The King of Bohemia

Author's Note: Writing response to the short story A Scandal In Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle


A Scandal in Bohemia is a short story written by Arthur Conan Doyle. The story is told from the perspective of Sherlock Holmes’s accomplice, Dr Watson. Watson walks past Baker Street where Holmes is residence, and sees him pacing back and forth in front of the window, and knows he is on a case. He goes up, and Sherlock Holmes and Watson talk. Sherlock shows him a mysterious letter saying someone will call at eight o’clock. He does, and eventually he tells them he is the King of Bohemia. The King tells them what he wants done. There is a woman who he once loved but no longer does that has a picture of them. The King is getting married soon, and is afraid the woman will blackmail him in anger. This is the conflict.

So Holmes sets out. He wait by her house until he sees her come out and is about to walk into a carriage. All the men loafing around come to fight to open the door for her to earn a tip. Sherlock Holmes runs in to “protect” her, and pretends to get hurt. They take him in. He pretends he wants air, so someone opens the window, and Watson tosses a smoke bomb in. Everyone thinks it’s a fire, but Holmes explains it’s not real and leaves.

He tells Watson he now knows where the picture is. He says he knows that because since the picture is important to her, a woman will go to the thing most important to her during a fire. He says it’s hidden in the wall But when he goes the next day, everything is gone, and a note is left where the picture is. The letter says she knew Holmes was trying to steal the picture. It also says she is getting married, so she’s no longer is going to blackmail the king. In almost a weird way, this is the resolution.

Sherlock Holmes has the power of intellect. He always is capable of using his mind to figure things out. He can. Sherlock Holmes is a very intelligent man. He is also is really good at deducing things and drawing conclusions, and also very observant. However, he is not emotional at all, and in the book it says he cannot afford to have emotion in his type of business. It is different how Arthur Conan Doyle has separated the two. The story was comedy, and there was a normalcy, conflict, and resolution. I think the return to normalcy was actually at the beginning, because Watson notices he is back to solving cases, just like old times.