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The Sign Of Four Essay

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In his work ‘The Sign of Four’, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrates how the want and shallowness of wealth can create destruction. The chest full of gems and jewels intrigues everyone it comes across, causing the death of three men. Both Major Sholto and Bartholomew Sholto are both murdered by burglars, affecting the life of Thaddeus Sholto forever. Tonga, an assassin, is also killed in the retrieving of the treasure. The lives of these men and the people around them have forever been affected by greed. When Jonathan Small is arrested for his crimes he dumps the treasure into the river. He was overcome by hunger for wealth and screams out that “if [he] can’t have the loot [he’ll] take darned good care that no one else does” (Doyle, 113). Smalls could not accept anyone else having the treasure, leading him to jail where he will be for life. The thought of indulging themselves in jewels clouded the thoughts of these men, forever ruining their future. The story ‘The Sign of Four’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, …show more content…

Mary Morstan receives a letter in her mail explains that she deserves her justice and that it will be given to her. Later after discovering that the treasure she is owed is stolen, Homes and Watson finds the thief’s getting away on a boat. The burglars are punished for their crimes, one of them dying by a gun shot and the other getting sentenced life in prison. Upon catching one of the vial men Sherlock helps Jonathan Smalls by insuring he is not arrested for the murder of Bartholomew, but instead jailed for his theft. Sherlock states that he “can prove that the poison acts so quickly that the man was dead before [Smalls] ever reached the rooms” (114). Sherlock is willing to help the man because he does not want to see someone get jailed for a crime they did not commit. Sherlock insures that justice triumphs and all are acquitted for their

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