Sherlock Holmes 輔仁大學英國語文學系 Fu Jen 福尔摩斯輔仁大學英國語文學系辅仁.pptVIP

Sherlock Holmes  The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton” Image source Starting Questions How is the story structured? (Beginning, middle and end? Binaries?) How are the three male characters presented? How has the story been read? (chap 2: 196-97) Are there other ways of reading it? Structure – revelation vs. concealment Watson’s narrative frame: With difficult; b) the principal person beyond the reach of human law Concealment (date and fact) Plot – revelation with justification; Watson a companion but not involved in scheming. I. Beginning: characterization of Milverton; encounter, where reasoning and violence are no use. II. Action and building of suspense scheme of Holmes carried out the day of action Justification: Male Protagonists and Binary Opposition Milverton: cunning as the Evil one, sly like a serpent, an insincerity of the fixed smile and by the hard glitter of those restless and penetrating eyes (p. 374- “twinkle” in his eyes Holmes “how could one compare the ruffian, who in hot blood bludgeons his mate, with this man, who methodically and at his leisure tortures the soul and wrings the nerves in order to add to his already swollen money-bags?” Structure (2) – crime vs. justification Justification: the depiction of Plot (2) Twists: the cat, the unlocked door, some sudden noise Climax: Revelation and action Plot (3) resolution: Holmes erasing all the evidence the visit of the policeman Mr. Lestrade Revelation in Concealment (1): like Watson Revelation in Concealment (2): visit of the portrait. The Absent Women – the Textual Unsaid Other Readings??? (chap 2: 197) 1) Holmes as an English gentleman – “a figure whose remodelling as the apotheosis of civilized humanity in the late nineteenth century was central to the cultural hegemony of Englishness. ” 2) Anxiety over London as a site of labor class crimes ? the enigmatic vs. a total closure 3) discursive formation of power (Thompson qtd ch