Sherlock Holmes: Drug Fiend, Easily Bored Or Depressive?
“Sherlock Holmes: Drug Fiend, Easily Bored or Just a Depressive?”
By Student
Word Count: 1258
Citation Style: MLA What is considered a ‘drug’ in any society is invariably a function of social convention. This is not to say that illicit narcotics should not be restricted in their use, or that there are no sound reasons for characterizing them in a negative fashion – rather, it is that the distinction between what we ingest as either ‘narcotic’ or ‘medicine’ or ‘indulgence’ can not be linked in any meaningful way to its impact upon the human body. So it is with Sherlock Holmes, a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and one who is famously fond of injecting himself with cocaine. This paper takes as its focus the reliance …show more content…
As Christopher Redmond explains, the “seven-percent solution” injected by Holmes at the beginning of The Sign of Four was legal in Britain until 1916 and was likely meant to reflect Holmes manic-depressive, mercurial personality (34). In fact, like many amphetamines, cocaine was both a stimulant and a potent euphoria inducing narcotic, appropriate – if in retrospect self-destructive – to a man capable of working non-stop for days on end (Small 342). There is evidence that Doyle himself was fascinated with cocaine and had read and was well aware of its potentially negative side effects (Pearce 228). Nonetheless, Holmes addiction to cocaine as presented in 1888’s The Sign of Four offers only visual commentary upon the possible repercussions from intravenous cocaine addiction. Doyle writes that:
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction …show more content…
Watson. Moreover, this paper has argued that a careful reading of some of Doyle’s work indicates that Holmes use of cocaine is a function of an underlying mental or personality disorder. This latter point is indicated by Holmes disdain for emotion (in general) and emotional attachments in particular and in his claims that when his work is done “there still remains the cocaine bottle” (Doyle The Sign 118). Clearly, disdain for emotion and emotional attachments is socially maladaptive, and resorting to cocaine use out of boredom and lack of work is not the sign of a well-adjusted personality. Cocaine may have helped Holmes cope with his mood swings, and provided a means of mental stimulation that compensated for the lack of physical stimulation (love, sex) that most humans
By Student
Word Count: 1258
Citation Style: MLA What is considered a ‘drug’ in any society is invariably a function of social convention. This is not to say that illicit narcotics should not be restricted in their use, or that there are no sound reasons for characterizing them in a negative fashion – rather, it is that the distinction between what we ingest as either ‘narcotic’ or ‘medicine’ or ‘indulgence’ can not be linked in any meaningful way to its impact upon the human body. So it is with Sherlock Holmes, a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and one who is famously fond of injecting himself with cocaine. This paper takes as its focus the reliance …show more content…
As Christopher Redmond explains, the “seven-percent solution” injected by Holmes at the beginning of The Sign of Four was legal in Britain until 1916 and was likely meant to reflect Holmes manic-depressive, mercurial personality (34). In fact, like many amphetamines, cocaine was both a stimulant and a potent euphoria inducing narcotic, appropriate – if in retrospect self-destructive – to a man capable of working non-stop for days on end (Small 342). There is evidence that Doyle himself was fascinated with cocaine and had read and was well aware of its potentially negative side effects (Pearce 228). Nonetheless, Holmes addiction to cocaine as presented in 1888’s The Sign of Four offers only visual commentary upon the possible repercussions from intravenous cocaine addiction. Doyle writes that:
Sherlock Holmes took his bottle from the corner of the mantel-piece and his hypodermic syringe from its neat morocco case. With his long, white, nervous fingers he adjusted the delicate needle, and rolled back his left shirt-cuff. For some little time his eyes rested thoughtfully upon the sinewy forearm and wrist all dotted and scarred with innumerable puncture-marks. Finally he thrust the sharp point home, pressed down the tiny piston, and sank back into the velvet-lined arm-chair with a long sigh of satisfaction …show more content…
Watson. Moreover, this paper has argued that a careful reading of some of Doyle’s work indicates that Holmes use of cocaine is a function of an underlying mental or personality disorder. This latter point is indicated by Holmes disdain for emotion (in general) and emotional attachments in particular and in his claims that when his work is done “there still remains the cocaine bottle” (Doyle The Sign 118). Clearly, disdain for emotion and emotional attachments is socially maladaptive, and resorting to cocaine use out of boredom and lack of work is not the sign of a well-adjusted personality. Cocaine may have helped Holmes cope with his mood swings, and provided a means of mental stimulation that compensated for the lack of physical stimulation (love, sex) that most humans