Sherlock Holmes A Marxist Deconstruction Essay example

Mysteries have always held great fascination for the human mind, not least because of the aura that surrounds them and the realm of the Unknown into which they delve. Coupled with the human propensity of being particularly curious about aspects which elude the average mind, the layer of intrigue that glosses over such puzzles makes for a heady combination of the literary and the popular. In the canon of detective fiction worldwide, no detective has tickled the curious reader’s imagination and held it in thrall as much as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The 221-B, Baker Street, London ‘amateur’ detective combines a rare blend of intellectual prowess and sharp wit to crack a series of baffling riddles. The aim†¦show more content†¦The first publication fetched Conan Doyle a flat fee of twenty three pounds. It is narrated from Watson’s perspective and recounts the duo’s first fateful adventure. Sherlock Holmes, as a late Victorian, lived in an age of great social change. England was rapidly moving towards new schools of thought. The Reform Bills of 1832, 1867 and 1884 that gave democratic rights to the people had been passed. The spread of education and the increase in the publication of books, periodicals, and newspapers gave power to new sections of society: the trading bankers, merchants, financiers, professionals and writers. The proletariat occupied a strategic and important position between the aristocracy and the working class. Class barriers were breaking down, which led to insecurity amongst the nobility and the newly formed ‘upper’ classes. England’s imperial conquest was at its peak, having successfully subdued the Indian Mutiny. Scientific and Industrial progress were on track. Darwin’s revolutionary treatise had been published and much of the contemporary literature had discussed the theory. The Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as one reviewer put it, ‘open up a world of Victorian gaslight, Stradivarius violins, of hansom cabs, and cries of ‘The game’s afoot!’ † The tales bring to