221bcrow | Saved Archived Meta: Sherloki1854 (pt.7) (Reply)

Holmes and Watson and various states of undress

The Man With The Twisted Lip, 1889

He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of him.

In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features.

So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.

“Awake, Watson?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Game for a morning drive?”

“Certainly.”

“Then dress.”

So they undressed while they were in that room together and it says that they also spent the whole night together and – I will stop right here.

The Speckled Band, 1883

I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room.

Which means that Holmes was in the room while Watson took off his nightclothes and dressed in his normal attire. And Watson throws this in off-hand like he was perfectly comfortable with and used to it.

The Blue Carbuncle, 1890

I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand.

I know this is not significant but just imagine this, please…

And here comes the scene:

The Illustrious Client, 1902

Both Holmes and I had a weakness for the Turkish bath. It was over a smoke in the pleasant lassitude of the drying-room that I have found him less reticent and more human than anywhere else. On the upper floor of the Northumberland Avenue establishment there is an isolated corner where two couches lie side by side, and it was on these that we lay upon September 3, 1902, the day when my narrative begins. I had asked him whether anything was stirring, and for answer he had shot his long, thin, nervous arm out of the sheets which enveloped him and had drawn an envelope from the inside pocket of the coat which hung beside him.

There is a picture for what this would have looked like:

http://sherloki1854.tumblr.com/post/126814137585/sherlock-holmes-and-doctor-watson-not-particularly

Nothing to add to that.

Let us keep in mind that this is Victorian England. Beautiful.

--------------------------

Watson’s bedroom and Holmes’s regular invasions thereof

Well, why not?? ;)

The Resident Patient, 1881

Sherlock Holmes’s prophecy was soon fulfilled, and in a dramatic fashion. At half-past seven next morning, in the first glimmer of daylight, I found him standing by my bedside in his dressing-gown.
Nota bene: they have known each other for a few months, and are already close enough for this? We know Holmes does not care much about people’s personal boundaries, but this is the very Victorian year 1881!

The Speckled Band, 1883

It was early in April in the year ’83 that I woke one morning to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed.
And Watson sounds like he was quite used to it. After only two years.

The Sign of Four, 1888

In the early dawn I woke with a start, and was surprised to find him standing by my bedside, clad in a rude sailor dress with a pea-jacket, and a coarse red scarf round his neck.
“Surprised” indeed. Well, let us give him credit for trying.

The Dying Detective, 1890

“There is just room behind the head of my bed, Watson.”
“My dear Holmes!”
“I fear there is no alternative, Watson. The room does not lend itself to concealment, which is as well, as it is the less likely to arouse suspicion. But just there, Watson, I fancy that it could be done.” Suddenly he sat up with a rigid intentness upon his haggard face. “There are the wheels, Watson. Quick, man, if you love me! And don’t budge, whatever happens–whatever happens, do you hear? Don’t speak! Don’t move!”
Technically, this does not fit the heading. I included it just as a side-note in order to point out that Holmes clearly has absolutely not problem with telling Watson exactly where to hide in his bedroom. Also, I needed the “man, if you love me” part. Watson does hide behind Holmes’s bed - “if you love me” indeed…

Lady Frances Carfax, ca. 1900

Finally, just after I had been called in the morning, he rushed into my room. He was in his dressing-gown, but his pale, hollow-eyed face told me that his night had been a sleepless one.

The Six Napoleons, 1900

I was still dressing in my bedroom next morning, when there was a tap at the door and Holmes entered, a telegram in his hand.
Twelve years later, Holmes is still doing it.

The Priory School, 1901

The day was just breaking when I woke to find the long, thin form of Holmes by my bedside. He was fully dressed, and had apparently already been out.
And he does not appear to want to stop in the foreseeable future.

Which, by the way, also makes me wonder about how many times Watson simply did not mention it.

In fact, have they ever not been in the same room at least part of the night?

This can be safely said: neither when they slept somewhere that was not Baker Street.

Nor, apparently, in their own flat in Baker Street.

So never.

-------------------

Holmes stalking his Watson

sherloki1854

Holmes likes to send Watson somewhere and then ~~stalk~~ follow him. We have seen that in The Great Game: Sherlock sets John on the Andrew West case and appears just when John realised “points”. Which means Sherlock timed his appearance and was closely following John. Let us see where the writers got that from…

The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1889 (maybe 1888, maybe 1890)

Holmes tells his client that he has to stay in London and sends Watson instead. Which is odd, as Watson is either engaged (1888), just married (1889) or, well, married (1890). (I still believe his wife is completely made up.) It is strange that Holmes could just send him away for so long a period of time. Anyway, what is interesting here is that even though Holmes sends Watson somewhere, he does not let him out of his sight: he is the “man on the moor”.

Lady Frances Carfax, ca. 1900 (B-G: 1902)

“You say that you have had it because you need a change. Let me suggest that you take one. How would Lausanne do, my dear Watson–first-class tickets and all expenses paid on a princely scale?”

“Splendid! But why?”

And Holmes sends Watson away again.

the following takes place in Montpellier: Then, with a snarl of anger, [Mr Green] left me and entered the cottage from which I had just come. I turned to thank my preserver, who stood beside me in the roadway.

“Well, Watson,” said he, “a very pretty hash you have made of it! I rather think you had better come back with me to London by the night express.” An hour afterwards, Sherlock Holmes, in his usual garb and style, was seated in my private room at the hotel.

He obviously ~~stalks~~ follows his Watson. And jumps to his rescue when another man ~~touches~~ attacks him…

-------------------------

Holmes’s and Watson’s dates

It is remarkable just how often they end up in opera houses/theatres/restaurants. Also, note that Holmes is the one who always invites Watson. We know that he is a music enthusiast, but would it really be necessary to take Watson along if they were only friends (opera together? pretty intimate…), and is he not the one who does not care about eating? So why are they always having fancy dinners/nights out?

Charles Augustus Milverton, 1885-1888?

Holmes and I put on our dress-clothes, so that we might appear to be two theatre-goers homeward bound.
In BBC Sherlock, it is official that Sherlock sees crime scenes as dates. In the ACD canon, Holmes makes Watson wear elegant clothes for breaking into CAM’s house.

The Cardboard Box, 1888

“Drive us to some decent hotel, cabby, where we may have some lunch, and afterwards we shall drop down upon friend Lestrade at the police station.” We had a pleasant little meal together […] and we sat for an hour over a bottle of claret while he told me anecdote after anecdote of that extraordinary man [Paganini].
Lunch and claret, and it is “late in the afternoon” when they continue with the investigation.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, 1889

And now, my dear Watson, we have had some weeks of severe work, and for one evening, I think, we may turn our thoughts into more pleasant channels. I have a box for ’Les Huguenots.’ Have you heard the De Reszkes? Might I trouble you then to be ready in half an hour, and we can stop at Marcini’s for a little dinner on the way?
Expensive dinner and an opera…

The Red-Headed League, 1890

Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along! […] And now, Doctor, we’ve done our work, so it’s time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.
Here they have to hurry to get to the opera on time, but they do and Watson later describes Holmes thus:
All the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were […] unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound

The Dying Detective, 1890

Thank you, Watson, you must help me on with my coat. When we have finished at the police station I think that something nutritious at Simpson’s would not be out of place.
Simpson’s was one of the most exclusive (and expensive) restaurants/hotels in London. It still exists and still keeps its old fame. So Holmes is treating Watson to an elegant dinner. Huh.

The Blue Carbuncle, 1890

If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief feature.
They do not go out, but a) this is Boxing Day and b) Watson’s supposedly married at the time. I mean, his wife is never mentioned, but it is 1890. (I rest my case.)

The Retired Colourman, 1898

Well, leave it there, Watson. Let us escape from this weary workaday world by the side door of music. Carina sings to-night at the Albert Hall, and we still have time to dress, dine, and enjoy.
“Dress, dine, and enjoy”? This is starting to get ridiculously obvious.

The Illustrious Client, 1902

I did not see Holmes again until the following evening when we dined once more at our Strand restaurant.
This is too sweet.

The Red Circle, 1902?

By the way, it is not eight o’clock, and a Wagner night at Covent Garden! If we hurry, we might be in time for the second act.
It is nice to see that over 20 years after meeting each other they still go to the opera together. They are an old married couple. A happy one. The happiest I have ever read about, in fact.

----------------------------

Holmes and Watson hiding together. Always pressed close.

A treat…

First, Holmes gets them into a situation where they have to wait somewhere in a dark and tiny space, and then, he somehow managed to make it even more intimate. I mean - “I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine”!

The Speckled Band, 1883
“In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in your room.”
Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.
[…]
“But what will you do?”
“We shall spend the night in your room […]”

Charles Augustus Milverton, 1885-1888?
So far I had not dared to look out, but now I gently parted the division of the curtains in front of me and peeped through. From the pressure of Holmes’s shoulder against mine, I knew that he was sharing my observations. […]
I felt Holmes’s hand steal into mine […]

The Dying Detective, 1890
“There is just room behind the head of my bed, Watson.”
“My dear Holmes!”
“I fear there is no alternative, Watson. The room does not lend itself to concealment, which is as well, as it is the less likely to arouse suspicion. […]”

The Empty House, 1894
In silence we stood together in the darkness and watched the hurrying figures who passed and re-passed in front of us. Holmes was silent and motionless; but I could tell that he was keenly alert […]

The Red Circle, 1896
Crouching together in the angle of the door, we kept our eyes fixed upon the mirror.

The Three Garridebs, 1902
There was one cupboard in a dark corner which stood out a little from the wall. It was behind this that we eventually crouched while Holmes in a whisper outlined his intentions.

------------------------

Sir ACD based SH on Poe’s Dupin. Do form your own opinion on Dupin’s sexuality…

Dupin meets his narrator:

“Our first meeting was at an obscure library […] where the accident of our both being in search of the same very rare and very remarkable volume brought us into closer communion. We saw each other again and again […] I was astonished, too, at the vast extent of his reading; and, above all, I felt my soul enkindled within me by the wild fervor, and the vivid freshness of his imagination […] I felt that the society of such a man would be to me a treasure beyond price; and this feeling I frankly confided to him. It was at length arranged that we should live together during my stay in the city; […] I was permitted to be at the expense of renting, and furnishing in a style which suited the rather fantastic gloom of our common temper […] Had the routine of our life at this place been known to the world, we should have been regarded as madmen—although, perhaps, as madmen of a harmless nature. Our seclusion was perfect. We admitted no visitors. […] We existed within ourselves alone. It was a freak of fancy in my friend (for what else shall I call it?) to be enamored of the Night for her own sake; and into this bizarrerie, as into all his others, I quietly fell; giving myself up to his wild whims with a perfect abandon […]”

---------------------------

Some thoughts on Mycroft Holmes

I am still following my Oscar Wilde theory, so please bear with me…

The Diogenes Club

A gentleman’s club co-founded by Mycroft

“The Diogenes Club is the queerest club in London, and Mycroft one of the queerest men. He’s always there from quarter to five to twenty to eight. It’s six now, so if you care for a stroll this beautiful evening I shall be very happy to introduce you to two curiosities.”

“I cannot recall the name.”

“Very likely not. There are many men in London, you know, who, some from shyness, some from misanthropy, have no wish for the company of their fellows. Yet they are not averse to comfortable chairs and the latest periodicals. It is for the convenience of these that the Diogenes Club was started, and it now contains the most unsociable and unclubable men in town. No member is permitted to take the least notice of any other one. Save in the Stranger’s Room, no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed, and three offences, if brought to the notice of the committee, render the talker liable to expulsion. My brother was one of the founders, and I have myself found it a very soothing atmosphere.”

NB: “queer” in the modern sense is not a “new” creation. Lord Alfred Douglas was called that by his father in the late 19^th century.

And I am not sure about the part where Holmes describes the club, but a reason for not being allowed to take note of each other and to talk (apart, obviously, from the club being the secret service) is to avoid blackmail by avoiding contact.

(Do not tell me this makes no sense whatsoever; I live on my illusions…)

A red handkerchief

Mycroft took snuff from a tortoise-shell box, and brushed away the wandering grains from his coat front with a large, red silk handkerchief.

Red (hand-)kerchieves were “code” for “gay”.

Looks and appearance

Holmes to Watson: “You will find a small brougham waiting close to the curb, driven by a fellow with a heavy black cloak tipped at the collar with red.”

Again: red around the neck…

The Bruce-Partington Plans

Mycroft knows something about the trials/scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde. I wrote a long meta on that and the upshot is that Mycroft could be somehow involved (“Cadogan West” is not a person’s name, but a code either for a person or an event; this code refers indirectly to Oscar Wilde).

Last appearance: 1895

Mycroft appears only in The Greek Interpreter (published in 1893, thus set before The Final Problem), The Final Problem (set in 1891), The Empty House (set in 1894) and The Bruce-Partington Plans (set in 1895). There are a lot of later stories where he would fit in really well (like the espionage one: His Last Bow) but he never appears again. Did he leave the country after “Cadogan West”?

And how does this fit in with the M-Theory? Could the writers, by choosing 1895 as the year of the Christmas Special, be trying to foreshadow Mycroft’s predicted death?

Mycroft is interesting already in the books… And Gatiss made him so much more.

He is absolutely brilliant.

----------------------

But WHY did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “do” Johnlock?

I’ve had a huge discussion with my father on why they are so clearly in love with each other although the stories were published/are set in the Victorian Era. He doubts that Sir ACD would have done something so dangerous (essentially, his stance is “why make them gay if it isn’t important to the plot?”).

I’ve already had some ideas, which I mentioned in this post. But since then I’ve reconsidered it and this is what I can think of at the moment.

Reasons:

On the level of “Sir ACD is the author”: He hated SH and wanted to laugh up his sleeve (“I know something you don’t and you would hate him too if you knew”) - after all, this is Victorian England. But I’m increasingly having trouble seeing this (Sir ACD wasn’t so callous, I think). Another possible reason is that Sir ACD intended to criticise the appalling social rules and laws that attempted to forbid homosexuality. Or it could even be a mixture of those two, as unlikely as it seems: after all, they are never caught, get a happy end (more or less) etc.
On Sir ACD’s level: He had to; Dupin and his narrator, who he based SH and Dr Watson on, are obviously lovers. (See this post for their first meeting in The Murders in Rue Morgue.)
On the level of “Sir ACD is Watson’s editor”: For Watson the stories are about his fascination with the man he’s in love with, and their adventures (as Mark Gatiss put it), and Sir ACD couldn’t “delete” everything because then not much would have been left of the stories, so he kept some of the love in.
On Watson’s and Holmes’s level (and Sir ACD agreed to be Watson’s “pen name”): Well, it is interesting that most of the stories were published either during the hiatus (when Watson thought Holmes was dead and it wouldn’t hurt him anyway if the world knew how much Watson loved Holmes) or after Holmes’s retirement to Sussex (most probably with Watson), which would mean exactly the same: it wouldn’t hurt his reputation/job if there were a few suspicions. Also, we know that when the situation starts to get dangerous, they are perfectly capable to disappear for a few months.

And now on to the point of “why make them gay if it isn’t important to the plot?” - This is fairly important: unlike Dr Watson’s “marriage”, which is a made-up plot device, their relationship is not a plot device; it is essential to the plot. You can even say it is the plot, as Moffat does. And as it isn’t a plot device, it must be real.

I’m tagging mathildalocks, no-literally, welovethebeekeeper, thepansythug, and 221behavior – can you help me? Any ideas that might persuade somebody who has never believed it? Thanks!!