The One Who Is Desired and the One Who Desires

3.2The One Who Is Desired and the One Who Desires

The character of Adler shifted significantly since her appearance in Doyle’s stories. One could find hardly any rendition that does not adopt the character and that does not make her Holmes’ major love interest. Doyle never intended for his detective to love anyone and Holmes’ fascination with Adler comes from the fact she was the only person who managed to outsmart him. However, as Moffat suggests, in recent adaptations she “serves to fill the endless movie trope of putting Sherlock up against a femme fatale” (Lavigne 15). She has become ultimate romantic interest for the modern Holmes as she, genius herself, can understand the complicated mind of the consulting detective. “It is a testament to the remarkable nature of her character, an ode to her status as the only woman to prove herself Holmes’ equal, and therefore, the only woman worthy of his romantic attentions” (Poole 22).

Nevertheless, neither rendition gives Holmes a happy ending, no matter with whom. The adaptations show Holmes incapable of a long-term relationship. “His desire to chase the unknown may be what draws women to [him], and his brilliant mind might make them want to have his child to pass on that brilliance, but those features which ignite desire also make Holmes an inappropriate choice for a mate” (Graham and Garlen 28). The way he leads his life prevents him from keeping a strong, healthy relationship. In the fourth season of Elementary, Holmes makes an effort to make his relationship work, however, he fails miserably as his work often keeps him occupied. The creators of Sherlock go even further and show Holmes being unable to keep even a fake relationship to help him in investigations.

Therefore, fans of the consulting detective often give Holmes their own happy ending. They search for the innuendos and the sexual tension, sometimes even in scenes in which it hasn’t been scripted. It inspires them to develop new storylines and to create various worlds where the famous Holmes is in a romantic relationship. Fan fiction³⁴ “has become a worldwide public phenomenon reported on in global media and openly acknowledged by cultural producers” (Lavigne 14).

The idea of Sherlock Holmes has completely transformed through the years. Doyle created a calculating machine, but the adaptations show a stylish, smart, witty detective. “Audiences have always sensed there is something seductive about Sherlock Holmes, and the culture has persistently remade Holmes into the romantic figure of audience desire“ (Graham and Garlen 33). Ultimately, to make the consulting detective more attractive and relatable for contemporary audiences, the adaptations need to create a notion of Holmes engaging in a romantic relationship, whether it is with the man Watson or the woman Adler.

4The Development of Female Characters

The Victorian woman was “thought to be less intelligent and more emotional than men” (Poole 17). Her purpose was to take care of children and the house while being obliged to her husband, a breadwinner of the family. It was unthinkable for her to have other goals and dreams. Woman’s worth was defined by her innocence, however, at the same time, she was seen as a lustful and sinful being (Poole 17). This originates in a Victorian approach to sexuality. As Christopher Redmond observes, “a person’s sexuality was to be expressed chiefly in private, loving marriages, or else in certain other socially tolerated contexts, as gentlemen did with London’s thousands of prostitutes” (Poole 17). Both genders were greatly segregated from each other with woman often being the blamed one. “This perception that women are both innocent, naïve creatures and secretly lustful time bombs plays itself out in many of the Holmes stories” (Poole 17). Third of the stories are, in fact, build on love misfortunes of young ladies, who seek the detective’s help to preserve their innocence as they are usually being blackmailed because of “an imprudent letter written to a lover” (Poole 17).

As Cassandra Poole points out, the role of a woman changed dramatically during the years of publishing Holmes stories. They gained more confidence, strength and independence, which eventually created a lot of confusion among people, as their social norms have been changed radically. Doyle deals more with “challenges to the social and sexual conventions that insured the order in his world than … with challenges to official law and order” (18). By respecting the old norms and making his female characters fragile, “he offers the reassuring spectacle of woman’s predicable unpredictability controlled by chivalric conventions, either composed from without for their own good or internalized by the women themselves” (Poole 18).

Only a few female characters defy this structure in Doyle’s stories. One less-known is the character of Kitty Winter from “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client” (1924). She helps Holmes in investigating Baron Gruner, who has been using young vulnerable ladies and eventually ruining their lives, just as he ruined Kitty’s as she was forced to become a prostitute after he left her for another woman. She is filled with hatred towards Gruner and she exacts her revenge when she pours acid in his face. Winter is unusual character as “it is through her actions that the villain is repaid for his crimes and prevented from ever committing them again”, which makes her the hero of the story, not Holmes (Poole 20). Elementary is the only rendition to adopt this character. She appears in season three and serves as a substitute for Watson after Holmes leaves for London. He admires her for her strength and detective skills, however, she disappears from the show after Watson and Holmes reconcile their partnership.

The lack of strong female characters led to the evolution of minor ones, unimportant in Doyle’s canon, and to the creation of new original characters. Women in recent adaptations significantly intervene in the story and influence the life and decisions of Holmes. This results from the closeness between the female characters and Holmes himself, which is closely connected to the newly-developed human side of the detective as his emotions and feelings for women in his life enable him to be influenced by them. At first, the renditions present Holmes seemingly unaffected by feelings as he considers emotions weak. As the story unfolds, they show his devotion to his close friends as he risks his life to either save them or revenge them. However, applying this pattern on female characters, it makes them fall to the “‘damsel in distress’ stereotype” (Poole 21), even though they are depicted as strong individuals.