======================================================================
= A_Study_in_Scarlet =
======================================================================
Introduction
======================================================================
'A Study in Scarlet' is an 1887 detective novel by British writer
Arthur Conan Doyle. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock
Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would go on to become one of the most
well-known detective duos in literature.
The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting
detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his
work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his
"study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running
through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it,
and isolate it, and expose every inch of it."
The story, and its main characters, attracted little public interest
when it first appeared. Eleven complete copies of the magazine in
which the story first appeared, 'Beeton's Christmas Annual' for 1887,
are known to exist now, which have considerable value. Although Conan
Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, 'A Study in Scarlet' is
one of only four full-length novels in the original canon. The novel
was followed by 'The Sign of the Four', published in 1890.
'A Study in Scarlet' was the first work of detective fiction to
incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool.
Part I: The Reminiscences of Watson
=====================================
In 1881, Doctor John Watson returns to London after serving in the
Second Anglo-Afghan War and starts looking for a place to live. An old
friend of his named Stamford tells him that Sherlock Holmes is looking
for someone to split the rent at a flat at 221B Baker Street but
cautions Watson about Holmes's eccentricities. Holmes and Watson meet
and, after assessing each other and the rooms, they move in. Holmes is
a "consulting detective", and his frequent guests are clients. After a
demonstration of Holmes's deductive skills, Watson's disbelief turns
into astonishment.
A telegram requests a consultation in a murder case. Watson
accompanies Holmes to the crime scene, an abandoned house on Brixton
Road. Inspectors Gregson and Lestrade are already on the scene. The
victim is Enoch Drebber of Cleveland, Ohio, and documents found on his
person reveal that he has a secretary, Joseph Stangerson. On one wall,
written in red, is "RACHE" (German for "revenge"), which Holmes
dismisses as a ploy to fool the police. He deduces that the victim
died from poison and supplies a description of the murderer. Upon
moving Drebber's body, they discover a woman's gold wedding ring.
Holmes places notices in several newspapers about the ring and buys a
facsimile of it, hoping to draw the murderer - who has apparently
already tried to retrieve the ring - out of hiding. An old woman
answers the advertisement, claiming that the ring belongs to her
daughter. Holmes gives her the duplicate and follows her, but she
evades him in a way that leads Holmes to believe that "she" was
actually a young man in disguise, an accomplice to the murderer.
A day later, Gregson visits Holmes and Watson, telling them that he
has arrested a suspect. He went to Madame Charpentier's Boarding House
where Drebber and Stangerson stayed before the murder. Drebber, a
drunk, attempted to kiss Mrs. Charpentier's daughter, Alice, which
caused their immediate eviction. He, however, came back later that
night and attempted to grab Alice, prompting her older brother to
attack him. He attempted to chase Drebber with a cudgel but claimed to
have lost sight of him. Gregson has him in custody on this
circumstantial evidence.
Stangerson is later murdered. His body is found near his hotel window,
stabbed through the heart; above it was written "RACHE". The only
things Stangerson had with him were a novel, a pipe, a telegram saying
"J.H. is in Europe", and a small box containing two pills. Holmes
tests the pills on an old and sickly Scottish Terrier in residence at
Baker Street. The first pill produces no evident effect, but the
second kills the terrier.
A young street urchin named Wiggins then arrives. He is the leader of
the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of street children Holmes employs
to help him occasionally. Wiggins has summoned a cab Holmes wanted.
Holmes sends him down to fetch the cabby, claiming to need help with
his luggage. When the cabby comes upstairs, Holmes handcuffs and
restrains him. The captive cabby is Jefferson Hope, the murderer of
Drebber and Stangerson.
Part II: "The Country of the Saints"
======================================
In Utah's Salt Lake Valley in 1847, John Ferrier and a little girl
named Lucy, the only survivors of a small party of pioneers, are
rescued from death by a party of Latter-day Saints led by Brigham
Young, but only on the condition that they adopt and live under the
Mormon faith. Years later in 1860, a now-grown Lucy befriends and
falls in love with Jefferson Hope. However, Young forbids her from
marrying outside the faith and demands that she marry either Joseph
Stangerson or Enoch Drebber, both sons of members of the church's
Council of Four. Ferrier, who has adopted Lucy and sworn never to
marry his daughter to a Mormon, sends word to Hope in hope of escape.
Lucy is given one month to choose between her suitors. Hope arrives on
the eve of the last day, and they all escape under cover of darkness.
The Mormons intercept the escapees while Hope is away hunting, as
their food had run out. Ferrier is killed by Stangerson while Lucy is
forcibly married to Drebber and dies less than a month later from a
broken heart. Hope breaks into Drebber's house the night before Lucy's
funeral to kiss her body and remove her wedding ring. He swears
vengeance on Drebber and Stangerson but begins to suffer from an
aortic aneurysm, causing him to leave the mountains to earn money and
recuperate. After returning years later, he learns Drebber and
Stangerson have fled Salt Lake City after a schism between the
Mormons. Drebber is now wealthy from Lucy's estate and Stangerson has
become his secretary. For over 20 years Hope pursues them; in
Cleveland, Ohio, Hope recognizes Drebber who has Hope imprisoned for a
few months as a "rival in love". After being released, Hope tracks
them to Europe through France, Russia, Denmark and to England.
In London, Hope becomes a cabby and eventually finds Drebber and
Stangerson. After the altercation with Madame Charpentier's son,
Drebber gets into Hope's cab and spends hours drinking. Hope then
takes him to the house on Brixton Road and forces Drebber to recognize
him and to choose between two pills, one of which is harmless and the
other poison. Drebber takes the poisoned pill, and as he dies Hope
shows him Lucy's wedding ring. The excitement coupled with his
aneurysm causes his nose to bleed; he uses the blood to write "RACHE"
on the wall above Drebber to confound the investigators. Stangerson,
on learning of Drebber's murder, refuses to leave his hotel room. Hope
climbs in through the window and gives Stangerson the same choice of
pills. However, Stangerson attacks him and Hope stabs him in the heart
as an act of self-defence.
Hope dies from his aneurysm the night before he is to appear in court.
Holmes reveals to Watson how he deduced the murderer's identity. In
the newspapers, Lestrade and Gregson are given full credit. Outraged,
Watson states that Holmes should record the adventure and publish it.
Upon Holmes's refusal, Watson decides to do it himself.
Publication
======================================================================
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the novel at the age of 27 in less than three
weeks. As a doctor in general practice in Southsea, Hampshire, he had
already published short stories in several magazines of the day, such
as the periodical 'London Society'. The story was originally titled 'A
Tangled Skein' and was eventually published by Ward, Lock & Co. in
the 1887 edition of 'Beeton's Christmas Annual', after many
rejections. Conan Doyle had pressed for royalty but instead received
£25 in return for the full rights (equivalent to £3,371.95 considering
inflation). It was illustrated by David Henry Friston.
The novel was first published as a book in July 1888 by Ward, Lock
& Co, and featured drawings by the author's father, Charles Doyle.
In 1890, J. B. Lippincott & Co. released the first American
version. Another edition published in 1891 by Ward, Lock & Bowden
Limited (formerly Ward, Lock & Co.) was illustrated by George
Hutchinson. A German edition of the novel published in 1902 was
illustrated by Richard Gutschmidt. Numerous further editions,
translations and dramatisations have appeared since.
Depiction of Mormonism
======================================================================
According to a Salt Lake City newspaper article, when Conan Doyle was
asked about his depiction of the Latter-day Saints' organisation as
being steeped in kidnapping, murder and enslavement, he said: "all I
said about the Danite Band and the murders is historical so I cannot
withdraw that, though it is likely that in a work of fiction it is
stated more luridly than in a work of history. It's best to let the
matter rest." Conan Doyle's daughter has stated: "You know, father
would be the first to admit that his first Sherlock Holmes novel was
full of errors about the Mormons." Historians speculate that "Conan
Doyle, a voracious reader, would have access to books by Fannie
Stenhouse, William A. Hickman, William Jarman, John Hyde and Ann Eliza
Young, among others", in explaining the author's early perspective on
Mormonism.
Years after Conan Doyle's death, Levi Edgar Young, a descendant of
Brigham Young and a Mormon general authority, alleged that the author
had privately apologised, saying that "He [Conan Doyle] said he had
been misled by writings of the time about the Church" and had "written
a scurrilous book about the Mormons."
In August 2011, the Albemarle County, Virginia, school board removed
'A Study in Scarlet' from the district's sixth-grade required reading
list following complaints from students and parents that the book was
derogatory toward Mormons. It was moved to the reading lists for the
tenth-graders, and remains in use in the school media centres for all
grades.
Film
======
As the first Sherlock Holmes story published, 'A Study in Scarlet' was
among the first to be adapted to the screen. In 1914, Conan Doyle
authorised a British silent film be produced by G. B. Samuelson. In
the film, titled 'A Study in Scarlet', Holmes was played by James
Bragington, an accountant who worked as an actor for the only time of
his life. He was hired for his resemblance to Holmes, as presented in
the sketches originally published with the story. As early silent
films were made with film that itself was made with poor materials,
and film archiving was then rare, it is now a lost film. The film was
successful enough for Samuelson to produce the 1916 film 'The Valley
of Fear'.
A two-reel short film, also titled 'A Study in Scarlet', was released
in the United States in 1914, a day after the British film with the
same title was released. The American film starred Francis Ford as
Holmes and was not authorised by Doyle. It is also a lost film.
The 1933 film titled 'A Study in Scarlet', starring Reginald Owen as
Holmes and Anna May Wong as Mrs Pyke, bears no plot relation to the
novel. Aside from Holmes, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, and Inspector Lestrade,
the only connections to the Holmes canon are a few lifts of character
names (Jabez Wilson, etc.). The plot contains an element of striking
resemblance to one used several years later in Agatha Christie's novel
'And Then There Were None'.
Radio and audio dramas
========================
Edith Meiser adapted 'A Study in Scarlet' into a four-part serial for
the radio series 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'. The episodes
aired in November and December 1931, with Richard Gordon as Holmes and
Leigh Lovell as Watson.
Parts of the story were combined with "The Adventure of Charles
Augustus Milverton" for the script of "Dr Watson Meets Mr Sherlock
Holmes", one of multiple radio adaptations featuring John Gielgud as
Holmes and Ralph Richardson as Watson. The episode first aired on the
BBC Light Programme on 5 October 1954 and also aired on NBC Radio on 2
January 1955.
The story was adapted for the 1952-1969 BBC radio series in 1962 by
Michael Hardwick, with Carleton Hobbs as Holmes and Norman Shelley as
Watson. It aired on the BBC Home Service.
Another British radio version of the story adapted by Hardwick aired
on 25 December 1974, with Robert Powell as Holmes and Dinsdale Landen
as Watson. The cast also included Frederick Treves as Gregson, John
Hollis as Lestrade, and Don Fellows as Jefferson Hope.
A radio dramatisation of the story aired on 'CBS Radio Mystery
Theater' during its 1977 season, with Kevin McCarthy as Holmes and
Court Benson as Watson.
'A Study in Scarlet' was adapted as the first two episodes of the
BBC's complete Sherlock Holmes 1989-1998 radio series. The two-part
adaptation aired on Radio 4 in 1989, dramatised by Bert Coules and
starring Clive Merrison as Holmes, Michael Williams as Watson, Donald
Gee as Inspector Lestrade, and John Moffatt as Inspector Gregson.
It was adapted as a 2007 episode of the American radio series 'The
Classic Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', with John Patrick Lowrie as
Holmes, Lawrence Albert as Watson, Rick May as Lestrade, and John
Murray as Gregson.
In 2023, the podcast Sherlock&Co adapted the beginning of the
story in its first episode, "Mr Sherlock Holmes", but only alluded to
the mystery itself at the very end and in the following episode. It
starred Paul Waggot as Watson and Harry Attwell as Sherlock.
Television
============
The 1954-1955 television series (with Ronald Howard as Holmes and H.
Marion Crawford as Watson) used only the first section of the book as
the basis for the episode "The Case of the Cunningham Heritage".
The book was adapted into an episode broadcast on 23 September 1968 in
the second season of the BBC television series 'Sherlock Holmes', with
Peter Cushing in the lead role and Nigel Stock as Dr Watson.
It was adapted as the second episode of the 1979 Soviet television
film, 'Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson' (the first episode combines the
story of their meeting with "The Adventure of the Speckled Band"; the
second episode adapts the actual Jefferson Hope case).
A 1983 animated television film adaptation was produced by Burbank
Films Australia, with Peter O'Toole voicing Holmes. In both the 1968
television adaptation featuring Peter Cushing and the 1983 animated
version featuring Peter O'Toole, the story is changed so that Holmes
and Watson already know each other and have been living at 221B Baker
Street for some time.
'A Study in Scarlet' is one of several stories not adapted for the
television series starring Jeremy Brett between 1984 and 1994.
Steven Moffat loosely adapted 'A Study in Scarlet' into "A Study in
Pink" as the first episode of the 2010 BBC television series
'Sherlock' featuring Benedict Cumberbatch as a 21st-century Sherlock
Holmes, and Martin Freeman as Dr Watson. The adaptation retains many
individual elements from the story, such as the scribbled "RACHE" and
the two pills, and the killer's potentially fatal aneurysm (although
it is located in his brain rather than his aorta). However, the entire
backstory set in America is omitted, and the motivation of the killer
is completely different. It also features Moriarty's presence. The
first meeting of Holmes and Watson is adapted again in the Victorian
setting in the special "The Abominable Bride".
"The Deductionist", an episode of 'Elementary', contains many elements
of Hope's case, including the motivation of revenge. The story was
more closely adapted in the season 4 episode, "A Study in Charlotte".
"The First Adventure", the first episode of the 2014 NHK puppetry
series 'Sherlock Holmes', is loosely based on 'A Study in Scarlet' and
"The Adventure of the Six Napoleons". In it, Holmes, Watson and
Lestrade are pupils at a fictional boarding school called Beeton
School. They find out that a pupil called Jefferson Hope has taken
revenge on Enoch Drebber and Joseph Stangerson for stealing his watch.
"Scarlet Story", the series' opening theme tune, is named after the
novel. The name of "Beeton School" is partially inspired by 'Beeton's
Christmas Annual'.
"A Study in S", the eighth and ninth episodes of Japanese Anime
"Moriarty the Patriot" was loosely based on the novel, sharing names
and motives with much of it, but changing the crime's characters'
nationality to fit the setting and remove all references to Mormonism.
Other media
=============
'A Study in Scarlet' was illustrated by Seymour Moskowitz for
'Classics Illustrated' comics in 1953. It was also adapted to graphic
novel form by Innovation Publishing in 1969 by James Stenstrum and
illustrated by Noly Panaligan, by Sterling Publishing in 2010 by Ian
Edginton and illustrated by I. N. J. Culbard, and by Hakon Holm
Publishing in 2013 illustrated
by Nis Jessen.
In 2014, 'A Study in Scarlet' was adapted for the stage by Greg
Freeman, Lila Whelan and Annabelle Brown for Tacit Theatre. The
production premiered at Southwark Playhouse in London in March 2014.
In February 2019, a new adaptation of "A Study in Scarlet" was staged
at DM Performance Works at the Factory in Nuremberg, PA. It was
adapted by Bill Amos under the title "Sherlock Holmes and the Scarlet
Avenger".
In August 2025, the play was produced a second time by The
Pennsylvania Theater of Performing Arts in Hazleton, PA.
In June 2022, Pitlochry Festival Theatre produced a new adaptation by
playwright and actor Lesley Hart, 'Sherlock Holmes: A Study in
Lipstick, Ketchup and Blood' performed in an outdoor amphitheater by
two performers. The production uses 'A Study in Scarlet' as a play
within a play set in a post-apocalyptic future.
Allusions in other works
======================================================================
In his 'Naked Is the Best Disguise' (1974), Samuel Rosenberg notes the
similarity between Jefferson Hope's tracking of Enoch Drebber and a
sequence in James Joyce's novel 'Ulysses', though of course Joyce's
work did not begin to appear in print until 1918. Several other
associations between Conan Doyle and Joyce are also listed in
Rosenberg's book.
The British fantasy and comic book writer Neil Gaiman adapted this
story to the universe of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu
Mythos. The new short story is titled "A Study in Emerald" (2004) and
is modelled with a parallel structure.
In 'Garage Sale Mystery: The Novel Murders' (2016), the second murder
is an imitation of this murder.
In 'The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve', a character by the name of
Enoch Drebber appears in the third case. Rather than a Mormon that
forced a woman into an abusive marriage and was killed for it, Drebber
is instead a brilliant scientist and engineer who worked on a device
to get revenge on the man that ruined his life.
The Will Brandon novel 'A Study in Crimson' (2023) situates the
meeting of the Holmes and Watson counterparts, Captain Derrick Miles
and Dr. Frank Hooper, in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1876, with a historical
backstory set during the Comanche captivity of Cynthia Ann Parker and
Rachel Plummer.
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_in_Scarlet
