Sherlock Holme Analysis

The short stories, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and “The Blanched Soldier,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are filled with adventurous investigations featuring the genius detective Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock Holmes and is his trustworthy assistant, Dr. Watson, investigate the problems that are brought to them by clients, Helen Stoner and Mr. James M. Dodd, whom both seek their help in coming up with solutions to their cases. In “the Adventure of the Speckled Band,” Helen Stoner, a desperate young woman, is in need of Holmes assistance to solve her sister’s murder case, as she believes her life may be in great danger with her stepfather being around. While in “The Blanched Soldier,” Mr. Dodd brings a case in which his good friend, Godfrey
As Helen Stoner sits before him for her consultation he is observing everything and proves this by asking her if she took the train that morning. As she is shocked by his accurate theory Sherlock Holmes responds with, “I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm of your left glove,” giving his client a glimpse of his observation process (Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band 1). She goes on to explain her own theory of how she believes her sister has died of pure fear. However, Holmes is not quite satisfied with these results because she forgets to speak about her stepfather, “’he is a hard man,’ she said, ‘and perhaps he hardly knows his own strength,” as he notices her wrist displays an imprint of a hand (Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band 5). In “The Blanched Soldier,” Sherlock demonstrates the same observation method as Mr. James Dodd sits before him for the interview. He begins to take some guesses about where Dodd is from by saying, “from South Africa, sir, I perceive,” “Imperial Yeomanry, I fancy,” “Middlesex Corps, no doubt,” all were accurate, giving James the same shock as Helen Stoner (Doyle, The Blanched Soldier 1). James did most of the investigation himself before meeting with Sherlock, while he trusted his every word he listened carefully
In “The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” as Helen Stoner is still in her interview process he takes in every detail into consideration for the case. Sherlock Holmes asks a series of questions to his client in order to do this, he asks Ms. Stoner the simplest questions about her sister’s odd death but they become relevant clues to the case in the end. For instance when he asks about the speckled band Julia speaks of right before her death, “Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band- a speckled band?” and Helen goes on to talk about the gypsies in the plantation and the exotic Indian animals in the house (Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band 4). He connects this image of a speckled band to the a saucer of milk found at the scene, “Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I daresay,” hinting the clue that there is another animal she is not aware of (Doyle, The Adventure of the Speckled Band 8). In “The Blanched Soldier,” Sherlock Holmes does the same with James listening and taking everything in throughout the interview about his stay at Godfrey’s fathers, Colonel Emsworth, house. When James explains own investigation of the detached building of the house. He notices a man inside that he had saw reading a paper and Sherlock interrupts with, “possibly