Hound of the Baskervilles Review

Hound of the Baskervilles

‘Is Sherlock Holmes a Realistic Character?’

Having now viewed the video and read the book Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ Holmes is in my opinion more realistic than not due to the fact that his methodology and idiosyncrasies, even though unusual, are nothing more than those quirky characteristics one would expect of a individual who is more observant than the majority of the population. The character of Holmes is also based on a real person ‘Dr Joseph Bell,’ a medical lecturer from Edinburgh University further supporting my belief that he is a realistic character.

The bases on which I make my assumptions have been made by my observation of Holmes’s method of detection, throughout the story. However there are several occasions throughout the story when Holmes appears to be an unrealistic character.

Firstly, my reasoning’s FOR, why I believe he is a fictional, yet REALISTIC character is because:

Holmes is most famously known and renowned for his skilful use of deductive reasoning; i.e. being able to understand general principles so that Holmes can receive particular information necessary to solve difficult cases. For example, on page 152 of the New Windmill Classic’s book, Holmes states that;

“There are seventy-five perfumes, which it is very necessary that the criminal expert should be able to distinguish from each other, and cases have more than once within my own experience depended upon their prompt recognition.”

Although, at first glance, this statement may appear to be an unbelievable or an unrealistic statement, however, it is in my opinion, not. Nowadays for example, there are certain wine connoisseurs who are known to be able to detect hundreds of different varieties of wine from a simple sip of the drink, and even date the bottle as well as the vineyard the wine originated from. I believe that the claim he made about the ‘75 scent’s’ he is able to detect, is merely an extraordinary talent Holmes...