lo-fi & lovely
On "A Scandal in Bohemia" [SCAN] from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
PUBLICATION HISTORY:
The Strand (UK) July 1891
The Strand (US) August 1891
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Coll.) October 1892
NOTES:
A tale of two bored middle-aged men and a Jersey Girl. Oh, and a big oaf who just doesn't measure up. Watson's "own complete happiness, and the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, ..." is an obvious lie he tells himself. For if Holmes needs thought, the good doctor needs action. As to Holmes, he needs so badly his familiar foil that he literally pushes him back into his seat as they hear out a potential client, one 'Count Von Kramm.'
[Watson had been away a bit. A good time to narrate the nuances of 221b. Given that, we get nicely (re)acquainted with the environs there on Baker St. But also, we get to see Irene's digs and outside of those said digs. This in an oddly elaborate set-up on Victorian streets, orchestrated by Holmes as Watson looks on, torn as to his duties. (More on that in a bit.) There is a sense of light inside Irene Adler's residence... it is almost ethereal.]
Irene Adler, adventuress & opera singer, extraordinaire. "To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman." Then three sentences, blah blah blah, then: "It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler." Irene Adler, of the closing first paragraph, who is referred to as "the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory." Therein there is no love, she is dead (a simple 'nee' sans memorial would have clarified differently) and thus she lives on only in the imaginations of subpar fanfiction not befitting of the pastiche label.
To round things out as to prominent players, 'Von Kramm' is actually the Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and hereditary King of Bohemia and a garish buffoon of a barbarian. A big meanie, too. His disguise is laughable, his manners barbaric if not cruel, but his money spendable--thus Holmes is all-in and with him, Dr. Watson. Perhaps that's of importance, that previous notion. We'll come back to that to see what water it holds. In truth though, regardless of what this tale is about--it is chock full of 'trifles' which it is not about.
For instance, it's not about Godfrey Norton, Adler's beau. Or at least I hope not because I, like everyone else, have zilch-zero-nada to go on in regards to that cardboard cut-out of a place-holder... the walking embodiment of a 0. Good for Adler though, to have found the 'love of a better man.' Speaking of which, this yarn is not spun on account of current times' reading of curiosities regarding he and Adler's rushed wedding ceremony in which a costumed Sherlock partook.
That's something like retrofitting a red herring. We aren't at the time of this story being told, all that removed from an edict of no weddings after the noon-time hour. In fact, I believe and with minimal research, it was only moved to 3pm. Plus, that whole thing, the whole scene, seems comedic... Holmes even laughs in his re-telling it. The long and short is that the happy couple simply needed to catch a boat to New Jersey.
Not to mention, but I will, Adler's significant other probably would have been on a real shit-list if his ID was known to the dumb-cruel King. This alone satisfies me as an explanation as to the separate rides to and from the quick-as-can-be wedding ceremony. (A scene that much reads as tho it could have been written for the stage.) Remember, we mostly-only get the King's side of things aside from an allusion from Adler within her four (4) in total lines of dialog--in this, her only canonical appearance.
I now make with a million-dollar idea for a talented someone far less lazy than I... a bit of pastiche which unfurls in a way that Irene Adler's demise is met on-par with how Birdy Edwards bit the big one. Yes, perhaps Moriarty looms even in this early a tale. His deft and murderous hand, delivering her death after scot-free escape. I only ask for story credit and a nice cigar as payment.
So Scandal isn't about Sherlock's love of Adler, which again does not exist. Nor is it about Godfrey Norton, Esq. & it isn't about the damned photograph either. This 'damned photograph' causes a problem in the overall rating of this adventure--because quite simply--the problem is not a sufficient one. Even at first blush, Holmes doesn't see the King's issue as important enough to require his aid. He counters with throw-away rebuttals until landing upon the photo which supposedly serves to corroborate the rest of that which was already waved-off as trivial.
This then suddenly makes Adler's stashed photo a thing that must be retrieved. But she, of course, safeguards it as a means for guaranteeing her escape. But where is it? All the King's men have come up empty. Perhaps because they hadn't thought of putting on an elaborate stage production of a street melee as has Holmes has and does. (More theatre vibes here.) So that happens, complete with red paint for blood, a smoke bomb for false fire, and a cast of maybe tens all under Sherlockian employment. AND IT WORKS.
Adler's eyes show Holmes where the cabinet photo is kept. Then, he fucking up & leaves without it!? Hum! And then Adler pays him a masked cross-dressed adieu in return. But it was before that, that Holmes made his decision to aid the King only enough to make of him a happy client. Yes, Holmes (& the obviously torn Watson) decide (well, Watson is along for the ride) to also aid Irene in her catching her ride back to the Garden State. You see Sherlock had bills to pay, the King came with a fat wallet and thin problem... & the stars did align in guiding Watson back into the fold.
REMINDER: check out I hear of Sherlock Everywhere.
The podcasts & show notes are entertaining and informative.
(As well as used in parts of my research.)
& perhaps this is what A Scandal in Bohemia is about. Bringing back Doc. Plus, a neat look into the mind of Holmes, and more so his moral/ethical compass. The grey area where he allows his grey matter both its due and do. So, this one isn't about Holmes being bested by the woman, as he was not. He has, again, a happy client and no criminal has retained nor gained their freedom. Plus, nothing took him unawares. Later in the canon, Holmes reminisces about being bested only four times, thrice by men and once by a woman.
Not the woman as we have been told he refers to her as. Also, we hear of this in The Five Orange Pips, which chronologically occurs a year prior to SCAN. Furthermore, that's hardly the mention you'd expect from a fellow who could have earned a chunk of a kingdom and settled instead on a cabinet photo of his true and perhaps favorite unofficial client. He keeps the picture (a replacement for his original goal) as a reminder. I'd say as a reminder to choose clients well.
So what else is this about? Disguises, but not really. It's about what disguises symbolize--which, in this context, is intelligence. Adeptness versus ineptness. SO MANY DISGUISES and Holmes even fools Watson and Adler fools Holmes and King Dummy, well, he fools no one at all not even for a second. Can it also be considered a disguise when Holmes plays double-agent, aiding the King & abetting Adler? Sure, that's the biggie!
ETC.: SCAN is the third Holmesian story and first short. It also marks the first adventure illustrated by Sidney Paget.
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