Hi Sherlockians,

I have been re-reading my copy of the canon of late. Of several
interesting thread
of thoughts that it has lead to, one of them keeps popping in my head
often - The
oft-repeated question of Sherlock Holmes and his purported misogyny.

For a novice of the canon, the initial impression he gets is that
of Holmes, the
master logician and intuitive sleuth, intellectually superior, but
rather lacking in
his personal charms and remarkably singular in his ideas of women. Of Watson,
he gets almost the opposite picture - not so sharp but a pleasant, gentle man,
charming in his ways with women, adventurous, a faithful friend and
swashbuckler.
The question is - How much deep is Holmes' misogyny entrenched in his
character ?
Is he always the cold and eccentric intellectual or does he have his
personal charms ?

Investigating in this line of thought opens up some interesting
insights. We can
find that Holmes is not a loser when it comes to women. On the other hand, he
can often exercise his charms in such a way that he can make women his
helpmates and even go to the extent of proposing marriage to them, in order
to help him solve his cases. I present some instances from the Canon.

1. In "Charles Augustus Milverton", Holmes actually gets engaged to
the house-maid
in the identity of a plumber, after many meetings with her. The only
purpose of this
"engagement" was to use her help in getting access to the house at
night in order
to destroy the evidence they were looking for on behalf of their client.

2. In "His Last Bow", Holmes gets the servant of the German spy
"Martha" to follow
his instructions which helps him and Watson to trap Von Bork. Perhaps in this
case, it was also patriotism on the woman's side (I guess she was
English by birth)
which prompted her to fail her employer, but Holmes proves that he has his
way with women.

3. In "Sign of four", Holmes extracts the details of the boat Alicia,
after striking
up an interesting conversation with the owner's wife.

4. In "Golden Pince Nez", Watson makes the remark and I quote,

" I may have remarked before that Holmes had, when he liked, a
peculiarly ingratiating way with women, and that he very readily
established terms of confidence with them. In half the time which he
had named he had captured the housekeeper's goodwill, and was chatting
with her as if he had known her for years."

5. Holmes asking for the photograph of "the woman" Irene Adler from
the Bohemian King at the end of the adventure.


Throughout the Canon, Doyle only gives us glimpses of this side of Holmes'
character, without removing the veil from the master's strong personality and
force of character. On the other hand, Watson lends himself more easily to the
charm of women, tying the know with Mary Morsten after "Sign of four" and
often taking the time to describe to the reader the finer details of a fair
client's dress and the way she often impresses him with her beauty.

Does this mean that Holmes was a complete misogynist ? As some of these
illustrations suggest, it is not true. He could charm women when he felt like
it, but apparently he often used it to directly help him solve some of
his cases.
In that way Holmes even exposes himself to the criticism of being heartless
in his dealings with women, only using them to solve his cases. Even when
he is talking in an ingratiating way with a woman in the canon or courting her
(the only instance of this seems to be Milverton's house-maid), he is careful
not to put his heart in front of his head. In other words, he is his usual
calculating self even in his dealings with the fairer sex which gives
his character
an extra veil of inscrutability.

Still, I don't think Holmes is a complete misogynist. He is actually successful
with women, in his own terms. Doyle has performed a remarkable act in defining
this delicate side of the master, never allowing the reader to take an intimate
peek at this inner, deeper side of Holmes.


--
-Anand