Professor Moriarty, John H. Watson, Irene Adler (Sherlock Holmes novels)

Professor Moriarty, John H. Watson, and Irene Adler are central characters in the Sherlock Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The detective’s sidekick or assistant, Watson, is a major character. Moriarty is a villain who appears in only two novels but whose presence is felt or referenced in several others. Adler appears in only one novel but makes an impression on Holmes. In addition to the novels, these characters have appeared in many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes tales including radio plays, stage productions, television shows, and films.

Background

Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 22, 1859. He was the second of ten children of Charles Altamont and Mary Foley Doyle. His father, an artist, was addicted to alcohol. His mother was a gifted storyteller who enjoyed amusing her children. Her family friend, Dr. Bryan Charles Waller, was a lodger in their home. Doyle became interested in medicine and problem-solving from Waller.

When he was nine, Doyle was sent to Lancashire, England, to a strict Jesuit boarding school followed by Stonyhurst College until 1875. He then spent a year in school in Austria studying German before returning to Edinburgh to attend the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Because family finances were strained, he compressed a year of classes into half the time so he could work as a medical assistant. While a medical student, he studied the toxic effects of gelsemium on himself—self-experimentation by physicians was a common practice in the era—and in 1879 published his results in the British Medical Journal. He received Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery degrees in 1881 along with a medical degree in 1885.

Before and after completing school, Doyle served as a ship’s surgeon twice, first on an arctic whaler and later on an African steamer. These journeys prompted him to write a collection of short stories, The Captain of the Polestar and Other Tales, that was published in 1883. He later wrote a novel, The Stark Munro Letters, based on his private medical practice. Eventually, he chose ophthalmology as his surgical subspecialty and received training in Vienna, Austria, and Paris, France. He established a practice in London in 1891 but had few patients, so he spent much of his time writing. When he came down with a severe case of influenza in late 1891, he gave serious thought to his life’s work and chose writing over medicine.

Doyle greatly admired his medical school professor, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was exceedingly observant in making diagnoses. He also deduced details about his patients simply by observing their hands, clothing, mannerisms, and other features. When creating his fictional detective, Doyle was chiefly inspired by Bell. His first book-length Holmes mystery was A Study in Scarlet, which was published in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. In 1892, he published a twelve-story collection, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

During the Boer War, Doyle served at Langman Hospital in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He was knighted for his service in 1902. During World War I, the government enlisted him to write a morale-boosting story, “His Last Bow: The War Service of Sherlock Holmes” (1917).

Doyle was married twice, to Louisa Hawkins in 1885 and, after Hawkins’s death, to Jean Leckie in 1906. He was the father of Mary, Kingsley, Denis, Adrian, and Jean. He died in Crowborough, Sussex, England, on July 7, 1930, at age seventy-one.

Overview

Doyle used his personal medical experiences to create John H. Watson, MD. Watson is a surgeon who studied in London at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and received his medical degree from the University of London. He trained at the Royal Victoria Hospital as an assistant surgeon and joined the British Indian Army. Watson was shot by a sniper in the Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan in July 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. He also contracted typhoid fever—another experience from Doyle’s own life—and was honorably discharged. He was sent back to London, where he lived in a hotel temporarily but needed more affordable housing. He was introduced to Holmes, who was also seeking lodgings, and they decided to share an apartment. This proximity leads to collaboration on mysteries. In 1889, Watson marries Mary Morstan.

Watson brings to the relationship with Holmes the personal touch that eludes the great detective. Holmes relies on his intellect and deductive reasoning, but he is unintentionally insensitive to others. Watson, though also highly intelligent and well-educated, is sympathetic to crime victims and clients. Watson is the narrator of fifty-six of the sixty Holmes stories. Some of the actors who have portrayed the doctor in adaptations include Martin Freeman, Jude Law, Lucy Liu, John C. Reilly, Edward Hardwicke, and Nigel Bruce.

Professor James Moriarty both admires and torments Sherlock Holmes. He uses his intellect to plan crimes for other criminals or help them avoid prosecution for a fee or a cut of the loot. Moriarty likes to conceal killings as accidents and has attempted to kill Holmes several times, including by having masonry fall on him. The criminal mastermind first appeared in “The Adventure of the Final Problem,” which was published in 1893 in The Strand Magazine. Moriarty, whom Holmes calls the “Napoleon of crime,” is mentioned in numerous works, including five short stories and The Valley of Fear, the final Holmes novel. Doyle used the character to kill off Holmes.

In addition to Doyle’s works, Moriarty has starred in other novels. For example, he is the focus of a series of books by Michael Kurland and John E. Gardner. Though he has only a small role in Doyle’s stories, in adaptations he has often been more prominently featured or served as Holmes’s nemesis. Laurence Olivier, Ralph Fiennes, Jared Harris, Natalie Dormer, and Andrew Scott are among the actors who have portrayed Moriarty.

Born in New Jersey in 1858, Irene Adler is an American opera singer who appears in only one Doyle story, “A Scandal in Bohemia” (1891). She previously had a secret relationship with the King of Bohemia. She threatens to reveal this relationship unless he calls off his planned marriage. Holmes matches wits with Adler to try to obtain a photograph of them together, but she bests him. He respects her intellect, telling Watson that Adler is the only woman to have outsmarted him. When the king offers Holmes a reward, Holmes asks for a photo of Adler that she left behind. Actresses including Lara Pulver and Rachel McAdams have portrayed Adler.

Bibliography

Cawthorne, Nigel. A Brief History of Sherlock Holmes. Running Press, 2011.

Chapman, Anne. “Authority and Medical Expertise: Arthur Conan Coyle in The Idler.” Medical Humanities, vol. 49, 2023, pp. 565–575, mh.bmj.com/content/49/4/565. Accessed 13 June 2024.

Davies, David Stuart. “A Guide to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes Books in Order.” Pan Macmillan Blog, 30 Apr. 2024, www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/classics/sherlock-holmes-books-in-order. Accessed 12 June 2024.

“Dr. John Watson.” The Official Conan Doyle Estate, conandoyleestate.com/licensing/character/dr-watson. Accessed 12 June 2024.

Fallon, Eleanor, Aaron Harmon, and David Harrington. “Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, MD: Ophthalmologist, Author, and Defender of Justice.” American College of Surgeons, 4 Mar. 2022, www.facs.org/for-medical-professionals/news-publications/news-and-articles/bulletin/2022/03/sir-arthur-conan-doyle-md-ophthalmologist-author-and-defender-of-justice/. Accessed 12 June 2024.

“Irene Adler.” The Official Conan Doyle Estate, conandoyleestate.com/licensing/character/irene-adler. Accessed 12 June 2024.

“James Moriarty.” The Official Conan Doyle Estate, conandoyleestate.com/licensing/character/james-moriarty. Accessed 12 June 2024.