The world has been enamored with Sherlock Holmes for over a hundred years. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories are some of the most commonly adapted in the world, with current representations including the American television show Elementary (which I have not watched), the BBC show Sherlock (which I love with my whole being) and recent film adaptions staring Robert Downey Jr. (which are impossible not to enjoy). The most popular tale among these adaptations is Hound of the Baskervilles, where Sherlock, in a model often followed by Scooby-Doo, reveals the supposed supernatural hound to be a mere man using malicious means to attempt to gain wealth.
In the past year, I have undergone the journey of reading many of the Sherlock Holmes tales. While I have not yet read the novels, only reading the collections of short stories so far, it is easy to understand why this consulting detective and his trusted friend are some of the most popular characters in fiction. Watson shows what we want to be - smart, loyal, unfailing - while Holmes takes mankind's dream of knowledge and intelligence and shows us both ends of the spectrum - the aloof, remote, addicted, pretentious arse who uses his knowledge time and time again to bring justice and protection to the streets of Britain. I might compare him to the likes of Tony Stark - "genius billionaire playboy philanthropist" who spends two and a half films worrying about himself and thinking about his friends and companions only after their lives have been endangered.
In Short, I love Sherlock Holmes. There is some crazy, impossible-to-define feature about him that keeps drawing readers to him, even after a century. I will continue to spend time in the future trying to pinpoint the elusive trait which makes him so compelling, but now, a week late, I feel I must leave this post to continue a new line of thought.
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