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  • Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four

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    Lenka Carter
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    In this extract from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson discuss Holmes' drug use. Watson expresses concern that the drugs are unhealthy and could damage Holmes' extraordinary mind. However, Holmes sees the drugs as stimulating and helping him to solve complex problems. Their discussion shows Watson caring for Holmes' well-being as a friend and doctor, while Holmes is more cavalier about the risks. Their exchange establishes their relationship where Watson acts as Holmes' companion and medical advisor, trying to rein in his self-destructive tendencies, while Holmes values Watson for his company and different perspective.

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    In this extract from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson discuss Holmes' drug use. Watson expresses concern that the drugs are unhealthy and could damage Holmes' extraordinary mind. However, Holmes sees the drugs as stimulating and helping him to solve complex problems. Their discussion shows Watson caring for Holmes' well-being as a friend and doctor, while Holmes is more cavalier about the risks. Their exchange establishes their relationship where Watson acts as Holmes' companion and medical advisor, trying to rein in his self-destructive tendencies, while Holmes values Watson for his company and different perspective.

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    141 views1 page

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four

    Uploaded by

    Lenka Carter
    In this extract from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson discuss Holmes' drug use. Watson expresses concern that the drugs are unhealthy and could damage Holmes' extraordinary mind. However, Holmes sees the drugs as stimulating and helping him to solve complex problems. Their discussion shows Watson caring for Holmes' well-being as a friend and doctor, while Holmes is more cavalier about the risks. Their exchange establishes their relationship where Watson acts as Holmes' companion and medical advisor, trying to rein in his self-destructive tendencies, while Holmes values Watson for his company and different perspective.

    Copyright:

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    of 1

    __________________________________________________________________________________

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Sign of Four

    Read the following extract from Chapter 1 and then answer the question that
    follows.

    In this extract Holmes and Watson are discussing Sherlock’s drug


    use.

    He smiled at my vehemence. "Perhaps you are right, Watson," he


    said. "I suppose that its influence is physically a bad one. I find it, however,
    so transcendently stimulating and clarifying to the mind that its secondary
    action is a matter of small moment."

    "But consider!" I said, earnestly. "Count the cost! Your brain may, as
    you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid
    process, which involves increased tissue-change and may at last leave a
    permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon
    you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a
    mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you
    have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to
    another, but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some
    extent answerable."

    He did not seem offended. On the contrary, he put his finger-tips


    together and leaned his elbows on the arms of his chair, like one who has
    a relish for conversation.

    "My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me


    work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate
    analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with
    artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for
    mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,
    —or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."

    "The only unofficial detective?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

    1 3 Starting with this extract, explore how Conan Doyle presents the relationship
    between Holmes and Watson.

    Write about:

     How Conan Doyle uses dialogue to show the relationship between Holmes
    and Watson in the extract.
     How Conan Doyle presents the relationship between Holmes and Watson in
    the novel as a whole.
    (30 marks)

    END OF QUESTION

    __________________________________________________________________________________

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