221bcrow | Irene Adler

Irene Adler and Sherlock Holmes were never romantically interested in each other.

Irene Adler was in love with and married Godfrey Norton. https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/index.php…

Sherlock Holmes also had no romantic interest in Irene.

In fact, Sherlock Holmes oversaw Irene Adler's marriage with Godfrey Norton and was highly amused by it.

He was absolutely pleased as punch about the whole thing and went home to 221B to laugh and tell Dr. Watson all about it.

Another quote often referenced is “Daintiest thing under a bonnet”. This was relayed to Watson by Holmes before he had ever seen Adler himself. It was not reflective of Holmes’ personal opinion, but rather the description and views of other men regarding the person that they were looking for.

Irene Adler was never viewed in a romantic way by Holmes himself, nor she to him. He was assigned on the case to get a photograph for the King of Bohemia, during which she outmaneuvered Holmes while being able to escape with her new husband whom she was in love with and had recently wed.

In addition to Watson stating in the first few lines of that story that Holmes felt no kind of love for Irene Adler, in the Victorian era it was standard to end letters with 'Truly yours'. This was a regularly used form of respect in business letters. It is not reflective of any kind of romantic interest, but rather respectful closure of that time. Much in the same way that 'respectfully' and 'regards' are used today. http://www.victorianpassage.com/…/the_correct_thing_in_good…

Irene Adler was one of the most respected women out of the stories because she outwitted Holmes.

She was an upstanding woman who was respected and a lesson to Holmes to not underestimate the intelligence of women. Her picture was kept as that reminder.

Pop culture and other people have had a habit of inventing a relationship between Sherlock Holmes and Irene Adler that did not exist in the original stories.

In fact Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle himself had previously stated that he did not wish Sherlock Holmes to be in a relationship with a woman: “Gillette read Conan Doyle’s script and asked permission to revise it. The author agreed, stipulating only that there be NO love interest.” -via the Shakespeare Festival of Utah University

Instead Irene Adler was respected as an intellectual and was example of how a woman can be respected as an equal without any sexual connotations surrounding or behind it.

*The attached images are images of original illustrations from the Strand Magazine where the Sherlock Holmes stories were originally published.