English Society in the Nineteenth Century in Conan Doyles Works :: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Silver Band Essays

English Society in the Nineteenth Century in Conan Doyle's Works For my essay I have decided to study Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "Speckled Band", "Silver Blaze" and "Final Problem". Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories were first published in the London magazine "The Strand" in 1892. All the stories were kept relatively short because they had to be published in the magazine. When the Sherlock Holmes story "The Final Problem" there was a large public out cry of shock and horror to the death of the character they had got very attached to over the last 5 - 7 years. His stories were of a detective genre. The Victorian period was mainly built on a class system almost pyramid like. At the very bottom there was the people who could not support themselves, e.g. Beggars etc. Further up there was the lower class that worked in the factories and could just about support them. On the same level of the lower class were the servants. The next level up was the Labourers who worked for/with the working class and upper classes. The Working class were the next ones up they were the Doctors etc, e.g. Dr Watson. The next class up was the middle class; they lived off inheritance and owned factories. Upper class owned a lot of land and factories they lived in the country. Next up were the Aristocrats, lords, ladies etc these people did not need to work, they were the ones one step down from the King or queen. Women and children of higher classes did not have to work, the children received a good education and the women stayed at home. But the lower classed women and children had to work in factories to support their families. Industrial revolution gave the lower classes a source of money in the cities, most people left the country life to live in the cities and make more money. They lived in poor housing conditions called slums and made little money, some even resorted to crime. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes a lot of people had lost faith in the London police, as there was a lot of corruption, Sherlock shows this by showing that he is a lot cleverer than the police force. He really does show the police up to no extent. The stories are written in first person by Dr.Watson who uses his notes and memory to write them. All the stories are based on detective genre with a very big twist in the end and clues that only Sherlock picks up on. Sherlock Holmes' character fits perfectly in his class as