25 pages • 50 minutes read
Arthur Conan DoyleA Scandal in Bohemia
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1891A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Photographs
In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” photographs symbolize both power and vulnerability. Adler’s power manifests through photography. A photograph taken of the hereditary King of Bohemia and of Adler posing as a romantic couple propels the narrative plot of “A Scandal in Bohemia.” The photograph of the King with Adler symbolizes the King’s vulnerability and Adler’s power. The photograph possesses the ability to not only potentially corrupt a potential marriage, but also the political future of Europe. The photograph serves as a physical reminder of what cost a potential scandal carries for the King. In the story’s time, identity and class were predicated on strict social norms. The King’s transgression of these norms is memorialized in the photograph taken with Adler. Ironically, just as the photograph makes the King vulnerable to social scrutiny, Adler keeps the incendiary photograph to protect herself from being vulnerable to the King.
The story also contains a second photograph, which Adler leaves for Holmes. Adler regards Holmes as a “formidable […] antagonist” (74) and praises his ability to dupe her. This second photo, taken just of herself, serves as Holmes’s compensation for closing the case. Refusing monetary payment, Holmes is satisfied merely with the photograph of Adler. This gesture demonstrates his feelings for Adler, who, as is stated in the very first line of the short story, is the object of his admiration: “To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman” (61).
False Identity and Disguise
False identity and disguise are vehicles for characters to transcend social boundaries. The concealment of one’s true identity symbolizes freedom. Throughout the narrative, Holmes takes on different personas to locate the incriminating photograph. First, he dresses up as an out-of-work groom (stable worker) in such a convincing manner that Watson has difficulty in recognizing him. This disguise, however, allows him to observe Adler’s residence and gain valuable intelligence on her comings and goings. Later, Holmes dresses up as a Nonconformist clergyman. This disguise, in tandem with the scuffle he orchestrates around Adler’s carriage, allows him to gain access to her residence. Other characters in the story deploy false identities and disguises. The King of Bohemia claims to be Count Von Kramm and enters Holmes’s office wearing a mask. Adler also employs her own ruse when she dresses up as a man and follows Holmes to Baker Street.
Logic and Emotion
Holmes quizzes and trains Watson in the powers of deductive and inductive reasoning. When Watson appears for the first time at Holmes’s office, after a long period of absence, Holmes informs Watson that he has probably gone out in the rain recently. Holmes also suggests that Watson’s housekeeper is not the best. Holmes explains his reasoning by firing off a slew of observations about the appearance of Watson’s clothes and physical appearance. In many ways, the two men adopt a mentor-apprentice relationship with Holmes trying to train Watson into properly observing his surroundings. For example, he chides Watson for not remembering how many steps are in Holmes’s home despite Watson walking over them hundreds of times. Observing and interpreting facts is at the heart of Holmes’s sleuthing approach; however, it reaches its limits in this short story when Holmes fails to recognize Adler’s disguise as a young man. Holmes’s preconceptions of Adler, colored by gender stereotypes as well as his emotions, prevent him from predicting her actions. In this way, emotions upend logic in the story’s conclusion.
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