Good Example Of Essay On Sherlock Holmes Short Story

Short stories about Sherlock Holmes were and still remain popular throughout the world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the unique atmosphere of the stories which also were adapted in separate films and TV series. One of the most unusual ideas, connected with filming Sherlock episodes, is the brilliant idea, which belongs to Steven Moffat, to place Sherlock in the modern world. This intention was realized in 2010 with the release of the first season of Sherlock – an up-to-date adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective stories with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson respectively.
Among the whole cycle of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the most intriguing is the story titled “A Scandal in Bohemia” which, according to Steven Moffat’s plan, got the title “A Scandal in Belgravia”. The plot of the original story is centered on the hereditary king of Bohemia who wants Sherlock Holmes to prevent the scandal which may appear to be, if Irene Adler, an opera singer and adventuress, reveals the compromising cabinet photograph of herself and Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein, the hereditary king of Bohemia, to the royal family of the fiancée of the latter. Mr. Holmes thinks out the ingenious scheme to obtain the photo from Adler’s house. He successfully founds the place where the photograph is hidden, with the help of Watson, but leaves the house in order not to frighten the woman. Having informed the king, all three, Sherlock, Watson and the king himself, return to the house of Adler in Serpentine Avenue to get the photo at last. Instead of that, they observe the empty house and find a photograph of Adler herself and a letter, addressed to Sherlock Holmes, in a recess above the bell-pull.
The personage of Irene Adler in the TV show Sherlock varies greatly in comparison with that one in the original story. In Sherlock Irene is depicted as strong independent woman and dominatrix, who collects the incriminating evidence towards all her lovers and keeps these data in her mobile phone – the only protection frame of Adler against all spiteful persons. She possesses her own website and consults with the villain No 1, Jim Moriarty. Irene Adler is presented in Sherlock as one of the main characters owing to her activities. The original story pictures Irene as the enigmatic figure whom Mr. Holmes can see only twice: in the church of St. Monica, where Sherlock witnesses the wedding ceremony between Irene and a lawyer, Godfrey Norton and, in Briony Lodge, Adler’s house, where Mr. Holmes learns about the location of the compromising photograph. All these events are absent in Sherlock where Irene is quite unmarried woman.
Everything that can be said about the relationship of Irene and Sherlock in the original story is the fact that there Mr. Holmes doesn’t expect any women to have so analytical mind that he has; however, at the end of the story, he discovers and appreciates the lively wit of the woman. In such a way, it is clear that the famous detective loves the way Adler thinks, her mastery when she brilliantly can use her erudition to find the way out from difficult and dangerous situations. In contrast to that, the relationship between Sherlock and the woman in Sherlock acquires more romantic nature. Here, Sherlock Holmes faces one of his deadliest enemies in the shape of love and it comes in form of Irene Adler, who is an extraordinary dominatrix. They are clearly made for each other. It may be proved with a lot of scenes from the episode “A Scandal in Belgravia”, which are written by Steven Moffat especially for the show, and, at the same time, are absent in the original story.
Sherlock presents a lot of additions which also take place in the second season, episode one titled “A Scandal in Belgravia”. Mainly, these additions are applied to reflect the attitude of Irene and Sherlock to each other. In “A Scandal in Bohemia” just Mr. Holmes shows interest to the wit of Miss Adler, in “A Scandal in Belgravia”, vice versa, it is depicted the warmth of Adler’s feelings towards Sherlock. The woman not only accepts the exceptional observational skills of Mr. Holmes, she begins to love him, concealing her affection under the cover of temptress. The arguments for the above-mentioned words one can see in the scene of Sherlock when Mr. Holmes himself, trying to guess the password to Adler’s mobile phone, makes the speech before Irene and says that she plays too long and forgets the rules of the game. He tells Irene she loves him and when Adler objects, Sherlock cites as an example all symptoms of love Irene possesses for him; it is the rapid pulse and dilated pupils and, the last stroke, which deeply impresses Irene Adler, is the moment when Sherlock shows her the screen of her mobile phone with the solved password which tells SHER LOCKED. In Sherlock this scene is very emotional, strong and touching at the same moment.
The one more addition to the episode is the scene with the hiker and boomerang. Here Sherlock Holmes proposes the so-called riddle to Irene and she surmises in reference to the mysterious death of hiker under the full absence of crime instruments. After all, Miss Adler finds the correct answer, demonstrating to Sherlock that women can also think.
The final addition is, at the same time, the final scene with the beheading of Irene Adler when, unexpectedly for her, Sherlock saves her life. This scene was fully fictitious for the episode; it is absent in the original story.
Taking into account both the original story and its screen version titled Sherlock; I can say that between these two versions, Sherlock is much more drastic, dynamic and intensive owing to the amount of added scenes which are lacking in the original story. The purpose of Sherlock’s creators was to make new Sherlock Holmes who could cope with problems present in the 21th century. They successfully did it which was demonstrated with the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch became the household name. The crew worked hard to film Sherlock and all their attempts turned out to be well-taken.