prime example of a heroine since he practically lived for solving mysteries. As Watson described, “he loved to lie in the very center of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.” Sherlock Holmes’ character is also both flat and static, since throughout the excerpt, the reader only experiences Holmes as a detective who does not grow or develop over time. What the reader does see, however, is how incredibly observant/intuitive and intelligent Holmes is. For example, in the very beginning of the excerpt, Watson recalled how Sherlock Holmes was able to detect his opinion on something he was reading just by studying his expressions. Stating that, “he had echoed the inmost thought of my soul, I sat up in my chair and stared at him in blank amazement.” Followed by Watson asking Sherlock, “do you mean to say that you read my train of thoughts from my features?,” to which Holmes replied, “your features and especially your eyes.” Later on in…show more content…
This is demonstrated through two interactions Holmes has with Miss Cushing with the first taking place when they first meet. When Holmes arrived at Miss Cushing’s house, she was clearly annoyed by what felt like a constant stream of questions and Holmes let her know he understood by stating that, “I have no doubt that you have been annoyed more than enough already over this business.” Then once again as he’s leaving Miss Cushing’s house and he apologizes to her for being, “troubled over a case with which, as you say, you have nothing whatever to

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