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The Sign of Four
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Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of the Four
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The Sign of the Four
Discussion Questions
1. How do you think about Sherlock Holmes' drug use? What do you think of Sherlock's explanation that, "I find it, however, so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind"? What of Watson's own assessment that he "lacked the courage to protest" about Holmes' drug use?
2. Did you notice the passage where Watson stated, "I made no remark, however, but sat nursing my wounded leg. I had a Jezail bullet through it sometime before, and, though it did not prevent me from walking, it ached wearily at every change of the weather"? And yet in "A Study of Scarlet" we read, "There I was struck on the shoulder by a Jezail bullet, which shattered the bone and grazed the subclavian artery." Given Conan Doyle was a physician I would not have expected that kind of mistake to be made, what do you make of it?
3. What did you think about Holmes' deductions about Watson's brother after examining the watch?
4. Portions of the book revolve around the consequences of colonialism and imperialism. I looked up the various skirmishes and various locations that were mentioned in the book as I never learned much about the history or geography of that part of the world. Do you have any thoughts about how the story was influenced by the time and location the scenes were set in?
5. What do you think of the hookah-smoking Thaddeus Sholto and his lavish apartment?
6. We are introduced to Mary Morstan in this story. What do you think of her demeanor? Watson is smitten, as is Mary. In the end they profess their love to each other even after only meeting a few times. Does this seem realistic to you? Do you their relationship will endure?
7. Did you have any theories about who these mysterious note-leaving Four are?
8. Do you believe Sholto’s deathbed story? Do you think the sight of the man in the window pushed him over the edge to death?
9. How do you think that Holmes has made his deduction about Jonathan Small being the one with a wooden leg?
10. Were you satisfied with how this story ended? What did you think of the story?
Mod
This is a reread for me, but in the interim I’ve enjoyed Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot stories. I’d forgotten how much of the romantic Captain Hastings was based on the early Watson.
Watson’s wound is an old conundrum. Was he wounded twice? If so, why not say so? The simplest explanation is that Doyle didn’t go back to check on what he had previously written, and, since he had not planned a series, had not kept a “dossier” of notes on Watson, or any other characters, Holmes included.This is a constant struggle for authors with long-running series. A recent example that comes to mind is David Drake’s Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) stories were riddled with contradictory statements, despite the advantage of computer searches and helpful first readers. E.g., whether a particular character is or is not known to have a set of Dress Whites, when she had worn them at the end of a previous novel.
Yes, I think Doyle (or Conan Doyle? I'm never sure and my copy of the book refers to him both ways!) was just sloppy and not keeping notes. I enjoy finding these little continuity slips. For example I'm sure Doyle wouldn't have (view spoiler) at the end if he'd known how many shared Holmes/Watson adventures he would subsequently write.Also, many of the short stories are set before The Sign of Four (as Watson still lives with Holmes in them), yet from their opening conversation here it's clear Watson knows little of Holmes's methods and cases.
There is a long-running Sherlockian debate about how long Watson’s marriage lasted and whether it was his only marriage. E.g., in some of the stories Watson may be a widower. It is clear that Doyle paid little attention to continuity between the stories. Unlike the historical novels he considered his major works, he did not have an implied chronology firmly in mind.There are some similar problems with Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard stories of the Napoleonic wars, although apparently it takes a close knowledge of history to spot some of the chronological problems. But Gerard is supposedly telling the stories as an old man, and may just be an unreliable narrator, as well as a comically conceited one. See Wikipedia for the problems with Gerard’s military service in too many different regiments.
Ian wrote: "There is a long-running Sherlockian debate about how long Watson’s marriage lasted and whether it was his only marriage. E.g., in some of the stories Watson may be a widower. It is clear that Doyle..."I wasn't aware of these speculations about Watson's marriage.
Well, I was kind of trudging through The Sign of Four and wondering dismally if I had outgrown Sherlock Holmes, but the chapter with Toby the dog has perked me up, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit now. My mind also gave me some flashbacks from the Jeremy Brett movie. How I loved Jeremy Brett as a teenager (the rest of my cohort was in love with NSYNC)!
I have been more interested in Holmes' cocaine habit since watching the Sherlock series with Benedict Cumberbatch. Although I have read all the Sherlock stories before, I don't recall if the drug habit creates problems for him as they did in the TV series. I also never noticed any issues with Watson's marriage. Yes, it was very quick, but it's always seemed to me that Victorian characters who married for love didn't spend much time getting to know each other beforehand.
Cocaine remained a prescription medicinal drug into at least the 1920s. In the late 19th century it was even considered as a treatment for opiate addiction. Holmes’ use of it was probably much less shocking to early readers, although I think it is clear that Watson disapproves, at least of his friend’s self-medicating habit.I found it much easier to accept Jeremy Brett’s frenetic Holmes as a cocaine user than earlier portrayals — certainly not the calm and collected Basil Rathbone, the Holmes of my childhood (through endless reruns of the movies on B&W television).
On a different issue, I would suggest the Wikipedia article on the Andaman Islands for an update on their native inhabitants.
Mod
Yes, when Watson meets Mary my first thought was that she wasn't a redhead so couldn't be the one he loves, then remembered that it was Hastings who ?married a redhead so I have them mixed up in my mind.
Mod
Mod
I actually did that, because I can't read through something I know nothing about and "not" look it up. It was an interesting read.
The Sign of the Four
Availability: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2097
Background Information
"The Sign of the Four", also called "The Sign of Four", is an 1890 detective novel, and it is the second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes by British writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle wrote four novels and 56 short stories featuring the fictional detective.
Publication
The 1892 cloth-bound cover of The Sign of Four after it was compiled as a single book
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle described how he was commissioned to write the story over a dinner with Joseph Marshall Stoddart, managing editor of the American publication Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, at the Langham Hotel in London on August 30, 1889. Stoddart wanted to produce an English version of Lippincott’s with a British editor and British contributors. The dinner was also attended by Oscar Wilde, who eventually contributed The Picture of Dorian Gray to the July 1890 issue. Doyle discussed what he called this "golden evening" in his 1924 autobiography Memories and Adventures.
The novel first appeared in the February 1890 edition of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine as "The Sign of the Four"; or "The Problem of the Sholtos", appearing in both London and Philadelphia. The British edition of the magazine originally sold for a shilling, and the American for 25 cents. Surviving copies are now worth several thousand dollars.
Over the following few months in the same year, the novel was then republished in several regional British journals. These re-serialisations gave the title as "The Sign of Four". The novel was published in book form in October 1890 by Spencer Blackett, again using the title "The Sign of Four". This edition included a frontispiece illustrated by Charles H. M. Kerr. The title of both the British and American editions of this first book edition omitted the second "the" of the original title.
A German edition of the book published in 1902 was illustrated by Richard Gutschmidt. An edition published by George Newnes Ltd in 1903 was illustrated by F. H. Townsend.
Different editions over the years have varied between the two forms of the title, with most editions favoring the four-word form. The actual text in the novel nearly always uses "the Sign of the Four" (the five-word form) to describe the symbol in the story, although the four-word form is used twice by Jonathan Small in his narrative at the end of the story.
As with the first story, "A Study in Scarlet", produced two years previously, "The Sign of the Four" was not particularly successful to start with. It was the short stories, published from 1891 onwards in Strand Magazine, that made household names of Sherlock Holmes and his creator.