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The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton - a Sherlock Holmes Short Story
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The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Discussion Questions
1) This is not Holmes and Watson’s only case which involves blackmail. What makes Milverton “the worst man in London” in Holmes’ eyes?
2) Do you agree with Watson's reaction to finding out the nature of Holmes' recent engagement? Why or why not?
3) Both Holmes and Watson express a thrill at acting outside of the law. Why do you think Holmes chooses to use his intelligence to solve crimes rather than commit them?
4) Holmes rationalizes robbing Milverton by calling the action “morally justifiable, though technically criminal.” He later throws all of Milverton’s blackmail material into a fire. What might Holmes’ motivation for these actions be? Is he being altruistic? Or simply besting a nemesis?
5) Do you think Holmes should have taken on the case of Milverton’s murder? Why or why not?
A fairly weak story, I thought. Too short, too melodramatic, and Holmes behaved like an imbecile (and sometimes like a cad) throughout.
Holmes and Watson watched someone assassinate a blackmailer, and then does nothing. I suppose that was justice, but in reality rather irresponsible, I thought.
Did Conan Doyle Know or at least believe that so many aristocratic women had put themselves in compromising positions for him to decide to write this story? Howell seemed to have blackmailed lascivious men rather than women.If it had been set in France then there would have been no problem believing it.Is this the one story where almost all Holmes actions had no effect on the outcome?
He did burn the compromising letters.
That made me think that some of those letters, had they survived, might have helped an unsuspecting future husband/(wife?) to escape an inappropriate marriage.
A number of moral questions were raised in the story, none of which seemed to be answered.
https://gazetteer.sherlock-holmes.org...
Very interesting, Trev. I didn't realize he was based on a real person.Yes, Holmes is singularly ineffective in this, even managing to break into the house while Milverton is still sitting up. He also attempts to threaten him into getting the letters back, is officially the worst negotiator ever, and his sole accomplishment is getting engaged to Milverton's housemaid to gain knowledge of the household (hence his being a cad).
Emily wrote: "Very interesting, Trev. I didn't realize he was based on a real person."The first message explains the real inspiration in a more deeper way.
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton (The Return of Sherlock Holmes)
Availability The Return of Sherlock Holmes: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/108
Background Information
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" is one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was originally published in Collier's in the United States on March 26, 1904, and in The Strand Magazine in the United Kingdom in April 1904. It is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905).
Publication History
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" was published in the US in Collier's on March 26, 1904, and in the UK in The Strand Magazine in April 1904. The story was published with six illustrations by Frederic Dorr Steele in Collier's, and with seven illustrations by Sidney Paget in the Strand. It was included in the short story collection The Return of Sherlock Holmes, which was published in the US in February 1905 and in the UK in March 1905.
A Short Summary
Lady Eva Blackwell seeks Holmes's help to retrieve compromising letters from the notorious blackmailer, Charles Augustus Milverton, who holds them to extort money. Milverton, known as "the king of blackmailers," is a cunning and ruthless individual who exploits the secrets of the wealthy and influential.
Holmes is repulsed by Milverton's methods and the potential for scandal, but he is also determined to protect Lady Eva's reputation and future marriage. Holmes and Watson, realizing that traditional legal means are insufficient, resort to breaking into Milverton's home, disguised as a plumber and housemaid, to retrieve the letters.
Inspiration
The character of Charles Augustus Milverton was based on a real blackmailer, Charles Augustus Howell. He was an art dealer who preyed upon an unknown number of people, including the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Doyle's literary inspiration often came from his natural interest in crime, and he had no tolerance for predators. Howell died in 1890 in circumstances as strange as any of Doyle's novels: His body was found near a Chelsea public house with his throat posthumously slit, with a coin (variously reported as a sovereign or half-sovereign) in his mouth. The presence of the coin was understood to be a criticism of those guilty of slander.
"The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" was also inspired by the A. J. Raffles short story "Wilful Murder" by E. W. Hornung, according to Richard Lancelyn Green.
Timeline
According to William S. Baring-Gould's timeline of the Sherlock Holmes canon, the events of "Milverton" occurred in 1899. Leslie S. Klinger also placed the story in 1899 in his timeline of the canon. This was nine years after the strange death of Charles Augustus Howell, the real-life inspiration for the character of Milverton.