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The Relationship Between Sherlock Holmes And The Final Problem

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Group leader Sherlock Holmes and his obedient minion Doctor Watson – the unequal power structure in Doyle’s The Final Problem from a psychological perspective
The Final Problem written in 1893 was originally planned to be the very last story featuring Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had intended to finally kill Holmes so that it would allow to “save his mind for better things” (Lellenberg, Stashower, and Foley). He felt that he – as an author, at least - had been making a massive step in the wrong direction and his development as a writer had been non-existent and stagnant. However, knowing that killing the hero who single-handedly took his popularity to new heights would result in him recveiving heavy backlash from outraged readers, …show more content…

Moriarty is also occasionally mentioned in five different stories, but he does not make a direct appearance in any of them. This rather oblique and vague portrayal of Holmes’ arch rival has resulted in a plethora of theories concerning the real identity of Moriarty. In this paper we shall return to one of them, but the main goal of this essay is to examine the relationship between Holmes and Watson basing on social psychology. I will refer to some concepts of this particular branch of psychology in order to explain Watson’s lack of trustworthiness in connection with the idea of hierarchy in groups. In this paper I will also try to outline the instances in the story when Watson and his narration are deeply flawed as far as objectivity is …show more content…

(Szczepański) However, it seems that this argument does not appear to be particularly convincing. Two people are able to engage in long-lasting interactions; then they can also form a clearly defined goal. Furthermore, a pair can establish a very complex system of group norms. Lastly, they usually create a structure when, for example, one of its members wields power over the second one, or when one person is more liked by the other. (Mika)
In the light of the above I am inclined to believe that Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson do form a psychological group. The Final Problem is set in 1891, therefore there has been a decade since Watson was introduced to Sherlock, as the very first interaction between the two took place in 1881. The fact that their partnership has been active for these ten years doubtlessly signals that this cooperation was rather

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